Leading
economists and businesspersons
of the country pleaded
for a fresh reform agenda
with strong political
commitment to develop
a demand driven and service
oriented financial sector
in the country. These
views were submitted in
a dialogue on Financial
Sector Reforms in Bangladesh:
The Next Round jointly
organised by the Federation
of Bangladesh Chamber
of Commerce and Industry
(FBCCI) and the Centre
for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
Held at the Dhaka Sheraton
hotel on 16 April 2002,
the dialogue was attended,
among others, by Mr. Shah
Md. Abul Hossain, the
State Minister for Finance
and Planning as the Chief
Guest and the Governor
of the Bangladesh Bank
Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed as
the Special Guest. Mr.
M. Syeduzzaman moderated
the dialogue. Dr. Debapriya
Bhattacharya, presented
the keynote paper which
was prepared by him jointly
with Dr. Toufic A. Choudhury,
Professor,BIBM.
In his keynote presentation,
Dr. Bhattacharya observed
that the third generation
of financial sector reforms
must continue with the
implementation of the
unfinished agenda of the
previous rounds of reforms.
"In order for Bangladesh
to accomplish the basic
task of investment promotion
in the era of globalisation,
expansion and diversification
of the financial sector
must receive priority
attention" - he emphasised.
Stressing the need for
bringing down lending
rates in a sustainable
manner Dr. Bhattacharya
maintained that it was
essential that the level
of NPA (Non-performing
Asset) and operating costs
of all the Nationalised
Commercial Banks (NCBs)
be reduced substantively.
An observation, repeated
by many of the dialogue
participants was that
the absence of an efficiently
functioning financial
system will definitely
undermine and frustrate
other parallel efforts
aimed at promoting trade
and investment environment
in the country.
Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed informed
the participants that
in order to ensure an
acceptable market, price
of credit and boost the
capital market, a secondary
market for treasury bonds
will be introduced very
soon. Referring to the
general perception that
the SOEs are the major
defaulters with the NCBs,
he noted that the private
sector defaulters were
also to be blamed in this
respect.
In his remarks the
Chief Guest Mr. Shah
Md. Abul Hossain highlighted
institutional and policy
measures and incentives
undertaken by the present
government to revitalise
the financial sector
of the country and
