Despite being the most sensitive sector for an economy, the banking sector in Bangladesh has been left uncontrolled and unprotected, said Wahiduddin Mahmud, a noted economist, on Monday.    

Mahmud, former finance adviser to a caretaker government, made the comment at a discussion on the proposed budget for the FY 2024-25 held at a hotel in the capital.

“Confidence in banks has dwindled. Though the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) exists, it is not functioning effectively. As a result, the money laundering trend is increasing while the proliferation of black money persists in the country,” he said.

Expressing utter frustration over the prevailing situation in the country’s banking sector, he said, “We are gradually moving towards an unethical economic situation. We discuss building a smarter Bangladesh, yet there’s a lack of coherent economic policy.

Claiming that corruption and irregularities are the major concerns in the banking sector, he said that this certain sector needs to be kept free from political influence even from those in the driving seat to effectively address the crisis.

Hossain Zillur Rahman, executive chairman of the Power and Participation Research Centre, Salehuddin Ahmed, former governor of Bangladesh Bank, Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh and Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), also spoke at the event.

They equivocally expressed their concerns over the current situation in the banking sector and warned that the recovery from the current economic crisis would not be possible without addressing the vulnerability.

bd-pratidin/GR