Eminent economist Ahsan H Mansur has been appointed as the governor of Bangladesh Bank, replacing Abdur Rouf Talukder, who stepped down following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government.
To pave the way for Mansur to become the 13th governor of BB, the council of advisers of the interim government yesterday approved a proposal to amend a proviso of the Bangladesh Bank Order, 1972 regarding the age limit for the central bank governor.
Mansur, who is 72, is over the permissible age for governor, set at 67 years in July 2020 to accommodate the re-appointment of then-governor Fazle Kabir.
The law ministry has issued a notification eliminating the age limit provision, clearing the way for Mansur’s appointment.
Mansur, also the executive director of the Policy Research Institute, has been appointed for four years, according to a notification issued by the Financial Institutions Division of the finance ministry yesterday.
“Inflation containment is one of my major priorities,” he told The Daily Star after being confirmed as the new BB governor.
Last month, inflation hit a 13-year high of 11.66 percent, according to data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
“We have to bring back discipline in the banking sector immediately,” said Mansur, a former economist of the International Monetary Fund.
At the end of March, defaulted loans hit a record Tk 182,259 crore, which is 11.11 percent of total outstanding loans, according to data from the BB.
Another priority will be to reduce pressure on the external account and boost forex reserves.
As of July 31, gross foreign reserves stood at $20.5 billion, enough to meet about four months’ imports.
“We will prepare a strategy to boost forex reserves. We will identify reform priorities for the financial sector and start implementation,” said Mansur, who is expected to join the central bank today.
A former chairman of Brac Bank, Mansur has been critical of the authorities’ decision to impose and maintain a 9 percent cap on the interest rate for loans and BB’s intervention control over the foreign exchange market and exchange rates.
He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Dhaka and a PhD in economics (on general equilibrium analysis) from the University of Western Ontario.
He joined the IMF in 1981 and served as the mission chief for Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman.
