Bank commission not materialising any time soon: Kamal
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday gave his reassurance on forming a bank reform commission but stated that it would take time.
"We must form the bank reform commission," he told journalists after a meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs at the cabinet division.
Recent media reports say the government was likely to form the commission and it would be headed by noted economist Wahiduddin Mahmud.
In anticipation of the move, civil society think-tank Centre for Policy Dialogue also placed some recommendations on forming the commission through a press conference on Saturday.
Kamal said the government was yet to take any decision regarding who would lead the commission but the media was publishing reports about it in advance, which was not a wise thing to do.
Without mentioning any names, he said one organisation was already stating what the commission's responsibilities and activities would be.
The ministry's officials said Kamal had already talked to some former bankers, bureaucrats and economists, whom one ministry official believes were probable chairman and member candidates of the commission.
Kamal also talked to Mahmud to make him the head of the commission, said one ministry official.
While unveiling the budget for fiscal 2019-20 in June last year, Kamal said a banking commission would be formed at the earliest.
Some eight months have gone by but the commission is yet to be formed.
His predecessor AMA Muhith had several times announced that he would form the commission. Bangladesh's banking sector has been deteriorating for the last couple of years owing to increasing default loans and corruption.
The amount of default loans stood at Tk 94,313 crore at the end of 2019. The actual size of bad loans is, however, more than double the officially recognised figure, according to a recent report of International Monetary Fund.
Experts and economists say the bad loan situation would not improve without good governance in the banking sector.
Meanwhile, Kamal exchanged views with chairmen and managing directors of four state-owned banks on forming a public asset management company to take over banks' soured loans.
The finance ministry has already prepared a draft act titled "Bangladesh Asset Management Company Act" to purchase default loans from banks and sell them off to individuals or corporate entities.
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