CA’s special aide questions IMF, World Bank role in 15 years of graft

Anisuzzaman Chowdhury, special assistant to the chief adviser, has questioned whether global lenders should share responsibility for the corruption and economic mismanagement that took place over the past 15 years in Bangladesh.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Asian Development Bank, and the World Bank had praised Bangladesh's economic progress and policies before the July revolution, but now they have returned with all sorts of advice, he said today.

Chowdhury raised the questions at a seminar titled "Current Challenges in the Banking Sector: Borrowers' Perspective," organised by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) in the capital.

He said the IMF and the World Bank continued lending during the previous government's tenure without questioning the environment in which public money was being siphoned off.

"Should the IMF and the Asian Development Bank not share responsibility for providing lifelines to a government under which large-scale corruption occurred?" he asked.

"As an economist, I can tell you with full confidence that it could not have continued. It was a blessing from Allah that the student movement saved the country—not just politically, but economically," he added.

Referring to the IMF loan taken by the previous government, Chowdhury likened it to sending the economy to the ICU (intensive care unit).

"Tell me, how many people actually survive after going to the ICU?" he asked. "Those who send patients to the ICU know that coming out alive is rare. We would not have been able to come out of it."

Chowdhury also praised the current government and Bangladesh Bank, saying the economy had fallen into such a deep hole that, had the previous administration remained in power any longer, a major crisis would have been inevitable.