Wahiduddin Mahmud wins BB Award-2020

Professor Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud has won the Bangladesh Bank Award-2020 for his outstanding contribution to the country’s economy.

While handing over the award, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal described Dr Mahmud as a “living legend of economics” and said the central bank had made the best decision to nominate this personality.

“When I was the planning minister, he (Mahmud) was engaged with me to make a better plan for the country, and we had had a great time together. He has a great contribution to our 2021-2041 country planning,” Kamal said at the ‘Bangladesh Bank Award-2020’ programme at the Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management auditorium in Dhaka on Thursday.

A committee headed by the BB governor nominated Professor Mahmud for the award. He received a gold medal, a crest of Bangladesh Bank and Tk 5 lakh.

Previous winners of the prestigious award include Professor Rehman Sobhan in 2000, Dr Nurul Islam in 2009, Professor Dr Mursharraf Hossain in 2011, Professor Dr Mozaffar Ahmed (posthumous) and Dr Swadesh Ranjan Bose (posthumous) in 2013, Dr Azizur Rahman Khan and Dr Mahbub Hossain (posthumous) in 2017.

Professor Mahmud was born on July 1, 1948, in Noakhali to Ali Ahmed Chowdhury and Saleha Khatun. He obtained his BA (Hons) degree in economics from Dhaka University and taught there for a long time. He is currently the senior country advisor at the International Growth Centre and chairman of the Bangladesh Economic Research Group.

Prof Mahmud said that the people of our country have a desire for development, which is not seen in other countries. “Our people have achieved the desire from the Liberation War. The development technique is different, which depends on the country’s structure,” he said. 

“It is positive that in our country the government has taken timely initiatives to provide facilities to business,” he noted.

Forex reserves to cross $50b this FY

At the programme, Kamal said the government targeted to touch $50 billion in foreign reserves last fiscal. 

“But we couldn’t do that. I hope that the reserves will going to cross $50 billion mark within this FY,” he said.