BB helping country end foreign debt dependency: Atiur

Bangladesh’s economy is becoming strong from within and its central bank is helping cut the country’s foreign debt dependency, economist and former Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman said on Monday.

“The macro-economy is consistent and the central bank reserves are now at $44 billion,” he said at a seminar ‘In Search of Sustainable Finance for Inclusive Development’ organised by Dhaka University Higher Social Science Research Center at the university’s Lecture Theater building.

Timely government measures helped Bangladesh tide over the pandemic shock that brought the world to its knees. The global economy is slowly recovering as Covid-19 infection rates decline thanks to massive vaccinations and various effective measures.

Buoyant central reserves helped Bangladesh recover quickly from the situation. “We might not have needed to take money from the central reserves had our revenue and tax collection been higher. So we need to increase inclusive economic dynamism in our country,” he said.

Atiur said the central bank was playing a vital role in the overall development of the economy under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. 

“Bangladesh’s economy has become stronger from within, and the external debt dependency has gone down,” he added.

At the programme, Policy Exchange Bangladesh’s Chairman and CEO economist M Masrur Reaz emphasised increasing the inclusive economic dynamism by highlighting three issues of natural, social responsibility, and transparency in finance.