Reiterating that Dr Muhammad Yunus is really a politician, Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Thursday said Grameen Bank must come under a regulatory framework because there is no regulatory body for it at the moment. “There’s no regulatory body for Grameen Bank at the moment. The bank is neither under the control of Bangladesh Bank nor under any microcredit authority. So, it must come under a regulatory framework,” he told reporters after chairing a meeting on Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs at the Cabinet Division.
Criticising the role of former Grameen Bank managing director Prof Yunus as he had tried to “put pressure on the government by asking Grameen Bank directors to hold a press conference”, Muhith said there was no need for Prof Yunus to press the GB directors to hold any press conference.
“I’ll stick to it. He (Yunus) is really a politician. So, he does such things,” added the Finance Minister.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Finance Minister told Parliament that Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus is a true politician and he is trying to put pressure on the government by ‘asking’ the Grameen Bank directors to hold a press conference. The nine directors of the bank on June 24 held a press conference in the capital protesting the government plan to split the bank of the poor into 19 entities. They called upon the government to refrain from such “a suicidal decision”.
Asked whether the workshop to be organised by the Grameen Bank Commission would be held in the capital in the first week of July, Muhith said it would be held because the Commission would organise it and he himself would join the workshop.
He also said the Commission members came to him for some advice. But in response, the Finance Minister said, he told the Commission members that he, as part of the government, cannot give them any advice.
The Grameen Bank Commission will hold a workshop at Biam Auditorium on July 2 to discuss its recommendations for bringing legal changes to the Grameen Bank structure.
There will be a discussion with experienced and distinguished persons of the country at the workshop on the eight-page working paper of the commission, titled ‘The Future Structure of Grameen Bank: Some Options’.
Replying to a question about the plan for restructuring Grameen Bank with 51 percent or more shares in the bank being held by the government, Muhith said the preliminary findings of the Commission was that there was an understanding that national participation in the project would go up to 51 percent.
“Now it won’t be 51 percent as because 10 percent of the stake has already become public and these 10 percent would be deducted from the total 100 percent shares. The division will be then made among the rest of 90 percent, and we shall take action after receiving the final report of the Commission,” he added.
The Grameen Bank Commission has already submitted its interim report to the Finance Ministry in February this year.
-With The Independent input
