An Iron Man Dealing With the Country’s Economic Challenges

 

Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder is well-known among his colleagues as a man of integrity and professionalism. Abdur Rouf Talukder has been working hard and efficiently to keep Bangladesh’s economy in the right shape since joining Bangladesh Bank (BB) as its Governor. Abdur Rouf Talukder is regarded as an iron man who never gives up making efforts for the economic betterment of Bangladesh and to free the country’s banking and financial sectors from the clutches of graft and anomalies. Abdur Rouf Talukder is facing many challenges but he never stops pursuing his goals.

By means of the strong initiatives of Abdur Rouf Talukder, Bangladesh’s economic condition is currently in a much better status than some of the neighbouring countries. Bangladesh lent 200 million dollars to Sri Lanka. Abdur Rouf Talukder has been able to recover 51 million dollars out of the above amount.

Abdur Rouf Talukder’s dynamism has expedited the process of recovering Bangladesh Bank’s money which was stolen by hackers in February 2016. The New York Supreme Court in the United States quashed a motion to dismiss appeal by the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) of Philippines on 13 January 2023 in connection with the cyber heist of Bangladesh Bank by hackers who took away 101 million dollars in February 2016. 20 million USD was returned to Bangladesh from Sri Lanka following an intervention by BB as well as a spelling error in the payment instruction. Another 17 million USD was recovered from Philippines later on with the help of Philippines government and Philippines central bank.

Under the firm leadership of Abdur Rouf Talukder, Bangladesh Bank is working in a coordinated way with National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) to streamline financial institutions.

Abdur Rouf Talukder has also initiated sharp measures to boost small and medium enterprises. Abdur Rouf Talukder has instructed private banks to recover defaulted loans and to establish good governance at their earliest convenience. Economists have stated that Abdur Rouf Talukder should be empowered to work for pulling up state-owned banks from mismanagement, corruption and irregularities.

Moreover, Abdur Rouf Talukder played a significant role in securing a large amount of loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Abdur Rouf Talukder, former Senior Finance Secretary, joined as the 12th Governor of Bangladesh Bank on 12 July 2022.

When people find that banks and financial institutions regularly get involved in unethical practices and scams, they get scared and start to lose confidence on banking and financial systems. In this post-pandemic period and global geopolitical hazards, regaining people’s confidence on the banking sector is essential to save Bangladesh’s economy from further perils. Under these circumstances, economists have stated that the regulatory authorities should tighten surveillance on the country’s banking system, particularly on private banks.

Bangladesh Bank’s Governor Abdur Rauf Talukder has said that the directors of some banks think that they are the owners of these banks. This is a wrong perception. Around 90% money deposited in banks belongs to the country’s general people while bank directors hold approximately 10% of the total money deposited in their banks. The Asian Age stated the same point in a report titled “Are banks gambling with depositors’ money?” which appeared on 4 September 2022. A similar statement came up in an article titled “Trust versus Mistrust: Which way to go?” which appeared in The Asian Age on 12 January 2023.

A number of reports released by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) in recent times have pinpointed Bangladesh as being among the worst affected countries to the scourge of trade-based money laundering or capital flight. According to GFI's President Raymond Baker, "Illicit financial flows are the most damaging economic problems faced by the world's developing and emerging economies." This means we are among the countries worst plagued by one of the biggest problems out there that developing countries are having to deal with.

According to GFI, USD 61.6 billion were siphoned out of Bangladesh between 2005 and 2014, which is equivalent to 25 percent of its GDP in FY 2016-17. Between 2008 and 2017, Bangladesh lost a staggering USD 7.53 billion per year on average to over-invoicing and under-invoicing, which accounted for 17.95 percent of Bangladesh's international trade with all its trading partners during the period.

In a report in 2020, GFI revealed that USD 5.9 billion was siphoned out of Bangladesh through trade misinvoicing in 2015—and that Bangladesh is one of the top 30 countries in terms of illicit financial flows.

Similarly, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) reported in 2020 that some USD 3.1 billion or Tk 26,400 crore is being illegally transferred from Bangladesh every year. Though it is lower in comparison to the GFI's estimates between 2008 and 2017, even this amount would have deprived the government exchequer of about Tk 120 billion as revenue each year, which is significant.

In 2002, Bangladesh became the first country in South Asia to promulgate the Money Laundering Prevention Act in line with the recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organization which combats money laundering. But experts have criticized the government's effort to implement the recommendations. Among those that are unconvinced with the government's work is the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering, the global body that ranks countries. In 2016, the organization even warned the government that Bangladesh was in danger of being branded as a "risky" country when it comes to money laundering and terror financing.

We believe Abdur Rouf Talukder has the capability to stop money laundering and to execute precise steps to retrieve laundered funds.

Abdur Rouf Talukder started his professional career on 15 February, 1988 as a member of the Bangladesh Civil Service (Administration Cadre). He served in various capacities in the government for more than 34 years of his career. He was appointed as the Finance Secretary on 17 July 2018 and promoted to Senior Secretary on 31 October 2020. Before being appointed the Finance Secretary, he worked for more than 18 years in various positions within the Finance Division.

Apart from his long career in the Finance Division, Abdur Rouf Talukder has served in the Ministry of Industries, Ministry of Food, and Ministry of Information. He also worked at Bangladesh High Commission, Kuala Lumpur as First Secretary (Commercial).

In the Finance Division, he has contributed in important areas like budget reform, macroeconomic management and introduction of information technology (IT) in public financial management (PFM). He was instrumental in implementing the Medium-Term Budget Framework (MTBF) across the government. He played the key role in the introduction of payroll automation for the government employees, electronic fund transfer (EFT) for pensioners, introduction of Shariah based bond Sukuk and automation of National Saving Certificates. He is one of the key contributors in drafting the Public Money and Budget management Act, 2009; Autonomous Bodies’ Surplus Revenue Act. 2020; and Universal Pension Management law, 2022.

As Finance Secretary, he served as Director, Board of Directors of Bangladesh Bank; Chairman, Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund Limited; Chairman, National Human Resource Development Fund; Vice-Chairman, IDB-BISEW; Deputy Chairman, SABINCO; Director, Board of Biman Bangladesh Airlines; Director, Infrastructure Development Company Limited; Member of the Board of Governors of BIDS, Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission, BPATC, BIISS and National Defense College etc.

Abdur Rouf Talukder was awarded the 'National Integrity Award, 2020-21'. He also led the Finance Division to achieve the 'Public Administration Award 2021'.

Abdur Rouf Talukder holds an M.Sc. in Development Management from the University of Birmingham, UK and an MBA from Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka.

In addition, he attended a number of professional training courses at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Boston, USA; IMF Institute, Washington DC, USA; Crown Agents Professional Development Center, London, UK; National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Tokyo, Japan; Institute of Public Finance (IPF), Dhaka, etcetera.

Abdur Rouf Talukder, born in 1964, is married to Mrs. Selina Rawshan, a teacher by profession and they have one daughter and one son.


Nasir Uddin Shah is a Senior
Economic Reporter of The Asian
Age and an Executive Committee Member
of Bangladesh Fencing Federation.