Governing Bangladesh Bank
Since its inception as the central bank of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Bank is performing various duties that include formulation and implementation of monetary policy, intervention policies in the foreign exchange market, advising the government on the interaction of monetary policy with fiscal and exchange rate policies, the impact of various policy measures on the economy and proposing legislative measures it considers necessary to attain its objectives and perform its function. It also holds and manages the official foreign exchange reserves of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Bank's other functions include promoting, regulating and ensuring a secure and efficient payment system, including the issue of bank notes, regulating and supervising banking companies and financial institutions etc.
As the economy of Bangladesh has expanded manifold from the seventies to this new millennium, while the nature of the responsibilities of the central bank remained almost the same, the volume of the work has increased enormously. To manage this huge amount of work efficiently and satisfactorily the central bank has to think innovatively. The Central Bank Strengthening Project (CBSP), under the guideline of World Bank and IMF, has been working in this area. The pivotal idea is to make the central bank a modern and dynamic organisation.
Although the bank remains 'Autonomous' in paper, in reality it is directly and indirectly controlled by the government. The best way to build a modern central bank is to decrease the number of employees and go for automation. While the number of unemployed educated young adults is mounting every year one might argue the measure they are applying in achieving the desired goal for the central bank.
The number of vacant posts for 'officers' in the bank is more that seven hundred and there has not been any recruitment of officers since 1993 (source: Human Resources Department, BB). Recruitments for other posts are also stopped for decades now. As the junior officers are getting promoted to the higher posts there is now acute scarcity of manpower at the junior level. The only recruitment the bank does is the recruitment of the Assistant Directors (AD) who are first class officers. In every batch there is a recruitment of hundred ADs. However, as the financial and other facilities of the ADs compared to other private banks and autonomous organizations are particularly low many of the bright new employees who join the bank as AD eventually switch to other jobs with lucrative salary.
With the new Governor taking over, Bangladesh Bank needs a new direction to overcome the global financial challenges and prove itself an effective and dynamic player in the context of 21st century. However, to achieve this goal fresh blood land innovative thinking are necessary. Some of the new thinking and measures that should be implemented to make this very important organization of the country dynamic and capable are as follows:
The central bank should take immediate steps to fill up the vacant posts. The volume of work of the bank has increased enormously in the last two decades. To manage this work efficiently Bangladesh Bank needs new outlets particularly in the capital city Dhaka. Although the Bank has a branch in old Dhaka (Sadarghat branch), it does not have any in the new part of the city. Huge traffic jam often makes it difficult for the private bank personnel, businessman and people to travel all the way to Motijheel from the new parts of the city like Gulshan/Banani/Uttara. In this regard opening a new outlet of Bangladesh Bank in Uttara would be a prudent decision.
The Central Bank Strengthening Project should be given the authority to decide what would be better for the bank and its employees. It should be bold and prompt in putting forward its proposals. CBSP should not be a project to implement the plans of World Bank and IMF only.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments