TSD Desk:

Around Tk92,261 crore has been plundered from the country’s banking sector in 24 major scams over the past 15 years – from 2008 to 2023, according to a report of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

The embezzled amount is equivalent to 12 percent of Bangladesh’s national budget of 2023-24 fiscal year or 2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product for 2022-23 fiscal year.

CPD shared the data at a programme titled, “Bringing Discipline in the Banking Sector: What Should be Done Immediately” held at the CPD office on Monday.

Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) presented the key-note at the event.

She said that several banks are clinically dead but have been kept alive through bailout.

She recommended giving the go-ahead to close down banks on the verge of collapse.

She said that there has been an erosion of public trust in the banking sector due to the continuous deterioration of the health of the sector and inadequate measures taken by the policymakers of the former government. Sporadic measures were not successful since the nature and depth of the problem require comprehensive due diligence and structural reforms. Reforms must be backed by political will as there will be resistance from the vested interest groups.

A goal-specific, time-bound, transparent, unbiased, inclusive and independent Banking Commission should be formed to bring transparency to the prevailing situation, identify the root causes of the manifest problems and suggest credible measures for improving the situation sustainably.