Atiur Rahman set to become BB Governor
Monday, 27 April 2009
FE Report
Professor Atiur Rahman, a development researcher, is set to become Governor of the Bangladesh Bank, sources said Sunday.
The government is going to issue a gazette notification today, confirmed a finance ministry official Sunday evening.
Dr Atiur returned from Nepal Sunday when he was informed about the government decision, said another finance ministry official.
"The finance minister has already congratulated him and wished him good luck," he said.
A former BIDS research fellow, who now runs an NGO and teaches development studies at Dhaka University, Atiur would take over the charge from the incumbent governor, Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, who ends his four-year tenure on April 30.
BDnews adds: A professor at the recently-opened department of development studies at the Dhaka University, Atiur Rahman will now have to deal with monetary economics as central bank supremo. During the 1996-2001 Awami League tenure, he served as a director of Bangladesh's largest Sonali Bank and then chairman of the state-owned Janata Bank.
Atiur's research focused more on poverty, and the most acclaimed included work on char (shoal) dwellers and poverty alleviation.
His appointment would create a unique situation at the central bank-the governor and all three deputy governors (DGs) coming from the same class of the DU economics department.
The three DGs-Nazrul Huda, Ziual Hasan Siddiqui and Murshid Kuli Khan are all career central bankers-and their likely boss Atiur Rahman did their masters as students of the 1973-74 batch and actually came out in 1976 because of the so-called session jam.
Dr Salehuddin, a former civil service officer, was appointed to the top job by the BNP government on May 1, 2005 when his predecessor Fakhruddin Ahmed completed his central bank contract.
Professor Atiur Rahman, a development researcher, is set to become Governor of the Bangladesh Bank, sources said Sunday.
The government is going to issue a gazette notification today, confirmed a finance ministry official Sunday evening.
Dr Atiur returned from Nepal Sunday when he was informed about the government decision, said another finance ministry official.
"The finance minister has already congratulated him and wished him good luck," he said.
A former BIDS research fellow, who now runs an NGO and teaches development studies at Dhaka University, Atiur would take over the charge from the incumbent governor, Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, who ends his four-year tenure on April 30.
BDnews adds: A professor at the recently-opened department of development studies at the Dhaka University, Atiur Rahman will now have to deal with monetary economics as central bank supremo. During the 1996-2001 Awami League tenure, he served as a director of Bangladesh's largest Sonali Bank and then chairman of the state-owned Janata Bank.
Atiur's research focused more on poverty, and the most acclaimed included work on char (shoal) dwellers and poverty alleviation.
His appointment would create a unique situation at the central bank-the governor and all three deputy governors (DGs) coming from the same class of the DU economics department.
The three DGs-Nazrul Huda, Ziual Hasan Siddiqui and Murshid Kuli Khan are all career central bankers-and their likely boss Atiur Rahman did their masters as students of the 1973-74 batch and actually came out in 1976 because of the so-called session jam.
Dr Salehuddin, a former civil service officer, was appointed to the top job by the BNP government on May 1, 2005 when his predecessor Fakhruddin Ahmed completed his central bank contract.