Govt to hire BB governor soon

The government yesterday accepted the resignations of the Bangladesh Bank governor and the chairman of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) and decided to fill the position of the governor soon.

Over 100 demonstrating BB officials had stormed the governor's office recently and forced Kazi Sayedur Rahman, one of four deputy governors, to resign while barring two others, Habibur Rahman and Md Khurshid Alam, from entering their workplace.

Abdur Rouf Talukder resigned from the post of governor on Friday and the interim government accepted it yesterday.

The finance ministry issued a notification yesterday stating that Deputy Governor Nurun Nahar would serve as the acting governor while her remaining two peers would stay in office until new appointments are made.

The unprecedented developments were preceded by the resignation of Sheikh Hasina from the post of prime minister on August 5.

She fled the country amid spiralling protests over the killing of over 300 people centring public job quota reform movement.

Meanwhile, during a briefing with the finance ministry officials yesterday, Finance and Planning Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed said resolving the issues at Bangladesh Bank was a big challenge.

He said the interim government would immediately look into the issue over the resignation of the BB governor and chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission.

He, however, pointed out that everyday banking operations could continue abiding by existing rules and regulations, even if the post of the governor was temporarily vacant.

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BB, NBR grapple with staff anger

"Does the governor oversee (even the smallest details of) the payment system? Will the person oversee debt settlement?" he said, adding that the deputy governors would look into such matters which were coming up.

On demands for the resignation of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman, Ahmed said they would look into the issue later.

A number of NBR officials have been staging demonstrations at the office of the tax administrator since August 7, seeking the resignation of its chairman, Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem.

Bringing various allegations over discrimination, the protesting officials urged the authorities concerned to hire people from customs or income tax cadres instead of the ones from the administration cadre as the chief of the NBR.