The New Nation - Internet Edition

Govt seeks list of graft convicts: 100 politicians to be disqualified from polls: Move for speedy disposal of cases

Staff Reporter

The government has asked the Anti-Corruption Commission to provide a list of individuals who have so far been convicted by trial courts in the corruption cases filed by the Commission.

"The government yesterday sought a list of convicted individuals from the Commission. I don't know whether it's for election purpose or for anything else. It appears that the government will do something with it," said ACC Director General (admin) Col Hanif Iqbal while briefing journalists.

He said the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on Serious Crimes asked the Commission for the list of graft convicts.

Replying to a question, the ACC spokesman said the list is ready and it will be sent to the government.

More than 100 politicians, businessmen, bureaucrats and trade union leaders have so far been convicted in 90 graft cases filed by the reconstituted ACC.

Col Hanif hinted that the list is likely to be sent next week after the return of the ACC Chairman to Dhaka from Barisal.

On participation in the forthcoming polls by those convicted in trial courts, he said the issue of eligibility of convicts to take part in the elections would be settled either by the government or the Election Commission or the court.

He mentioned that as per section 11(5) of the Emergency Power Rules-2007 that says those convicted during the state of emergency in the trial court for corruption cannot participate in the elections.

The ACC Director General also referred Article 66(2) of the Constitution that says a person imprisoned for two years or more would be ineligible to participate in elections for five years.

About the cases stayed by the High Court, he said some cases have already been placed in the cause list for hearing, while measures are being taken to hold their hearings on priority basis.

Referring to three division benches stipulated by the Chief Justice to hear the ACC cases, Hanif Iqbal said the cases that have been stayed would be disposed of soon.

Asked about dealing with the cases at the Appellate Division since the ACC cannot be a party there, he said the legal efforts have already begun and it would be continued.

Replying to another question, he said measures would also be taken against the lawyers who would not protect the interest of the Commission.

He said the ACC yesterday sent the applications of 38 individuals to the Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC) for considering their clemency pleas, taking the total number to 128.

Col Hanif informed that the Commission has approved the filing of a case against former MP Dhirendra Nath Saha for having ill-gotten money and hiding information about it.

He said that the ACC was taking initiatives to activate the corruption cases now stalled due to high court orders.

Party registration: Date extended for five days: At last BNP, Jamaat request heeded

Staff Reporter

In a quick response to the requests of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, the Election Commission (EC) yesterday extended the deadline for party registration with the Commission by five days.

The EC has extended the timeframe from October 15 to October 20 after discussing various aspects of the registration process, specially the requests made, particularly by the BNP and Jamaat.

According to the amended Representation of People Order (RPO), registration of the political parties is mandatory to participate in the forthcoming elections.

Talking to reporters Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda announced that the time has been extended by five days to October 20 for party registration. "The Commission has extended the time after properly thinking and taking into account all matters," he said hoping that all parties would now be able to apply for getting registered with the Commission.

The CEC noted that the Commission extended the time as some political parties, including BNP, raised their problems and demanded deferment of the deadline for their parties' registration with the Commission.

He said the Commission wants to complete the party-registration process by October 30 after scrutiny of all documents to be submitted by the political parties.

Replying to a question on the demand to withdraw the state of emergency before the polls, Dr Huda wanted to know which clause creates problem to the political parties.

He said the political parties should discuss with and apprise the caretaker government of their problems.

During the scrutiny of documents, the CEC said, the Commission would only examine the constitutions of the established political parties while all the remaining parties would be drastically scrutinised to assess their qualifications. Replying to another question the CEC hoped the proceedings on the writ over the delimitation of the parliamentary constituencies would go in favour of the Commission.

On Sunday, the BNP and the Jamaat sent separate letters to the EC asking it to extend by seven days the time for applying

for party registration. Bangladesh Jatiya Party, another partner of the four-party alliance yesterday also submitted a similar letter to the Commission.

The EC meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda was attended by the Election Commissioners, Muhammed Sohul Hussain and Brig Gen (Retd) M Shakhawat Hussain.

12 injured in JN Varsity clashes

An additional contingent of police was deployed at
the Jagannath University campus yesterday following clash
between pro-Awami League Chhatra League and Pro-Jamaat
Chhatra Shibir students. FocusBangla

DU Correspondent

Sporadic clashes between Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) and Islami Chhatra Shibir activists at the Jagannath University (JN) yesterday left 12 students injured.

Witness said the clashes occurred while BCL men tried to obstruct Shibir activists' showdown on the campus arena around 11:00am.

The injured was identified as BCL activists Shishir Ahmed, Quamrul Hasan, Shanjay Kumar, Riad and Sohel and Shibir

activists Mofizul Islam, Pavel Sarwar, Selim Ahmed, Mohammad Rafi, Ariful Islam, Shafiqul Islam and Suman Ahmed.

The seriously injured students were rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment.

Sources said Chhatra Shibir activists took position at strategic points on the campus in the morning and later they started moving in a body on the campus that reopened on Sunday after the long Eid-ul-Fitr and Puja vacation.

Being informed, BCL activists rushed to the campus and hurled brickbats at the Shibir men. Then the Shibir men retaliated and a chase and counter chase occurred between the two groups that lasted for 30 minutes.

Later, police enforcement arrived and brought the situation under control but no one arrested in this connection.

Proctor of the university Kazi Asaduzzaman said the authority would take appropriate action against those who try to create anarchy on the campus.

"Shibir is a militant organisation. We will not tolerate it on the campus," said JN unit BCL president Quamrul Hasan Ripon.

JN unit Shibir president Nizamul Haque Nayeem said, "Shibir is not a weak organisation. It knows how to react to such attacks."

Return of siphoned off money uncertain: BB withdraws $200cr deposit from overseas banks

Desk Report

Bangladesh Bank has withdrawn $200crore deposit from a number of foreign banks including US Walkovia, which was recently merged with city group in the wake of global recession. The amount was a part of the Bangladesh Bank foreign reserve money.

Bangladesh Bank has decided to withdraw its fund from foreign banks which were even under least risk of being liquidated following the crisis which engulfed the financial institutions worldwide, the worldwide economic recession has deepened during the last 18 months. It was the worst crisis since 1930 which foresaw great recession.

Twelve financial institutions including commercial and investment banks and insurance companies have become bankrupt in UK, US, Germany and Iceland. Rich nations have injected billions of dollar to salvage these institutions. But it has come to little help for them in the wake of severe recession.

Prof Wahiduddin Mahmud has said, the crash in the Wall street has spilled over to the high street. Nobody can ascertain how colossal will be the severity of the situation but the RMG exports from Bangladesh to the rich nations will be hard hit. The recovery of the money which the corruption suspects siphoned off from Bangladesh to the rich countries will be uncertain. The local stock markets where foreign investments are minimal will not be that much affected.

A large part of Bangladesh Bank foreign reserve was also deposited in Bank of Scotland.

It was also withdrawn conceding the interest money as the Bank fell into crisis and sought assistance from Bank of England for recovery. The rest of the banks where Bangladesh Bank reserve money remains deposited were not in immediate danger.

Remittance flow of Bangladesh from the Middle Eastern country is likely to be affected, as the income of the oil producing countries will decrease following the worldwide reduction of fuel oil prices.

Meanwhile, The US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank of England unveiled further measures to thaw frozen credit markets. They said they would provide unlimited dollar funds to financial institutions via money market auctions.

The UK said it would inject up to £37bn of taxpayer money into Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Lloyds TSB and HBOS.

Governments in Germany, France and Italy are expected to unveil their bank rescue plans this week, within an agreed eurozone framework.

Reports said that Germany's financial rescue plan would total about 400bn euros ($545bn;£318bn), with Chancellor Angela Merkel due to make a statement later.

Governments around the world had been racing to throw financial institutions a lifeline before the major markets re-opened.

At the weekend, finance ministers from the main industrialised nations - the G7 - approved a five-point plan to unfreeze credit markets, and a number of countries announced individual rescue packages.

A European plan was confirmed after an emergency Paris summit of the 15 eurozone leaders.

Bangladesh-NZ final ODI today

Players of Bangladesh Cricket team (left) and the
cricketers of New Zealand team take part in the practice
session at the Bir Sreshtha Shaheed Ruhul Amin Stadium in
Chittagong on Monday. FocusBangla

Sports Reporter

Bangladeh Cricket team led by Mohammad Ashraful will face the touring New Zealand Cricket team today in the third and final ODI of the BRAC Bank ODI Series at the Bir Sreshtha Shaheed Ruhul Amin Stadium in Chittagong, the port city of the country. The game begins at 9.00 AM (Bangladesh Standard Time). Bangladesh Television will telecast the match live from the stadium.

Bangladesh registered a memorable seven-wicket victory over the visiting New Zealand in the first ODI at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on October 9.

Later, New Zealand took a sweet revenge defeating the hosts Bangladesh by 75 runs in the second ODI at the same venue on October 11.

Before today's match Bangladesh faced New Zealand in 13 ODI matches. Of them, the Kiwis won 12 matches while Bangladesh won only one game.

Skipper Mohammad Ashraful said, "If we perform well in the three departments (batting, bowling, fielding ) we will win the match and clinch the series." Ashraful hopes that his teammates can perform cent percent in today's affair and then they will win the match.

On the other hand, Brendon McCullum, the dashing batsman of New Zealand said, "I failed to perform well in the last two matches". He hopes that he will perform today and will fetch the victory.

Both teams took part in a hard practice session at the stadium on Monday last.

The cricket lovers of the country are expecting a more positive approach from their side.

Krugman wins Nobel economics prize

Paul Krugman

Reuters, Stockholm

Paul Krugman, the Princeton University scholar, New York Times columnist and unabashed liberal, won the Nobel prize in economics Monday for his analysis of how economies of scale can affect international trade patterns

Krugman has been a harsh critic of the Bush administration and the Republican Party in The New York Times, where he writes a regular column and has a blog called "Conscience of a Liberal."

He has also taken the Bush administration to task over the current financial meltdown, blaming its pursuit of deregulation and unencumbered fiscal policies for the financial crisis that has threatened the global economy with recession.

Perhaps better known as a columnist than an economist to the public, Krugman has also come out forcefully against John McCain during the economic meltdown, saying the Republican presidential candidate is "more frightening now than he was a few weeks ago." Krugman (pronounced KROOG-man) also has derided the Republicans as becoming "the party of stupid."

Tore Ellingsen, a member of the prize committee, acknowledged that Krugman was an "opinion maker" but added that he was honored on the merits of his economic research, not his political commentary.

"We disregard everything except for the scientific merits," Ellingsen told The Associated Press.

The 55-year-old American economist was the lone winner of the 10 million kronor ($1.4 million) award and the latest in a string of American researchers to be honored. It was only the second time since 2000 that a single laureate won the prize, which is typically shared by two or three researchers.

Not one to tone down his opinions, Krugman has compared the current financial crisis to the devastation of the 1930s.

"We are now witnessing a crisis that is as severe as the crisis that hit Asia in the 90's. This crisis bears some resemblance to the Great Depression," Krugman told reporters Monday.

But he was optimistic that a global effort aimed at stemming the financial blood loss had taken root.

"I'm slightly less terrified today than I was on Friday," he said, referring to the weekend crisis talks among European leaders that led to the nationalization of British banks, unlimited access to U.S. dollars to banks worldwide and efforts to stave off a global recession.

In contrast to his treatment of U.S. officials, Krugman has praised Britain's financial leaders for their nimble response to the credit crisis.

In a column Monday in the New York Times, Krugman wrote that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling "defined the character of the worldwide rescue effort, with other wealthy nations playing catch-up."

Whereas U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson at first rejected giving financial institutions more money in return for a share of ownership, the British government "went straight to the heart of the problem t with stunning speed," he wrote.

"And whaddya know," Krugman continued, "Mr. Paulson - after arguably wasting several precious weeks - has also reversed course, and now plans to buy equity stakes rather than bad mortgage securities."

The Bush administration would not comment Monday on whether Krugman would be invited to the White House as is custom with American Nobel laureates.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences praised Krugman for formulating a new theory to answer questions about free trade and said his theory had inspired an enormous field of research.

"What are the effects of free trade and globalization? What are the driving forces behind worldwide urbanization? Paul Krugman has formulated a new theory to answer these questions," the academy said in its citation.

"He has thereby integrated the previously disparate research fields of international trade and economic geography," it said.

The award, known as the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, is the last of the six Nobel prizes announced this year and is not one of the original Nobels. It was created in 1968 by the Swedish central bank in Alfred Nobel's memory.

In addition to his work as an economist at Princeton University in New Jersey, where he has been since 2000, Krugman has written for Foreign Affairs, the Harvard Business Review and Scientific American, among other publications.

He graduated with a bachelor's degree from Yale in 1974 and received a Ph.D. from MIT in 1977. Besides teaching at Yale and MIT, he also taught at Stanford.

Krugman said winning the Nobel award won't change his approach to research and writing.

"I'm a great believer in continuing to do work," he told reporters. "I hope that two weeks from now I'm back to being pretty much the same person I was before."

Krugman's work on new trade theory also garnered him the John Bates Clark medal from the American Economic Association in 1991. That prize is given every two years to an economist under the age of 40.

The Nobel citation said Krugman's approach is based on the premise that many goods and services can be produced at less cost in a long series, a concept known as economies of scale. His research showed the effects of that on trade patterns.

"Trade theory, like much of economics, used to be discussed in the context of perfect competition: thousands of farmers and thousands of customers meeting in a market," with supply and demand governing prices, said Avinash Dixit, a Princeton professor and economist who specializes in trade theory.

Gradually, people began to realize that conditions in the market were less than perfect, and the small number of companies in some industries had economies of scale that changed the trade equation.

"Krugman was the main person who brought all the theory together, recognized its importance to the real world (and) produced a large expansion of international trade theory," Dixit said.

Krugman introduced his trade theory in 1979 in a 10-page article in the Journal of International Economics.

It posited that because consumers want a diversity of products, and because economies of scale make production cheaper, multiple countries can build a product such as cars. A nation like Sweden can build its own car brands for both export and sale at home, while also importing cars from other countries.

The article also outlined a new theory of economic geography. Krugman's idea was that if two countries were alike but one had a larger population, real wages would be somewhat higher in the more populous country because companies there could make better use of economies of scale, creating a greater diversity of goods, lower prices, or both.

Because this enhances the welfare of consumers in that country, its population would increase as more people moved there, which would lead to additional increases in real wages.

Krugman is not the first Nobel economics winner to be a familiar name.

Paul Samuelson, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who won the prize in 1970, and the late Milton Friedman, longtime University of Chicago professor who won in 1976, were both columnists for Newsweek magazine for many years.

Friedman, who died in 2006, also was known for his PBS TV series "Free to Choose" in the United States, while Samuelson, 98, wrote an economics textbook used by millions of college students.

The Nobel Prizes in medicine, chemistry, physics, literature and economics will be handed out in Stockholm by Sweden's King Carl XVI on Dec. 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896. The Nobel Peace Prize is handed out in Oslo, Norway, on the same date.

New strategy to face global economic meltdown

Staff Reporter

Commerce Adviser Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman yesterday said that every crisis may create some opportunities for some countries.

He said Bangladesh has to go forward with new strategies considering the present global scenario of demands and economic reality.

To this affect the Commerce Ministry will organise seminar with the participation of top businessmen, exporters and chambers representatives, he said.

Zillur's remarks came yesterday when a delegation of Bangladesh-German Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BGCCI) led by its president Md Sayeeful Islam met him at his office.

Senior vice president of the chamber Faria Sadiq, executive member Syed Firoz Ahmed and Managing Director of Lufthansa Cargo Syed Sadakat Hossain and Commercial Councillor of German Embassy Rolsdieter, among others, Reinhard were present on the occasion.

The delegation informed the Adviser that BGCCI with the support of the Embassy of Germany in Dhaka will organise a three day long German Trade Show in the city highlighting the importance of Germany as a major business partner of Bangladesh.

The trade show aims to enhance the fruitful dialogue between German and Bangladeshi business partners resulting in stronger ties, the delegation said.

Bangladesh and German have good trade ties. German is the second largest export destination of Bangladeshi goods with US$2174.81 million exports in fiscal year 2007-08.

Bangladesh mainly exports woven garments, knitwear, home textile, jute yarn and twine, tents, footwear, jute manufacture, shrimps, pharmaceuticals, ceramic tableware and leather bags to Germany.

On the other hand, Bangladesh imports live animals, animal products, vegetable products, animal or vegetable fats and oil, prepared foodstuffs, mineral products, product of the chemical or allied industries and plastic articles.

1.18 cr MTs more foodgrains to be needed by 2020

Staff Reporter

To meet the increasing demand of the population in 2020, Bangladesh will have to produce 1.18 crore tonnes of additional foodgrain, a high official of Bangladesh Agriculture Development Cooperation (BADC) said.

He was addressing a view exchange meeting to mark the 47th founding anniversary of BADC on October 22 at a local hotel yesterday.

The BADC Secretary ABM Sirajul Haq said that Bangladesh has been producing three crore tonnes of foodgrain against the demand of 3.30 crore tonnes every year.

"We would have to produce 4.18 crore tonnes of foodgrain to meet the increasing demand of people in 2020," he said.

Sirajul Haq said "We can achieve our food production target through the use of the agricultural inputs properly."

The country's food production had faced setback due to reduction of subsidy in the agriculture sector following the prescription of the donor agencies, he said.

Criticising the previous government's role, he said that the distribution of fertiliser and other inputs have faced hindrance as the authorities permitted distribution of fertiliser through private agencies.

Md Nuruzzaman, general manager (seeds) of BADC, Md Shahjahan, chief engineer of

BADC, Eng Kazi Muzammel Hoque, Additional Chief Eng of BADC, Rakhi Das Purkayastha of Public relations of BADC, Md Eftekharul Islam of BADC, MA Motaleb, President of CBA addressed the meeting.

Govt dialogue with BNP, Jamaat today

Staff Reporter

The long- awaited government sponsored dialogue with the BNP and Jamaat-e- Islami Bangladesh will take place today at the Chief Adviser's Office.

BNP would sit dialogue with the government at 11am while Jamaat at 3:00 pm.

Chief Adviser Dr Fakruddin Ahmed will lead the government side. Five Advisers Major General (Retd) Ghulam Quader, AF Hassan Ariff, Anwarul Iqbal, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowhury and Hossain Zillur Rahman will also be present in the dialogue.

BNP Secretary General Khondoker Delwar Hossain will lead the BNP delegation.

The dialogue had been originally scheduled for October 15 and brought forward by a day. The date for dialogue was reset in consultation with the BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia with the Commerce and Education Adviser Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman at her cantonment residence on Friday last.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Education Adviser Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman and Adviser for the ministries of LGRD and Cooperative Anwarul Iqbal yesterday told the media that they were hopeful over the success of the dialogue.

Expressing his optimism Dr Zillur said "Government would sit dialogue with BNP and Jamaat with an open minded as it did with other political parties,".

"I hope a positive and constructive dialogue which would lead to a consensus and help hold free and fair elections in the country,".

Anwarul Iqbal said government would not put any agenda while sitting dialogue with BNP and Jammat.

The Secretaries General of the four parties recently held a meeting at BNP Secretary General Khondoker Delwar Hossain's Nam flat and discussed the dialogue agenda.

Sources from BNP and Jamaat said they have already finalised the discussion points for dialogue with the government.

The discussions would mainly focus on some existing obstacles to holding a fair election, especially the issue of withdrawal of the state of emergency.

" BNP will sit with the government in the interest of holding free, fair and credible elections," Kondoker Delwar Hossain told the media at his NAM flat yesterday.

He said that during the dialogue with the government his party would raise five points of demand.

"BNP would repeat its demand for withdrawal of the state of emergency, scrapping the amended Representation of the People Order (RPO), and release of the party leaders in jail and withdrawal of cases against them," he added.

Asked whether if would be possible to hold election under the state of emergency, he said the lifting of emergency was necessary for a fair election.

Lifting state of emergency, some amendments to the RPO, withdrawal of all cases filed against party chairperson, leaders and activists and deferring the upazila polls are among the demands made by BNP.

It may be mentioned that the dialogue between the government and the political parties started on May 22. The government has already had meetings with 16 parties including the Awami League.

BNP at a meeting on October 9 has decided to sit with the caretaker government for special dialogue amid at to remove all hurdles facing the party as regards registration.

Earlier BNP has formed a special committee for dialogue with Chowdhury Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui, Standing Committee Member, as convener of the committee.

The other members of the special committee are MK Anwar, Vice Chariman, Nazrul Islam Khan, Joint Secretary General, Abdul Mannan former lawmaker and Rizvi Ahmed, Office Secretary of BNP.

Subrato Bain’s return uncertain

Mamunur Rashid

The country's leading gangster Subrato Bain, who was arrested by Kolkata police on Saturday as a militant suspect faces deportation to Bangladesh.

However, West Bengal CID chief Rajeev Kumar said, "But we have to check whether this can be done directly or we will have to go through India's external affairs ministry," according to media report.

Kolkata police charged Subrato Bain with illegal entry into India without valid travel documents.

Bain, also known as Fateh Ali in India, was arrested at the Palm Avenue on Saturday as a militant suspect. During interrogation by police his true identity was confirmed.

Rajeev Kumar said Bain has recently paid a visit to China, but the purpose of the visit was not known.

Bain had run a crime syndicate in Dhaka known as the Seven Star for several years.

He now faces deportation. Last year India handed over five other wanted criminals to Bangladesh.

In 2007, Interpol informed the Indian authorities that as many as 23 alleged high-profile Bangladeshi criminals had crossed into West Bengal and taken shelter, mostly in and around Kolkata.

Last year, the Indian government handed back five criminals wanted by the Dhaka authorities. In March this year, two others were deported.

However, India is yet to send back another wanted man, Khondkar Tanvirul Islam Joy, who was arrested earlier this year in the capital of West Bengal.

Bangladesh is upset with the delay in Joy's repatriation because he is wanted in connection with several major crimes.

Elections under emergency hardly credible: Moriarty

UNB, Dhaka

US Ambassador James Moriarty who had a long meeting with BNP chairperson and ex-PM Khaleda Zia yesterday categorically said general election would hardly be credible under the state of emergency.

After a one-and-a-half-hour-long meeting at Khaleda's Gulshan party office from 5:30 pm, the diplomat told reporters that the US government wants to see free, fair and credible elections on December 18.

In his broken Bangla language Moriarty said, "Amar Khub Kom Biswas abadh, shustha o nirapekkha nirbachan hobe jaruri khamatar adhine."

He observed it would be difficult for the people of Bangladesh to believe that the elections were held neutral under the emergency, which was declared to head off rival political parties from street fighting over the issues of election that was set for January 22, 2007 but cancelled under the circumstances.

The Ambassador, however, said the government and the political parties would be able to reach consensus on this issue.

He said US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia and he himself had also earlier conveyed this observation to the caretaker government and political parties.

Expressing the hope that the elections will be successful, Moriarty said they also discussed transition to democracy and non-patronization of terrorists.

He said he would continue the discussions with the government and the parties in the interest of restoration of democracy in the country.

BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain, former Foreign Affairs Adviser Reaz Rahman, former Foreign Secretary Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury and Political Officer of the US mission Dan Biers were present at the meeting, held on the eve of tomorrow's crucial BNP-government dialogue.

Briefing reporters, Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury said it was a courtesy call when Begum Zia categorically said BNP is a pre-election party and wants to join the election. As part of the process, BNP will sit with the caretaker government for political dialogue today.

Asked whether they raised the issue of the election under emergency, Chowdhury said it came up but they want to discuss the matter with the caretaker government instead of discussing it with a foreign envoy.

During the parley, Begum Zia said the government should defer the dates for upazila elections and set new dates. And if BNP returns to power, they will hold the upazila elections on those dates.

Donors alerted of adverse impact

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed has alerted development partners of possible adverse economic impact on Bangladesh, if there is foreign assistance slowdown as fallout of global financial crisis.

He rang the alarm bell at an international roundtable on "Impact of Financial Crisis in South Asia" on the sidelines of IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington D.C. on Friday, according to a message received here yesterday.

"If the Official Development Assistance (ODA) and bilateral fund flow slows down, pressures on government budget will be strong and may affect government's ongoing poverty alleviation, social safety net, health and education programmes," Dr Salehuddin told the meeting.

Nobel Laureate and former chief economist of the World Bank Prof Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist of IMF Dr Ragu Rajan and governors of the central banks of Pakistan and India also spoke at the meeting, dwelling on the possible impacts of the financial crisis.

Governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed put the Bangladesh perspective as a possibility of long term consequences of the financial crisis. "If the global crisis is prolonged and deepened in the developed countries, the effect via real sector like export and import may have adverse impact on Bangladesh."

He said the commercial banks in Bangladesh are not very much exposed to the banks and investment firms in the USA and Europe. Therefore, the ripples of financial shock into the financial systems would be less likely in the short run.

Besides, he said, the commercial banks in Bangladesh were taking appropriate measures so that their funds kept in the banks abroad are not adversely affected.

"The liquidity position of the commercial banks in Bangladesh is good and no commercial banks have come to the central bank for massive liquidity support or they did not request for support for insolvency."

Addressing the meeting, Prof Stiglitz said the present global financial crisis is due to inadequate regulation and poor supervision of the banks and investment firms in the USA.

Dr Ragu Rajan emphasised on comprehensive package for overcoming the problem to boost confidence again.