Bangladesh on Sunday decided to bring Nobel Prize winning Grameen Bank under the central bank’s jurisdiction amid controversy over the fate of the pioneering micro-credit body after its founder Muhammad Yunus was forced to quit two years ago.
‘We have decided to bring Grameen Bank under the Bangladesh Bank’s jurisdiction in line with the suggestions of the (government-constituted Grameen Bank) Commission,’ finance minister AMA Muhith told reporters.
He said the commission was yet to submit its final report to the government but ‘we already know about its contents and are taking steps to make the change as it suggested’.
The three-member commission was constituted last year to review Grameen Bank’s governing structure after Yunus was forced to quit as its managing director losing his final court battle.
For the last one year the Bank was running without the managing director as Yunus obtained a stay order from the high court over the appointment of the bank’s executive head while Muhith said initiatives were now underway to dispose the writ.
The decision to entrust the central bank with Grameen’s responsibility came after the reported suggestion by the commission to bring it under absolute control splitting the pioneering micro-lending agency into 19 parts sparked massive criticism.
Muhith, however, told media that no major changes would be brought to the Grameen law.
Yunus’ office is yet to issue any statement on Muhith?s comments but the 73-year old economist earlier vehemently opposed the previous government plan to split the Grameen which he had founded more than three decades ago.
‘We have decided to bring Grameen Bank under the Bangladesh Bank’s jurisdiction in line with the suggestions of the (government-constituted Grameen Bank) Commission,’ finance minister AMA Muhith told reporters.
He said the commission was yet to submit its final report to the government but ‘we already know about its contents and are taking steps to make the change as it suggested’.
The three-member commission was constituted last year to review Grameen Bank’s governing structure after Yunus was forced to quit as its managing director losing his final court battle.
For the last one year the Bank was running without the managing director as Yunus obtained a stay order from the high court over the appointment of the bank’s executive head while Muhith said initiatives were now underway to dispose the writ.
The decision to entrust the central bank with Grameen’s responsibility came after the reported suggestion by the commission to bring it under absolute control splitting the pioneering micro-lending agency into 19 parts sparked massive criticism.
Muhith, however, told media that no major changes would be brought to the Grameen law.
Yunus’ office is yet to issue any statement on Muhith?s comments but the 73-year old economist earlier vehemently opposed the previous government plan to split the Grameen which he had founded more than three decades ago.