Abdur Rouf resigns as Bangladesh Bank Governor

Central bank officials started protesting, demanding his resignation two days earlier

Abdur Rouf Talukder, appointed during Sheikh Hasina's tenure, has resigned as the Governor of Bangladesh Bank amid growing unrest within the central bank following the recent change in government.

Speaking to bdnews24.com on Friday night, he said, "I have resigned from my position and submitted my resignation letter."

Talukder, who previously served as senior secretary to the Ministry of Finance, was appointed as governor in July 2022 for a four-year term.

To take up the position, he retired from his secretary post one year before his official retirement. However, he has now resigned with two years remaining in his term as governor.

Following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on Aug 5, the interim administration ordered the cancellation of all leaves and the reopening of offices from Aug 6.

However, Talukder did not return to his office and officially resigned on Friday, submitting his resignation through the finance ministry.

Protests erupted among Bangladesh Bank officials on Wednesday, demanding the resignation of the governor and four deputy governors.

The protesters later decided to push for the removal of the top officials once the interim government was established.

The protesters accused the central bank, an autonomous institution, of being involved in various "wrongdoings" under the current leadership.

They claimed that the deputy governors failed to carry out their duties effectively and did not take appropriate action against incidents of money laundering and financial scandals.

During his tenure, Talukder made several unprecedented decisions in the early stages of the post-COVID economic recovery.

He identified ten weak banks and promised to improve their financial health, but the banks showed no significant improvement.

Under his leadership, the central bank provided liquidity support worth thousands of millions to Shariah-based banks without requiring adequate collateral. Despite reforms in monetary policy to control inflation, it remained close to 10 percent for the past two years.

The announcement to make the exchange rate of the dollar market-based has yet to be implemented after a year.

Due to weaknesses in managing the dollar, the value of the taka depreciated by Tk 24.55, or 26.27 percent, over the past two years.

At one point, the open market exchange rate for the dollar reached a record high of Tk 125.

During Talukder's two-year tenure, non-performing loans increased by over Tk 570 billion, an unprecedented rise in such a short period.

Most recently, the central bank's initiative to merge weak banks sparked new controversy.

Under Talukder's approval, the struggling Padma Bank (formerly Farmers Bank) signed a merger agreement with Shariah-based EXIM Bank, while Bangladesh Development Bank Limited signed a merger deal with state-owned Sonali Bank.