AMA Muhith, who delivered record number of budgets for Bangladesh, dies at 88

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, the former finance minister who ushered Bangladesh into the era of the trillion-taka budget and whose policies helped shape its economy to its current status, has died under hospital care in Dhaka. He was 88.

He breathed his last at United Hospital at 12:56am on Saturday, the foreign ministry said in a statement. His younger brother AK Abdul Momen is the current foreign minister.

After serving Sheikh Hasina’s cabinet from 2009 to 2018 - financing the Padma Bridge project from domestic sources after Hasina went toe-to-toe with the World Bank which cancelled $1.2 billion credit being another highlight of his — and delivering the maximum number of 10 national budgets in a row, Muhith signed off from politics in 2019.

Hasina mourned Muhith and sympathised with the bereaving family, an official in her press wing said.

Muhith, who had been a member of the Pakistan Civil Service, left his job at the Pakistan embassy in the US in 1971 and joined the first government of Bangladesh, Hasina noted.

The Independence Award-winning economist will be remembered through his works, she said.

A former member of the Awami League’s Advisory Council, Muhith had been sick for quite some time. He was hospitalised for fatigue in the first week of March. After his condition improved, he returned home to Banani.

Muhith was born to Advocate Abu Ahmad Abdul Hafiz and Syed Shahar Banu Chowdhury in Sylhet on Jan 25, 1934. Hafiz was the founder of the then Sylhet District Muslim League, Shahar Banu was also active in politics.

Muhith secured the first place in intermediate examinations in the province in 1951 from Sylhet MC College.

He stood first class first in BA (Honours) in English Literature in 1954 from Dhaka University and passed his MA with credit from the same university in 1955.

During his service period, he studied in Oxford University in 1957-58 and received MPA degree from Harvard University in 1964.

After joining Pakistan Civil Service in 1956, he served in different capacities in the government of East Pakistan, the Central government of Pakistan, and then Bangladesh after independence.

During his service as the chief and deputy secretary of the Pakistan Planning Commission, he made a report on the disparity between East and West Pakistan in 1966 and that was the first report submitted on that issue in the Pakistan National Assembly in fulfilment of the constitutional obligation.

He was the first diplomat of the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington to pledge his allegiance to Bangladesh in June during the Liberation War of 1971.

He was appointed as the secretary of planning in January 1972 and secretary of the External Resources Division of Finance and Planning Ministry in May 1977.

Muhith went for early retirement in 1981 from his service and started the second innings of his career as a consultant on economic and development matters at Ford Foundation, IFAD, UN, UNDP, ADB and World Bank.

He was also finance and planning minister from March 1982 to December 1983 during HM Ershad's government.

He joined the Awami League in 2001 and was appointed a member of its Advisory Council in 2002. He was elected a Member of Parliament in 2009 from his home constituency in Sylhet.

Muhith will be buried in his home district Sylhet after several rounds of funeral prayers.

Citing Momen, the foreign ministry said Muhith’s Namaz-e-Janaza will be held at Gulshan Azad Mosque at 10:30am and at parliament complex at 11:30am.

His body will be taken to the Central Shaheed Minar at 2pm for the people to pay their last respects. The mortal remains will then be taken to Sylhet for the burial.