BB governor Rouf given ‘D’ grade by Global Finance magazine

Bangladesh Bank governor Abdur Rouf Talukder has been given a ‘D grade’ as governor in a ranking by Global Finance magazine.

Shaktikanta Das, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, received ‘A+ grade’, Sri Lanka’s central bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe got A- and Pakistan’s central bank governor Jameel Ahmad a ‘C- grade’ in the same ranking.

The New York-based magazine published its Central Banker Report Cards-2023 on Sunday. The Global Finance magazine has been publishing the report cards since 1994.

Other than the governor of the Indian central bank, governors of central banks of Vietnam and Switzerland-- Nguyen Thi Hong and Thomas Jordan-- also got an A+ grade.

The report blamed high inflation and devaluation of the taka for the poor show of Bangladesh Bank governor.

“For Bangladesh Bank (BB), as with many other central banks in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC), the mandate was reasonably met during the first half of the review period: Post-Covid GDP growth was solid at 5.6 per cent, while inflation modestly overshot BB’s 5 per cent target by 0.6 per cent and the taka was steady.

However, by mid-2022, the taka was devalued by 9.5 per cent; importers struggled with an onshore shortage of dollars; energy and food costs ballooned due to the Ukraine conflict; and inflation ran rampant,” said the report.

Global Finance magazine said after quick depletion of foreign exchange reserves, a call went out for International Monetary Fund (IMF) support.

“But the structural weakness of the Bangladeshi economy and the government’s 60 per cent control of the central bank produce a vulnerability to externalities such as the inflation shock of 2022,” the report adds.

Indian central bank was credited with solid GDP growth the country’s economy grew by 9.1 per cent, near its all-time high in 2021.

According to the report, “Add to that a promising trajectory in his other significant key performance indicator—controlling inflation—wherein the consumer price indexes (CPI) declined from 6.5 per cent in January to 4.25 per cent in May, justifying a tight money campaign delivered via six repo rate hikes up to an April pause at 6.5 per cent, and Shaktikanta Das must be proffered the proverbial cigar for outstanding performance."

Another headline achievement was the rollout of liquidity rules for nonbank financial companies (NBFCs) and a regulatory framework that came into force last October for the oft-troubled NBFC sector, added the report about the success of Indian central bank governor.

Global Finance editors, with input from financial industry sources, grade the world’s leading central bankers on a scale of A to F, with A being the highest grade and F the lowest, based on objective and subjective metrics. Judgments are based on performance from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023, said the Global Finance magazine.