6-9pc bank interest rates not acceptable: Hossain Zillur

Former adviser to the caretaker government and the chairman of BRAC, Hossain Zillur, has said the real scenario of economy hasn’t come to the fore.

That’s why it is mandatory now to add up the word “actual” before giving any statistics over the banking sector, inflation and poverty, he added.

Highlighting the scenario of poor and street people, the economist further said, "It has shown what the real scenario is and the number of poor people has increased. Many economic issues are inextricably related to these."

Apart from this, what is happening over the six per cent interest rate in bank deposit and nine per cent in loan distribution is not acceptable, he added.            

He came up with these remarks on Saturday at an event at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity (DRU) to mark the publication of the banking almanac book.

Planning minister MA Mannan was the chief guest at the event with Salehuddin Ahmed, former governor of Bangladesh Bank and the chairman of the editorial board of Banking Almanac in the chair.

Former banker Nurul Amin, former managing director of Bangladesh Shilpa Bank (BSB) Amanullah, executive editor of Banking Almanac Syed Ziauddin Ahmed and project director Abdar Rahman also spoke on the occasion.