Finance minister AMA Muhith has turned down the proposal for restoring the banking division in the finance ministry as the number of the government-run banks has diminished in the last few years and the ministry does not need to have much of a say in their affairs and operation, said officials.

'The finance minister rejected the proposal last week,' said a senior official on Monday, adding that in a note he ruled out the necessity of a separate banking division in the finance ministry under the present circumstances. 'The government has already given full autonomy to the Bangladesh Bank for supervising the country's banking sector,' he pointed out. The Prime Minister's Office last August sent a letter to the finance ministry to look into the necessity of setting up separate banking division.

The Awami League government abolished the separate banking division under the finance ministry when its came to power in 1996. Later, as advocated by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, a council was formed on 10 March, 2003, by amending the Bangladesh Bank Order of 1972, to look into the various issues of the banks. The amended Order provided the BB limited autonomy and assigned the council the responsibility of coordinating and looking into the fiscal issues between the central bank and the government for taking corrective measures whenever necessary.

-New Age