‘My first priority would be containing inflation’: New BB Governor

GBNews24 Desk//

Newly appointed Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder has said that his first and foremost priority will be containing soaring inflation.

“I have seven priority tasks and the first one is to control inflation. With the central bank and the Finance Division’s joint efforts, we believe inflation can be tamed,” he told a press conference at the Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday.

Mentioning that the government took measures in the national budget and monetary policy to curb inflation, Abdur Rouf Talukder said the current inflation did not come from the country’s money supply or money creation.

“The key reason behind the ongoing inflation was increased costs of imports.”

The other priorities of the governor are stabilising foreign exchange rates, taking foreign currency reserves to a better level, ensuring financial stability, rebuilding the non-bank financial sector, increasing private sector investment and achieving targeted GDP growth.

“After my four-year tenure, I want to see three major changes in the central bank; it will be an intellectual institution, a more professional institution, and an apex regulatory body,” added the newly-appointed governor.

On exchange rates, he said that there is a risk of making the rates free float. “There is no such example in the world. Intervention exists at one level or another. We may reduce the intervention. But the central bank will keep an eye on it.”

The free-floating can increase the price of the products and increase inflation, he said, adding, “We can only move towards stability if we can reduce the gap between inflow and outflow.”

On reserves, the governor said their goal is to take the reserves to a level enough for meeting the six-month import costs. “We had to spend $9 billion more to import just 8 products, including oil, wheat, fertilisers and gas. If their prices do not go down, the situation will be difficult to handle, because we have no control over them.”