Masihur Rahman is an economist and a former civil servant of the Bangladesh government. During his career, he held many important government offices and represented the government at the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the Islamic Development Bank.
Considered as one of the country's foremost experts in economics, [1] [2] he has authored several books on economics and politics, and his articles have been published in different journals. Since 2002, he has contributed articles to newspapers and journals published in Dhaka. [3] [4] [5] [6]
In 2006, while serving as the managing director and the economic adviser to the Board of the Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Ltd. (CRAB), he was elected as a member of the Best Practices Committee of the Association of Credit Rating Agencies in Asia (ACRAA). As of Summer/Fall 2008, he is touring across campuses in the United States giving lectures on the politics of Bangladesh at conferences. [7]
Masihur Rahman studied economics at Dhaka University from 1959 to 1963. He obtained his master's degree from the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University in 1976, and his PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University in 1980.
Masihur Rahman joined the Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) in October 1965. He held several important government offices including:
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During his career, he represented the government as Alternate Governor, Acting Governor or Member of the board of directors at the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, [8] [9] the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and its affiliate for private sector development. He was chair of the evaluation committee of IFAD (mid-1980s) and as vice-chair presided over the business sessions at the annual meeting of IDB in 2001.
He retired from his government service in October 2001.
His published monographs and books include:
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most-populous country in the world, with a population of around 169 million people in an area of 148,460 square kilometres (57,320 sq mi). Bangladesh is among the most densely populated countries in the world, and shares land borders with India to the west, north, and east, and Myanmar to the southeast; to the south it has a coastline along the Bay of Bengal. It is narrowly separated from Bhutan and Nepal by the Siliguri Corridor; and from China by the Indian state of Sikkim in the north. Dhaka, the capital and largest city, is the nation's political, financial and cultural centre. Chittagong, the second-largest city, is the busiest port on the Bay of Bengal. The official language is Bengali, one of the easternmost branches of the Indo-European language family.
Dhaka, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. It is the ninth-largest and seventh-most densely populated city in the world. Dhaka is a megacity, and has a population of 10.2 million residents as of 2022, and a population of over 22.4 million residents in Greater Dhaka. It is widely considered to be the most densely populated built-up urban area in the world. Dhaka is the most important cultural, economic, and scientific hub of Eastern South Asia, as well as a major Muslim-majority city. Dhaka ranks third in South Asia and 39th in the world in terms of GDP. Lying on the Ganges Delta, it is bounded by the Buriganga, Turag, Dhaleshwari and Shitalakshya rivers. Dhaka is also the largest Bengali-speaking city in the world.
The foreign relations share the Bangladeshi government's policies in its external relations with the international community. The country pursues a moderate foreign policy that places heavy reliance on multinational diplomacy, especially at the United Nations and World Trade Organization (WTO). Since independence in 1971, the country has stressed its principle of "Friendship towards all, malice towards none" in dictating its diplomacy. As a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, Bangladesh has tended to not take sides with major powers. Since the end of the Cold War, the country has pursued better relations with regional neighbours.
Iajuddin Ahmed was the President of Bangladesh, serving from 6 September 2002 until 12 February 2009. From late October 2006 to January 2007, he also served as Chief Advisor of the caretaker government. From October 2006 to early 2008, his responsibilities as president included the Defense Ministry of the caretaker government.
Khaleda Zia is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996, and again from June 2001 to October 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh. She is the widow of former president of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman. She is the chairperson and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since 1984, which was founded by her late husband in 1978.
Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance. These loans are given to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Yunus and the Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts through microcredit to create economic and social development from below". The Norwegian Nobel Committee said that "lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty" and that "across cultures and civilizations, Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development". Yunus has received several other national and international honours. He received the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010.
The Bengali language movement was a political movement in former East Bengal advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language of the then-Dominion of Pakistan to allow its use in government affairs, the continuation of its use as a medium of education, its use in media, currency and stamps, and to maintain its writing in the Bengali script.
Moudud Ahmed was a Bangladeshi lawyer and politician. He was a standing committee member of Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Ahmed was elected as a Jatiya Sangsad member total five times from Noakhali-1 and Noakhali-5 constituencies.
Atiur Rahman is a Bangladeshi development economist, writer and banker. He served as the 10th Governor of Bangladesh Bank, which is the central bank of Bangladesh. He has also been called "the banker of the poor" for his contributions in developing the economy of Bangladesh. Atiur Rahman is credited for instituting changes in the banking industry of Bangladesh that greatly increased the foreign exchange reserves of the country and brought massive automation and digitization in the banking sector of Bangladesh. Achievements during his tenure include the creation of the National Payment Switch of Bangladesh; introducing automated check clearing for banks in Bangladesh using local currency cheques; starting mobile banking, which lets people carry out banking transactions via SMS or apps; establishing the Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network (BEFTN), which is a system of transferring money from one bank account directly to another bank without paper money ever changing hands; and installing the Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (BACH), which permits rapid electronic inter-bank transfers within the country with automatic adjustment of accounts. On 15 March 2016, he resigned as the governor of the central bank after the cyber hacking and theft of US$101 million in foreign reserves from the Bangladesh Bank account held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Dhaka (Dacca) is one of the oldest inhabited mega cities of the World. The history of Dhaka begins with the existence of urbanised settlements in the area that is now Dhaka dating from the 7th century CE. The city area was ruled by the Hindu Gauda Kingdom, Buddhist and Shaivite Pala Empire before passing to the control of the Hindu Sena dynasty in the 10th century CE. After the Sena dynasty, the city was ruled by the Hindu Deva Dynasty. Dhaka was successively ruled by the Turkic and Afghan governors descending from the Delhi Sultanate, followed by the Bengal Sultanate, before the arrival of the Mughals in 1608. The city became proto-industrialised and declared capital of the Mughal Bengal and commercial (financial) capital of the Mughal India. The Dhaka natural riverine port has a recorded existence since the 16th century CE. Dhaka's strategic riverine location in Bengal made it a hub for Eurasian traders, including Armenians, the Portuguese, French, Dutch and British. The bustling old city was known as the Venice of the East. After Mughals, British ruled the region for 200 years until the independence of India in 1947. After the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, Dhaka became the capital of the new state.
Sitakunda is an upazila in the Chattogram District of Chattogram Division, Bangladesh. It includes one urban settlement, the Sitakunda Town, and 10 unions. Sitakunda is the home of the country's first eco-park, as well as alternative energy projects, specifically wind energy and geothermal power.
With abundant water resources, Bangladesh faces various water contaminations mainly caused by pollutants, bacteria, and pesticides. Historically, water sources in Bangladesh came from surface water contaminated with bacteria. Drinking infected water resulted in infants and children suffering from acute gastrointestinal disease that led to a high mortality rate. According to UNICEF, 38.3% of Bangladeshis drink unsafe water from bacteria-contaminated sources. Bangladesh is facing an acute reliable drinking water scarcity. Bangladesh's surface and ground water are highly saline due to rising sea levels.
Abul Maal Abdul Muhith was a Bangladeshi economist, writer, civil servant, secretary, diplomat and politician. He served as the Finance Minister of the government of Bangladesh from January 2009 until January 2019.
Swadesh Ranjan Bose was a Bengali language movement activist and an economist. For his contributions to the field of economics he was posthumously given the Independence Day Award, Bangladesh's highest state award.
The University of Dhaka is a public research university located in Shahbag, Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh and one of the most prestigious universities in Asia. The university is known for the patronisation of one of most important physics discoveries of all time, when Satyendra Nath Bose FRS provided the foundation for Bose-Einstein statistics and the theory of Bose-Einstein condensate at Curzon Hall
Quazi Golam Dastgir was a Bangladesh army general and diplomat. From 1975 to 1977, he served as the "Zonal Martial Law Administrator" for Dhaka Division.
Salman Fazlur Rahman is a Bangladeshi businessman, adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, and a member of the Jatiya Sangsad. Currently, he is holding the rank of a cabinet minister and serving as the Private Industry and Investment Adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Earlier, he served as the private sector development affairs adviser to her. He was ranked 1685th on the list of billionaires in the world published by Beijing-based Hurun Gobal in 2017. He is the vice chairman of BEXIMCO Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Bangladesh. He was the president of several trade bodies including Association of Television Channel Owners (ATCO).
Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad is a Bangladeshi economist and development thinker and activist. He is currently the chairman of Dhaka School of Economics (DScE), a constituent institution of the University of Dhaka, devoted to post-graduate studies in economics and related subjects. He is also the chairman of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), which is largest rural development funding, skill development and management support agency in Bangladesh. He received the highest national civilian award Independence Award 2019; and Ekushe Padak 2009, presented by the Government of Bangladesh.
Shegufta Bakht Chaudhuri was a Bangladeshi economist who served as the fourth governor of Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh during 1987–1992, and was also the advisor of the first caretaker government of Bangladesh in 1996.
Fahmida Khatun is a Bangladeshi economist who focuses on policy analysis and project management.