Abul Maal Abdul Muhith

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith আবুল মাল আবদুল মুহিত
Finance Minister of People's Republic of Bangladesh
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 January 2009
Preceded by	Saifur Rahman
Member of Parliament for Sylhet-1
Preceded by	Saifur Rahman
Personal details
Born	(1934-10-06) October 6, 1934 Sylhet, Bengal Presidency, British India (now in Bangladesh)
Political party	Bangladesh Awami League
Alma mater	Dhaka University Harvard University Oxford University

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith is an economist, diplomat, and a Bengali Language Movement veteran from Bangladesh. He has been the country's Finance Minister since January 2009.

Early life and education

Born in Sylhet in 1934, Muhith passed the matriculation exam from Sylhet Government Pilot High School in 1949. He secured first place in his Intermediate examination in 1951 from Sylhet MC College. He stood first class first in B.A. (Hons.) in English Literature in 1954 from Dhaka University and passed his Masters with credit from the same university in 1955.

While in service to the government, he studied at Oxford University and received a MPA Degree from Harvard University during 1963–64.^[1]

Early career

Mr. Muhith served as the general secretary of the central committee of the Pakistan Civil Service Association during 1960–1969. He joined the Pakistan Embassy in the United States as an Economic Councilor in 1969. In 1966, he was honoured with the Tamgha e Khidmat award by the Pakistan government. During his service as the Chief and Deputy Secretary of Pakistan Planning Commission, he made a report on the discrimination between East and West Pakistan and that was the first submitted report on that issue in Pakistan National Congress. He was the first diplomat of Washington Embassy who showed his consent in favour of Bangladesh giving up the side of Pakistan during the Independence War of 1971. He was appointed as the Secretary of Planning in 1972 and Secretary of the External Resource Department of Finance and Planning Ministry in 1977.

Retirement and return

He went for self retirement in 1981 from his service and then he started his second innings of his career as the specialist of economics and development in Ford Foundation and in the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). He became Finance and Planning Minister in 1982–83. Next he worked as the specialist of different institutions of World Bank and the United Nations. He has been a recognised figure in the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, IDB and in different organisations of United Nations. He was the Visiting Fellow of Princeton University in 1984 and 1985.

He took oath as the Finance Minister of Bangladesh government on 6 January 2009 and in August 2009 he was inaugurated the building of the Benapole Customs and Immigration Check Post.^[2]

Criticism

Muhith had faced criticism for his handling of the 2011 share market crash;^[3][4]He admitted to his mistakes in decisions related to the stock market in addition to the mistakes of the Security and Exchange Commission.^[5] Although the opposition leaders and protesting investors had called for his resignation, he refused and defended his position.^[4] He had appointed a probe committee to investigate the allegations against the Security Exchange Commission, however this also attracted criticism towards him as he consequently refused to publicly disclose the names of those accused of chicanery by this committee. Muhith became the center of a criticism after he had commented on the Hallmark money scam that the Tk 4,000 crore embezzled was a "meager amount". He later apologized for his statement.^[6] Muhith had been criticised for consistently insulting Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus and terming his comments as "totally rubbish" and also for saying Dr. Muhammad Yunus has no integrity over the Grameen Bank issue.^[7]

Personal

Muhith is a published writer with 21 books on different subjects, including administrative and liberation war affairs. He helped found the Bangladesh Environment Movement and was also the founder President of BAPA. The pledges Muhith made include preventing unplanned urbanisation, saving the environment and taking steps to relocate the Sylhet Central Jail in the city center and build up a recreational park in its place.

Muhith is married to Syeda Sabia Muhith. They are parents of two sons and a daughter. Their daughter, Samina Muhith, is a banker and specialist in monetary policy. Their elder son, Shahed Muhith, is an ecologist and their younger son, Samir Muhith, is a teacher.

References