Educational Qualifications

• Master of Business Administration, Vrije Universiteit, Brussels, Belgium, 1993

• Graduate Study in Development Economics and Development Administration as a Hubert Humphrey North-South Fellow at the Colorado State University, USA, 1986-87

• M.A in Economics, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1968
• B.A (Hons) in Economics, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1967

Professional Experience 

Adviser, Southeast Bank Ltd. (A leading Private Sector Commercial Bank in Bangladesh)

(From September, 2010)

Responsibilities include:

• Identifying strategic direction of the Bank and overseeing implementation of the strategies.

• Reviewing the corporate governance structure of the Bank and suggesting necessary reforms.

• Overseeing implementation of reforms as suggested by regulatory authorities to improve internal controls.

• Establishing and maintaining liaison with international agencies such as IFC, World Bank, ADB, and IDB etc. to explore business opportunities for the Bank.

• Strengthening mutually beneficial correspondent banking relationship with Foreign Banks.

• Identifying required changes in the Bank’s Information Communication Technology based on needs and demands of time.

Alternate Executive Director, Board of Directors of the World Bank Group, Washington D.C, USA representing the constituency comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka.

(August 2005 to January 2009)

Responsibilities Included:

• Promoting Development cooperation between the World Bank Group and the constituency countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka);

• Reviewing and approving World Bank Group policies and strategies for economic development and poverty reduction in developing countries and approving development programs and projects;

• Serving as an Alternate Member of the World Bank Board’s Committees on Development Effectiveness, Audit, Personnel, Governance and Administrative Management and Corporate Ethics. Also served as a Member of the SubCommittee on Development Effectiveness.

Secretary, Finance Division, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of Bangladesh

 (July 2001 to July 2005)

Responsibilities Included:

• Overall macroeconomic management of the country as part of the macroeconomic management team of the Government and public sector financial management including budgeting, accounting, internal control and audit and expenditure control.

• Leading the inter-ministerial Steering Committees for designing and implementing Financial Management Reform Program of the Government of Bangladesh with the assistance of DFID and the Dutch Govt. The reforms included amongst others the following:

• Reforms in budgeting including introduction and implementation of the Medium Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF) in the Ministry of Finance and Planning and major line ministries;

• Reorganization of the Ministry of Finance including steps towards integration of the Revenue and Development budget, setting up the debt management function and initiating macro fiscal management and forecasting function; ∙ Introducing internal control and internal audit function in the Ministry of Finance and line ministries;

• Strengthening the budget and accounts classification system to support the MTBF process, pro-poor and gender budgeting and accountability in budget execution through modern expenditure control techniques;

• Introduction and implementation of integrated budgeting and accounting system in the office of Controller General of Accounts and most of the field accounts offices, adoption of GFS practices in Govt. Accounts, strengthening the computerization process in the budgeting and accounting function to provide real time financial information for policy analysis;

• Designing and implementing a government wide training program to support and sustain the system.

• Headed the inter-ministerial Steering committees of the Government on Financial Sector reforms including;

• Supporting banking reforms including restructuring of the nationalized banks and strengthening autonomy of the central bank;
• Implementation of Donor- Funded projects on rural and micro credit, promotion of private sector investment and strengthening the Securities and Exchange Commission;
• Served as Chairman of the Nationalized General (Shadharan) Insurance Corporation and Sonali Bank Ltd, UK., Director of the Bangladesh Bank, Infrastructure Development Company Ltd, IFIC Bank, Director of Bangladesh Biman and Member of Board of Governors of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies;

• Played an active role in formulation of the interim PRSP and PRSP of the government of Bangladesh and chaired a number of thematic groups for formulation of PRSP;

• Actively negotiated with IMF and World Bank the introduction and implementation of IMF’s Poverty Reduction Growth Facility (PRGF) and World Bank’s series of Development Support Credit(DSCs).

Secretary, Internal Resources Division and Chairman of the National Board of Revenue, Govt. of Bangladesh.

 (August 2000 to June 2001)

 As the top tax Collector of the country mobilized record internal resources through various reforms which included:

• Streamlining Value Added Tax and Income Tax policies and restructuring tax administration;

• Introduction of ASYCUDA++ system in custom funded by the World Bank and Reforms in Revenue Administration (RIRA) project funded by DFID, UK for modernization of Income Tax;

• Strengthening compliance in tax mobilization through developing effective partnership with private sector organizations;

• Introduction and implementation of change management culture in revenue administration;

• Implementing pre-shipment inspection system for customs clearance. 

Additional Secretary, Finance Division, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of Bangladesh (September 1999 to July 2000)

Responsibilities:

• Supervision and monitoring of nationalized banking sector;

• Formulation of non-tax revenue policies and monitoring of collection of non- tax revenues of the Govt.;

• Controlling public expenditure;

• Monitoring of quasi-fiscal debt of the Government and financial performance of state-owned enterprises.

Deputy Team Leader and Senior National Consultant, Reforms in Budgeting and Expenditure Control Project, Reforms in Govt. audit Project and Financial Management Academy Project of the Govt. of Bangladesh and funded by DFID, UK.

(February 1996 to August 1999)

Responsibilities Included:

• Supervising the work of the national consultancy team of about 25 national consultants and coordinating their work with international consultants and government counterparts;

• Designing and implementing new budget and accounts classification and computerization of Govt. accounts and budgetary process;

• Updating financial rules and regulations, namely: Accounts Code, Audit Code, Treasury Rules and General Financial Rules of the Govt.;

• Introduction of Systems Audit and Performance Audit and developing relevant Manuals;

• Restructuring of the Ministry of Finance, Audit Dept. and Accounts Dept.;

• Setting up a Financial Management Academy;

• Survey of training needs and introduction and implementation of comprehensive training for about five thousand officers and staff members to support and sustain the systemic reforms introduced.
• Designing and implementing Masters Degree level Financial Management course at home and abroad for a core group of mid-level officers numbering about a hundred.

Joint Secretary, Cabinet Division, Govt. of Bangladesh. 

(March 1994 to January 1996)

Responsibilities:

• Providing policy and staff support to the Ministerial Committees on Economic Affairs and Govt. procurement;

• Supported the work of these Committees by providing macro-economic and financial policy analysis;

• Coordinated the economic policy issues of different Ministries and monitored the implementation of decisions of these committees.

Economic Minister, Embassy of Bangladesh, Brussels, Belgium

(September 1989 to February 1994)

Duties Performed:

• Promotion of development cooperation between Bangladesh and the European Union;

• Export Promotion to EU countries;

• Strengthening business and investment promotion between Bangladesh and the EU.

Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Establishment, Govt. of Bangladesh, 

(August 1987 to August 1989) 

Responsibilities Included:

• Developing career planning policies for the civil service;

• Human resource management of officers of the rank of deputy secretary and above;

• Undertaking training needs analysis.

Member, Board of Directors of the Rural Electrification Board: 

(August 1987 to August 1989)

Duties: Performed the financial management function including budgeting, accounting and internal control and audit and coordinated the work of the consultants from National Rural Electric cooperative Association (NRECA) of USA.

Other Positions Held in the Govt. of Bangladesh 

(November 1970 to February 1984)

Served in the following positions of the Government of Bangladesh since joining the erstwhile Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service in November, 1970:

– Controller (Finance and Accounts) Bangladesh Tourism Corporation;

– Additional Accountant General;

-Deputy Accountant General;

-Assistant Accountant General;

– Assistant Director – General, Commercial Audit.

Duties: Performed Financial Control, Accounting and Auditing responsibilities.

 

Periodic Audit assignment in the United Nations (UN) from 1978 to 1984 As an External Auditor to the UN, Audited following UN agencies:

• The United Nations, New York, USA;

•  UNDP, New York, USA;

• UNFPA, New York, USA;

• The United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Vienna, Austria;

• The United Nations Commission for Latin America, Santiago, Chile,

Periodic assignment as Assistant to the Audit Operations Committee of the UN 

from 1979 to 1983

Assisted the Audit Operations Committee of the UN Board of Auditors in reviewing and editing audit reports and management letters and drafting final audit report for consideration of the designated body of the UN General Assembly. 

Periodic Teaching Assignment from 1981 to 1984

Served as a part time Lecturer in Government Finance in the Dept of Finance,

University of Dhaka

 

Lecturer in Economics, University of Dhaka

(November 1969 to November 1970)

 

Research Associate in the Bureau of Economic Research and Institute of 

Education and Research, University of Dhaka. 

(May 1968 to October 1969)

 

Selected Publications

 

• “Experience of a Financial Reforms Project in Bangladesh” Public Administration and Development: The International Journal of Management Research and Practice, Vol – 20, Number 1, February 2000 (with Nigel Thornton and Mike Frazer), published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd., Sussex, UK;

• “Public Sector Financial Management System in the UK and USA: Lessons for Bangladesh”; Public Finance and Development, A Biannual Journal of Bangladesh Civil Service: Audit and Account Association, Vol-2, Jan – June 1998;

• “Strategies for Privatization of State-Owned Enterprises: Bangladesh Experience” Published by Asia Pacific Development Center, Kualalampur, Malaysia, 1993;

• “Rural Credit and Agricultural Development”; Papers prepared for the Hubert H Humphrey North-South Fellowship Program Summer Workshop, University of Minnesota, USA, June 1978.

 

Awards & Achievement 

• Sorojini Naidu Gold Medal for outstanding service in Public Administration 2003;

• Sir Salimullah Gold Medal for outstanding service in Public Administration, 2004.