NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate and outcast founder of Grameen Bank, said Bangladesh’s move to tighten controls on the microcredit lender is “heart-breaking” and called for an end to state interference.

Parliament passed legislation yesterday increasing the central bank’s supervisory powers and allowing the government to set new rules, state-run Bangladesh Television reported.

“The government has opened doors to take almost 100 percent control of the bank, which is very damaging in a country like Bangladesh where politics and government gets mixed up,” Yunus said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur today. “That will be the beginning to the end and we shouldn’t allow it to happen.”