Economic Indicators

Bangladesh awaits installation of interim government after weeks of strife

2024.08.07 20:31

By Ruma Paul

DHAKA (Reuters) – Bangladesh is set to get a new, interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus on Thursday, after weeks of tumultuous student protests forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee the South Asian country.

Yunus, 84, Bangladesh’s only Nobel laureate, was pushed for the job by the student protesters who led the campaign against Hasina. He was expected to be sworn in as chief adviser along with a team of advisers later on Thursday.

Yunus, a harsh critic of Hasina, is known as the ‘banker to the poor’ and was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for founding a bank that pioneered fighting poverty with small loans to needy borrowers.

He is due to arrive in the capital Dhaka from Paris on Thursday, where he had been receiving medical treatment.

“I’m looking forward to going back home and see what’s happening there and how we can organise ourselves to get out of the trouble that we’re in,” Yunus said before he boarded a flight on Wednesday evening.

Hasina’s dramatic exit on Monday from the country she ruled for four terms – and was reelected to a fifth in January – triggered jubilation and violence across Bangladesh, as crowds stormed and ransacked her official residence unopposed.

She fled to neighbouring India where she is taking shelter at an air base near the capital New Delhi.

The daughter of state founder Mujibur Rahman, Hasina survived the assassination of her father and most of her family in 1975. She ran Bangladesh for 20 of the last 30 years.

Student protests against controversial quotas for government jobs spiralled in July and more than 250 people were killed and thousands injured as protesters clashed with security forces and supporters of Hasina’s Awami League party.

The protests were fuelled by tough economic conditions and political repression as well.

After years of strong growth as the garment industry expanded, the $450 billion economy struggled with costly imports, inflation and unemployment and the government had sought a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

Yunus and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Hasina’s main political opponent, called for calm and an end to violence on Wednesday.

“No destruction, revenge or vengeance,” BNP leader Khaleda Zia, 78, said in a video address from her hospital bed to hundreds of her supporters at a rally in Dhaka.

Zia, who was released from house arrest on Tuesday, and her exiled son Tarique Rahman, addressed the rally and called for national elections to be held within three months.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: People celebrate the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, Bangladesh, August 5, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo

On Wednesday, a court overturned Yunus’ conviction in a labour case in which he was handed a six-month jail sentence in January. Yunus had called his prosecution political, part of a campaign by Hasina to quash dissent.

“Let us make the best use of our new victory,” Yunus said.



Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 98,135.29 4.23%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,486.13 2.37%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 0.999465 0.02%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 2.30 1.87%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 702.18 1.56%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 199.27 4.71%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.333195 3.37%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.03%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,478.98 2.35%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.92341 1.23%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.256292 1.69%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 41.12 6.10%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 24.76 2.41%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 5.88 4.90%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 4,134.94 2.54%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000023 4.01%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 4.56 2.10%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 97,729.18 3.97%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.311178 5.87%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.390768 5.07%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 7.45 1.86%
hyperliquid
Hyperliquid (HYPE) $ 30.18 0.07%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,487.57 2.45%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 464.31 1.59%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 9.54 1.37%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 14.20 1.37%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 108.49 2.16%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000019 3.69%
bitget-token
Bitget Token (BGB) $ 4.97 12.88%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 5.55 2.38%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,678.87 2.63%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 0.999265 0.05%
aave
Aave (AAVE) $ 370.56 3.16%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 9.75 2.56%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 11.31 5.58%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 0.997452 0.06%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.161071 0.06%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.520014 3.65%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.052057 7.99%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 27.58 1.26%
mantle
Mantle (MNT) $ 1.22 1.81%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 7.76 0.68%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 503.19 3.23%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.81 0.77%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.38 1.86%
monero
Monero (XMR) $ 194.23 3.72%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.84 1.61%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00 0.05%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.807556 1.18%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.40 4.29%