Bangladesh’s government has escalated a campaign against microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus, with the country’s central bank declaring that the Nobel laureate is too old to serve as managing director of his Grameen Bank.
In a letter to the country’s finance ministry presented to the bank’s board on Monday, Bangladesh Bank – the central bank and financial sector regulator – argued that Mr Yunus, 70, had never received regulatory approval to work beyond the usual retirement age of 60.
His tenure was thus “not lawful” and he should be replaced by his deputy, the central bank argued in the letter, read to the Grameen board by Muzammel Huq, Grameen’s new government-appointed chairman.