Abul Maal Abdul Muhith [ Former Minister of Finance ]

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith (25 January 1934 – 30 April 2022) was a Bangladeshi economist, writer, civil servant, secretary, diplomat, and politician. He served as the Finance Minister of the government of Bangladesh from January 2009 until January 2019

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith [ Former Minister of Finance ]

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith was born on 25 January 1934, to a Bengali Muslim political family in Sylhet. His father, Abu Ahmad Abdul Hafiz, a judge in the profession, was one of the founders of the Sylhet branch of the All-India Muslim League and took part in the Pakistan Movement.

His mother, Syeda Shahar Banu, was one of the leading women in the Bengali language movement. He was the third child in a family of fourteen children, and his younger brother is AK Abdul Momen, the incumbent Minister of Foreign Affairs for Bangladesh.

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith passed the matriculation exam from Sylhet Government Pilot High School in 1949.[citation needed] He secured first place in his Intermediate examination in 1951 from Murari Chand College.

He stood first class first in B.A. (Hons.) in English literature in 1953 from the University of Dhaka and passed his master’s with credit from the same university in 1955.

While in service to the government, he studied at the University of Oxford during 1957–1958.[7] He completed his Master of Public Administration degree at Harvard University in 1964.

Early career

Abul Maal Abdul 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 Counselor in 1969.

In 1966, he was honored with the Tamgha e Khidmat award by the Pakistan government. During his service as the Chief and Deputy Secretary of the 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 the Washington Embassy who showed his consent in favor of Bangladesh giving up the side of Pakistan during the Independence War of 1971.

He was appointed the Secretary of Planning in 1972 and Secretary of the External Resource Department of Finance and Planning Ministry in 1977.

Retirement and return

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith went for self-retirement in 1981 from his service and then he started the second innings of his career as a specialist in economics and development at the Ford Foundation and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

He became Finance and Planning Minister in 1982–83. Next, he worked as a specialist in different institutions of the World Bank and the United Nations.

He has been a recognized figure in the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, IDB, and in different organizations of the United Nations. He was a visiting fellow of Princeton University in 1984 and 1985.

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith took oath as the Finance Minister of the Bangladesh government on 6 January 2009 and in August 2009 he inaugurated the building of the Benapole Customs and Immigration Check Post.[10]

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith retired from the government and from his role as a Jatiya Sangsad member for the Sylhet-1 constituency in the elections of December 2018. His younger brother AK Abdul Momen succeeded him as the constituency representative.

Personal life

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith was married to designer Syeda Sabia. Their daughter, Samina Muhith, is a banker and an expert in the field of monetary policy. Their elder son, Shahid Muhith, is an architect, and their younger son, Samir Muhith, is a teacher.

On 5 March 2022, Muhith was taken to Green Life Hospital in Dhaka due to illness. He died on 30 April 2022 at United Hospital.

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