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New Delhi Amidst economic difficulties, Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus assumes leadership of Bangladesh’s caretaker government on Thursday.
Here are his economic views as he leads the nation of South Asia until elections and a new administration.
SOCIAL ENTREPRISES
Yunus promotes “social businesses” that address issues rather than make money, reinvesting profits.
This idea inspired Grameen Bank, a microfinance lender he founded, which helped Bangladesh prosper and reduce poverty.
He was recognized as “banker to the poor” after his pioneering microfinance work was imitated in other developing countries and earned him the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
POVERTY
Yunus’ belief that poverty, which affected nearly 18% of Bangladesh’s population in 2022, is a “threat” that encourages terrorism and trafficking informs his work.
People are desperate; you can’t leave them impoverished and happy. “Desperation disturbs peace,” Yunus told Nobelprize.org in 2006.
He taught “sound financial principles” to the impoverished, using microcredit to remedy this problem.
Yunus advocates for “multi-national social businesses” that allow the impoverished to own or retain revenues in their country.
In 2007, he entered politics and proposed turning Chittagong into a continental seaport, which critics argued may threaten national security, jobs, and the environment.
Yunus spoke of a “global civilisation” in an interview with The Indian Express last week, criticizing India for calling the turmoil in Bangladesh a “internal matter” and warning that it could spread to its neighbors.
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