National Citizen Party (NCP) member secretary and Rangpur-4 MP Akhtar Hossain sharply criticized the government’s handling of the banking sector during the general discussion of the 13th National Parliament’s budget session on June 25. He alleged that the five banks recently merged, including Islami Bank, had been bankrupted by their former owners through looting and money laundering. He questioned why the new Bank Resolution Act allows those same owners to regain ownership by returning only 7.5 percent of the lost funds.

Hossain claimed that the finance minister failed to secure support from the IMF due to the lack of financial reforms. He described the proposed 2026–27 fiscal budget as a “death trap” for the middle class and ruinous for small businesses. Citing a previous white paper, he said $240 billion had been laundered abroad and that national debt had risen from 23 trillion to 24 trillion taka within months.

He further warned that the government’s plan to borrow 1.12 trillion taka from domestic banks would crowd out private investment and employment opportunities.