Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud, one of the country's leading thinkers on the economy, has said that the banking sector is the heart of a country’s economy.

"When banks have done well, other sectors also perform well," he pointed out.

Given the vital functions they perform to keep the economy chugging along, he said people have the right to know the performance of a bank where he or she is depositing their hard-earned money, and so information on the financial performance of a bank should be made publicly available for clients.

He made these remarks while speaking as the chief guest at the 'cover unveiling' ceremony of the 5th edition of 'Banking Almanac', an information-based research book on banks and financial institutions of Bangladesh, was held at Jahur Hossain Chowdhury Hall of the Jatiya Press Club, on Saturday.

Wahiduddin said that the publication of the Banking Almanac book is a good initiative for the financial sector of the country.

“For the last few years, the book has been published regularly by inserting information on the banking and financial sector,” he said, before adding that this momentum needs to be maintained. "Publications need to be maintained and widely disseminated. If widely disseminated, the book will play a helpful role for all those who are bankers, those who work with banks, researchers, investors, and depositors."

The program was presided over by the former governor of Bangladesh Bank and chairman of the editorial board of Banking Almanac, Dr Salehuddin Ahmed.

He said that the Banking Almanac is the country's first such publication initiative.

“We try to add new and public interest information in every edition. We also have some limitations. Funding required for such publication is not available. Still, we try to maintain the continuity of the publication with the latest information,” he added.

“We are inserting the information that the banks are giving us. At least it is possible to present a comparative picture of the banking and financial sectors of the country. In the future there will be efforts to make it a richer data repository,” said Salehuddin.

Additional Director of Exim Bank Shah Abdul Bari, former Chairman of the Association of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB) and Chairman of First Finance and Investment Muhammad Nurul Amin, and the project director of Banking Almanac Abdar Rahman, were also in attendance.