Britannica Money (2024)

Muhammad Yunus (born June 28, 1940, Chittagong, East Bengal [now Bangladesh]) is a Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank, an institution that provides microcredit (small loans to poor people possessing no collateral) to help its clients establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen received the Nobel Prize for Peace. On August 6, 2024, Yunus was appointed to lead an interim government in Bangladesh, following nationwide political unrest and the resignation and flight of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed.

(Read Muhammad Yunus’s 2005 Britannica essay on the global Battle Against Poverty.)

Academic career

After teaching economics at Chittagong University from 1961 to 1965, Yunus won a Fulbright scholarship. He studied and taught at Vanderbilt University from 1965 to 1972, earning a Ph.D. in economics in 1969. He returned to Chittagong University as head of the economics department in 1972 and began studying the economic aspects of poverty in 1974 as famine swept through Bangladesh.

Pioneering microcredit and founding Grameen Bank

Yunus asked students to assist farmers in the fields, but he concluded that agricultural training alone would not benefit the large population of landless poor who had no assets. What these people needed, he believed, was access to money that would help them build small businesses; traditional moneylenders charged usurious interest. In 1976 Yunus began a program of “micro” loans, a credit system designed to meet the needs of people experiencing poverty in Bangladesh. Borrowers, whose loans may be little more than $25, join lending groups. Support from group members (in addition to peer pressure) coaxes borrowers to repay their loans. The Bangladesh government made the Grameen Bank Project an independent bank in 1983, with the government owning a minority stake. The Grameen model has spurred other forms of microlending around the world.

Entry into politics and dismissal from Grameen Bank

In February 2007 Yunus entered the Bangladeshi political arena by forming a political party, Nagorik Shakti (Citizen Power), and announcing his intention to contest the upcoming election. His announcement came during a state of emergency and severe conflict between the country’s two major parties, the Awami League and the Bangladesh National Party. Yunus promised his movement would seek to restore good governance and eliminate corruption. In May 2007, however, Yunus dropped his efforts to establish the party, citing a lack of support.

In 2010 Yunus and the Grameen Bank came under scrutiny after the release of the documentary film Caught in Micro Debt. In addition to being critical of microloans, the film alleged that Yunus and the bank had misappropriated funds donated by Norway. Although both were later cleared by Norwegian officials, the Bangladesh government began an investigation. In 2011 the country’s central bank dismissed Yunus as managing director of Grameen, citing a mandatory retirement age of 60. Yunus, who had turned 60 in 2000, immediately launched a legal challenge to the decision. However, Bangladesh’s courts subsequently upheld his removal. Yunus maintained that his dismissal was politically motivated and orchestrated by his longtime rival Sheikh Hasina Wazed.

Literary contributions and global recognition

Yunus wrote several books, including Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs (2010) and A World of Three Zeroes: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions (2017). His honors include Bangladesh’s prestigious Independence Day Award (1987), the World Food Prize (United States, 1994), and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009). He was the first recipient of the King Hussein Humanitarian Award (Jordan, 2000).

Leadership of 2024 interim government

Student protests broke out in Bangladesh in July 2024, demanding an overhaul of the selection criteria for civil service jobs. These protests quickly evolved into a broader anti-government movement, leading to calls for Sheikh Hasina Wazed’s resignation by early August. On August 5 Bangladesh’s army chief, Waker-uz-Zaman, confirmed that Hasina had resigned and announced that an interim government would soon be formed. Hasina left the country for India, where she is reportedly staying temporarily.

Following Hasina’s departure, key student leader Nahid Islam called for the Bangladeshi parliament to be dissolved and for Yunus to lead an interim government. Pres. Mohammad Shahabuddin Chuppu acquiesced to both demands on August 6; Yunus accepted the appointment later that day. Yunus is tasked with restoring order and stability to Bangladesh amid an ongoing national crisis that has escalated to widespread violence and vandalism.