Five decades' uphill climb to growth

Bangladesh is celebrating its 50 years of independence and many events have been taking place in the month of victory, December to be precise, to mark the celebration. An important aspect of the celebration is revisiting and reviewing the economic...

MFIs striving to get back on feet

Bangladesh's Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) demonstrated proven and outstanding capabilities in the past in dealing with natural disasters and other emergencies at the local and national levels. The global outbreak of Covid-19 and its long lasting severity in last one year...

US-funded project in action to detect bottlenecks

A US-funded project undertaken to quicken Bangladesh's agro-product export and import is trying to detect bottlenecks that have been slowing trade clearance from five government agencies.Officials say exact reasons for delay in releasing agro-products from country's customs ports will be...

Stocks rally as investors shrug off worries

Stocks extended a latest rally for the second consecutive week with investors putting fresh bets on selective issues even as Tuesday's meeting between regulators on the issue of banks' investment in stocks ended inconclusively. Week on week, DSEX, the prime...

Tourist zone to change face of Patenga beach

CHATTOGRAM, Dec 10: The Patenga beach area has been declared a tourism zone. The government made an announcement in this regard last month.Following the announcement, a huge development project has been taken up to turn 7 miles (around 12 kilometres)...

When passengers have to push an aircraft off the runway

For auto-rickshaws, cars, buses and trucks, it is not quite unusual to suddenly stop moving right on the middle of the road. Much as the driver may try to reignite the engine, it refuses to take command. At times it...

Rising trend of global inequity

The Paris-based World Inequality Lab has published the world inequality report 2022. It shows that the wealth of the world's billionaires has risen by US$4 trillion, while 100 million more people joined the ranks of the extreme poor. And the...

BB feeds $2.0b to ease forex-market crunch

The central bank continues to pump the US dollar into Bangladesh's overheating foreign-exchange market, releasing over $2.0 billion in nearly four months now, as the greenback enjoys great demand amid economic rebound. As part of the money-market-managing move, the Bangladesh...

Recasting tax exemption chart

Businesses want the government to do many things aimed at helping cut the cost of their operations. Fiscal incentives, including tax exemptions, remain at the top of their wish list. Tax exemptions offered to various sectors of the economy, according...

Does Omicron threat subside to mankind's relief?

Top US virology scientist Anthony Fauci's observation he made on Tuesday last that Omicron "almost certainly is not more severe than Delta" is likely to alley fear to a large extent. However, his is a cautious optimism that does not...

Trade deficit widens threefold as import far outstrips export

Country’s trade deficit widened nearly three times in the first four months of the current fiscal year (FY), prompting some economists to prescribe thrift on luxury buys. Officials attribute the yawning trade gap mainly to higher import-payment pressure on the...

Tax exemptions cost 2.28pc of GDP: NBR

Bangladesh counts 2.28 per cent or Tk 578.78 billion in lost Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on offering tax exemptions to various sectors, an analysis finds and suggests periodical updating of the fiscal measure.It also says some 36 per cent of...

University or major: Never-ending conundrum

University admission tests have always been a daunting experience for the most part. Many people spend months preparing themselves to get into their desired universities and major in a subject of their choice. However, the harsh reality is that not...

Why financing SDG 8 is crucial for development

Mobilising resources, both domestic and global, to support SDGs has been a key challenge for many developing countries since 2015. There has been a need for financing for development, as funding alone cannot suffice as the major resource to achieve...

Alesha Mart seeks Tk 3.0b bailout to resume operation

Alesha Mart, a crisis-ridden e-commerce platform, has sought a government bailout package to resume its operation and pay back the customers' money.It requested the government on Sunday last to arrange for them a loan of Tk 3.0 billion as working...

Paint industry through thick and thin

The pandemic has impacted everyone's lives. From the individual level to the business perspective, it has taken away something from everyone in some way or other. Especially for the businesses around the world, the pandemic has thrust upon an unprecedented...

The world needs more Angela Merkels

Angela Merkel, Germ-any's first woman chancellor is bidding adieu after serving the country for 16 years. No other democratic leader in Europe has lasted longer. And Ms. Merkel is walking out of office as the most popular politician in Germany....

Electric vehicle revolution and its future

Just a few days back, Elon Musk, the co-founder of Tesla Motors, became richest man in recorded history with over USD292 billion as his net worth. The company which brought him the fabulous fortunes, Tesla, now has a market cap...

Vaccination acceleration imperative for immunising against Covid

Accelerating the vaccination rollout is imperative to attain herd immunity against the Covid-19 infections and protect Bangladesh from onslaught of variegated variants of the pandemic virus. But, besides the unavailability of jabs, tackling vaccine hesitancy or people's unwillingness to take...

Financial solutions in Bangladesh: Are we future-proof?

Let's imagine two scenarios. In one of the scenarios we can imagine of a group of young people of any town of Bangladesh who are enjoying a lively chit chat in a tea-stall while in another case, we can think...

Localised agro-based SMEs: Challenges and way forward

As the Covid-19 pandemic persists, all sectors of the economy are facing massive pitfalls, which include the nascent agro-based SMEs of Bangladesh. Operating in 400 or more clusters, the agro-based small and medium enterprises have been primarily suffering from a...

Income distribution and welfare: The elephant in the room

Some of the findings of the 'Preliminary Report on Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2016' released by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics toward the end of 2017 raised many eyebrows for good reasons. The earlier survey was conducted in 2010, i.e....

Deep-sea port to improve maritime connectivity, trade capacity in BD

Work on the dream-project Deep-sea Port in the Bay of Bengal at Matarbari in Cox's Bazar is going on in full swing now. After the pandemic of corona, the construction work is continuing without break now. As a result, the...

Bangladesh's prime port and its significance

The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) marks 134 years of founding of the port-management body in the current year, on a chequered canvas of the port's emergence and attaining prominence in global ratings. Chittagong Sea port, one of the oldest natural...

Grievances of businesses need to be heard

Financial Express (FE): What is the present state of the steel sector in Bangladesh?Alihussain Akberali (AA): Bangladesh's steel sector is booming with a lot of development work taking place in the country. Large projects have been undertaken by the government...

Chattogram: History and progress into a hub

Between the deep sea and ranges of hills stands Chattogram, with a chequered history. The history of Chattogram dates back to ancient times of prehistoric era. Although its political status in prehistoric times is rather sketchy, the 'Periplus of the...

Quests for a new economic model

The question of whether economics needs reform never seems to go away. The reason is simple. It is that the ultimate subject matter of economics is of intense, universal interest: nothing more nor less than how human society really works...

Woman entrepreneurship in rural Bangladesh: A long road ahead

Across the globe, there are an estimated 252 million women entrepreneurs, while another 153 million run well-established firms. Over the last 20 years, the number of female entrepreneurs has climbed by 114 per cent. And yet, despite their growing number...

Govt’s bank borrowing surges

Government bank borrowing sees a sudden surge amid bid for turning its accounts position positive from the negative as fund deficit doubled in a day, officials said.Deficit amount in the government accounts stood at around Tk 45 billion as on...

Tax receipts from DSE fall further in November

The government's revenue collection from Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) fell further by 16 per cent in November compared to a month earlier as trading volume on the decline.The government bagged revenue worth Tk 342 million in November as against Tk...