MRT-6 launch in last week of Dec, yet on trial basis

Country's first metro rail is expected to be inaugurated in the last week of next month (December), yet on a trial basis as the support services could not be put in place timely, sources said.Officials said the exact date of...

Titas registers quarterly operating loss for the first time since 2008 listing

Titas Gas Transmission & Distribution Company has reported operating losses for the July-September quarter of FY23 for the first time since it was listed with the stock market in 2008, mainly for a sharp cut in the distribution charge. Bangladesh...

BB preparing modalities for alternative payment system

The central bank is making modalities for an alternative payment mechanism with Russia for trade amid multiple sanctions, including SWIFT ban, imposed on the country following its war with Ukraine.It is expected to send the modalities to the Economic Relations...

When questions are questionable

Questions of this year's Bangla papers have left academic and educationists utterly disconsolate. The Bangla first paper question set of Dhaka education board has one particular question in what is called structured or 'creative' segment with an overdose of communal...

IMF loan for Bangladesh

Even a year back, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its World Economic Outlook said that by the fiscal year 2024-25, Bangladesh's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would be US$516.24 billion. According to that forecast, Bangladesh would by that timeline overtake...

Market controlling mechanism: Is it a boon or a bane?

Regulatory measures have become frequent phenomena for the capital market since March 2020 either to prevent it from cascading down or to keep it upbeat, but experts say such interventions do not have positive outcomes in the long run.Bangladesh Securities...

Country's performance on the economic front

It was in September 2015 when world leaders gathered under the umbrella of the United Nations (UN) agreed to work together to make the world a better place for the next generation to live in. A total of 193 countries...

Bangabandhu Tunnel opens to traffic next month: Officials

CHATTOGRAM, Nov 11: The Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel under Karnaphuli River may be opened for vehicular movement next month as almost all works of the $1.1 billion project were completed as of November 1, 2022, officials said. "Bangabandhu Tunnel,...

BTRC sets clauses to limit short code use

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has set a number of conditions to limit the use of public service short code numbers.The telecom regulator has recently taken the decision to restrict the allocation of short code, as so many organisations...

BIDA OSS futile as agencies give same services

The efforts to provide one-point services from the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) went in vain, as the agencies, which added their services to the BIDA One Stop Service (OSS) portal, are also individually accepting applications for these.The BIDA now...

Beximco Pharma's profit drops in Q1 even as revenue up

Beximco Pharmaceuticals witnessed a 4.7 per cent drop in net profit in the first quarter (Q1) of the current financial year on the back of higher raw materials costs and sharp depreciation of local currency, despite having registered higher revenue.The...

Primates and other species also need space for survival

Imagine you are alone at home. The door is locked and you are writing a piece for the next day's issue of your newspaper. Midway, you go to the dining room for a glass of water. Just then you come...

Understanding the economic burden of diseases on households in Bangladesh

Economic burden estimates of diseases are increasingly reported and used to inform policy, programme, or intervention choices and funding decisions both by the private and public sectors in developed countries. Research on the cost of diseases is important to conduct...

BSMRB construction on using new tech

After the Padma road-cum-rail bridge, the dedicated railway bridge over Jamuna River is going to be another example of the country's unique bridge for adopting new technology.Project officials said the 4.8-kilometre-long Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge (BSMRB) project has so...

Pain of growth: Cement makers have to pay for unused capacity

The capacity expansion of the cement industry since 2008 far outstripped demand leaving a significant part of it sitting idle to the cost of profit. The industry's production capacity rose an astonishing 271.64 per cent to 83.29 tonnes in the...

Flour, wheat prices decline in port city

CHATTOGRAM, Nov 10: A ship which arrived at Chittagong Port from Ukraine will start unloading 52500 MT wheat after getting official nod following a test at a government-designated lab, officials said. Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) officials said the vessel, MV...

Begging: A stark choice or a profession?

Ruling party lawmaker AKM Ramatullah wanted to know in a question and answer session in parliament on Sunday why there have been beggars galore in the capital city. He related his personal experience of coming across 10 beggars on the...

Current account and the current woes

Bangladesh had a good run of robust economic growth since the early years of this century. It was rudely interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic that swept across the world with amazing speed in 2019-20. Fortunately, Bangladesh bounced back to its...

Barriers to central bank’s independence

Bangladesh is now on the path of continuous development after overcoming various obstacles. Bangladesh has reached the stage of graduation from the category of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) of the United Nations to a Developing Country. The announcement came as...

Covid-induced school closures: Combating learning loss

Learning losses resulting from school closures are among the most severe global challenges to medium- and long-term recovery from COVID-19. School closures caused millions of children across the globe to significantly miss out on the academic learning, with younger and...

BD, Japan to form working group on trade, investment

A joint working group of Bangladesh and Japan will be formed to identify sectors of mutual interest under a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) to be signed during Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina's upcoming visit to Japan.The MoC on Bangladesh-Japan Industrial...

Dhaka moves to set up 'electronic platform'

Bangladesh is now considering establishing an 'electronic platform' to facilitate bilateral export-import trade with Russia, which proposed the mechanism amid sanctions due to the Ukraine war.The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) and the ICT Division under the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications...

Check evasions, raise tax-GDP ratio to 9.6pc, suggests IMF

Salaried individuals constitute less than one-third of the total individual taxpayers in Bangladesh despite drives by the revenue authority to ensure payroll-tax compliance, according to the country's latest financial health check.As a detailed report on the revenue front was placed...

The FE's journey is on

The Financial Express (FE), the country's first and largest-circulated English financial daily, steps into the 30th year of its publication today (Thursday).On this auspicious occasion, we express our gratitude to our valued readers, contributors, patrons, well-wishers, advertisers and relevant others...

IMF agrees to lend BD $4.5b

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) agrees to lend Bangladesh US$4.5 billion to help replenish its foreign-currency reserves, weighed down by high global inflation, in a package that includes wide-scale reforms. As a visiting IMF mission wound up spot check of...

Tea output rebounds

CHATTOGRAM, Nov 09: Tea production in the country increased last year compared to the previous year, thanks to a better climatic condition as well as a rise in acreage, despite the multi-faceted problems faced by the sector. According to Bangladesh...

Eastern Cables returns to profit after losses in 19 quarters

Eastern Cables, the state-run wire maker, reported to have gained a profit of Tk 8.98 million in the fiscal year 2021-22, even after incurring losses in the first three quarters amounting to Tk 56 million. The Chattogram-based cable and conductor...

COP-27 and the apocalypse we stare into

It is hard to be optimistic on the climate change issue. There are all the glaciers breaking down, all the icebergs that are melting. Coral reefs are in jeopardy and life at the bottom of the sea is slowly being...

Bangladesh oils and fats market: insights and forecasts

Bangladesh consumed little over 3.0 million tonnes of oils and fats in 2019, the highest in a year. The per-capita consumption increased to 18.7 kilograms, by that account, from 13.8 per cent in 2015. The consumption of oils and fats...

Writing our own development narratives: how dormant entrepreneurial culture flourishes

A number of books came out over the last two to three years on the eve of 50 years of independence of Bangladesh. All of these books have documented Bangladesh's economic, social and political journey over the last 50 years...