Cost of using Pangaon ICT to be similar to Kamalapur ICD

The government has moved to keep the cost of using Pangaon Inland Container Terminal (ICT) similar to that of the Kamalapur Inland Container Depot (ICD), in order to promote Dhaka-Chittagong waterways for transportation of containerised goods, officials said.A significant capacity...

Prospect of hitting boro purchase target remains clouded

The government's target to procure 1.8-million tonnes of Boro rice this year may not be achieved as the millers find the prices offered unattractive.On Monday, food minister Shadhan Chandra Majumder through a virtual conference announced the official target to buy...

Govt amends clause to attract more investments

The government has opened up licences for submarine cable business, removing the clause that allowed only two companies in the market. The government also wants to attract more local and foreign investments in the sector in a bid to create...

Resilient economies are possible

Economic and non-economic shocks such as financial crises, natural disasters, and pandemics leave behind permanent scars in economies and societies and result in major setbacks to development gains. From output and income losses to rising inequalities and environmental disasters, the...

Understanding the rise in long-term rates

The rise in long-term US interest rates has become a focus of global macro-financial concerns. The nominal yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury has increased about 70 basis points since the beginning of the year. This reflects in part an...

Marginalised communities dealing with the COVID-19 fallouts

The impact of the pandemic continues to be visible in every aspect of human life. With the new wave of COVID-19, the marginalised communities are most at risk. A recent study titled "Marginal Communities in Bangladesh: Dealing with Pandemic Fallouts",...

The dilemma of budget-making

The job of budget-making is difficult in a country like Bangladesh. There are expectations galore from all directions and the government will have to employ vast resources if it were to meet those. But resources here are not that easy...

Negotiations with Nepal over PTA likely to face hurdles

The country's negotiations with Nepal over the signing of Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) may face complexities centring the difference of opinion on fiscal benefits.Nepal has sought exemptions from Other Duties and Charges (ODC) including Supplementary Duty and Regulatory Duty on...

Yields on treasury bills drop

The yield on treasury bills (T-bills) dropped further on Sunday as the commercial banks having excess liquidity rushed to offer bids in the auction due to the ongoing lockdown, bankers said.The cut-off yield, generally known as interest rate, on the...

Silver lining in the dark clouds

The most trying time brings the best and the worst in man. There has been a galore of evil incarnations. But when things look bleak and depressing everywhere, a few touching stories involving ordinary mortals have once again demonstrated the...

The real wage trap in the labour market of Bangladesh

Covid-19 distorted the labour market outcomes in countries in several ways followed by many other macroeconomic indicators. Employment rate, job loss, unemployment including permanent and transitory status have been the major indicators to investigate in order to measure the impact...

Bangladesh set to lift ban

The government is set to withdraw ban on import of all types of yarn from Nepal following a request from the neighbouring country to facilitate bilateral trade.The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has decided in principle to lift the ban...

Chittagong port turns 134

CHATTOGRAM, Apr 24: The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) turns 134 on Sunday. Like last year, the port will observe its founding in a simple manner tomorrow as the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic is lashing the country since early this...

Poor lurching in lockdown in port city

CHATTOGRAM, Apr 23: Although the port city-dwellers have been staying home for the last three weeks amid the second wave of the pandemic, many of them, including the lower middle class and poor segment of the society, have been struggling...

Ten largest listed cos grab 44pc market-cap of DSE

Ten largest listed companies in terms of market capitalisation accounted for 44 per cent of the Dhaka bourse's total market-cap as of Thursday thanks to rising shares prices of large-cap companies.The total market-cap of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) stood...

Local IT firm to launch virtual office platform

A Bangladeshi leading IT firm, Synesis IT, is introducing a world class virtual office platform named Convay to accommodate as many as 1200 people at a time to meet the need of changing office culture across the world.The virtual office...

Ensuring the quality of digital mental health

"Despite substantial research advances showing what can be done to prevent and treat mental disorders and to promote mental health, translation into real-world effects has been painfully slow. The global burden of disease attributable to mental disorders has risen inexorably...

Clash of cultures : real or a smokescreen?

The notion of 'Clash of Cultures' is most frequently used as a justification for anti-immigrant prejudice and, particularly in Europe and in the USA, for Islamophobia. The reasoning goes as follows: immigrants, especially Muslims, have a deeply different culture from...

Ongoing lockdown presents unique policy challenges

It has been almost a month since the second wave of Covid-19 infections has hit Bangladesh. The number of new cases started to rise at the beginning of March and gradaully peaked on April 7, when 7,626 new cases were...

Dhaka ICD reaches its storage limit

The number of containers at Kamalapur Inland Container Depot (ICD) has almost reached the storage limit owing to the slow delivery of boxes during the ongoing coronavirus-induced lockdown, officials said.Presently, some 4,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers are lying...

Stocks extend gaining streak amid eased lockdown worries

Stocks extended the winning streak for the second consecutive week as investors put fresh stakes on stocks amid eased lockdown worries.The market closed higher on all five trading sessions of the week amid increased participation of investors despite ongoing 'strict'...

Businesses in the VUCA world

We have never seen the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) that we are seeing today. The second wave of Covid has already started to rip through businesses causing havoc. Considering the VUCA the environment demands that someone react quickly...

Days of enchanting fishing experience gone forever

For a small country like Bangladesh to rank 3rd in the world for producing inland fish is an enviable feat. Not long ago, many indigenous fish species were on the verge of extinction. But different methods of culturing those in...

Sovereign investment Sukuk in Bangladesh

Bangladesh issued first sovereign investment Sukuk for raising funds aiming at implementing a project titled 'Safe Water Supply for the Whole Country' on December 28, 2020. The maiden Sukuk was over-subscribed by nearly four times, signaling that investing in such...

Slow delivery hampers Ctg port activities

CHATTOGRAM, Apr. 22: Operational activities at Chittagong Port are facing hindrance due to a significant rise in the number of undelivered Refer Containers as importers are showing disinterest to get their imported perishable items released from the port amid the...

High ambition, low capacity responsible for widening gap

The tax revenue target and the capacity of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) are ill-matched. That is one of the major reasons for the widening shortfall in revenue collection, Mr Farid Uddin, a former member of the National Board...

RJSC moves to realise dues amid NBR warning

The Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC) has taken a move to realise outstanding VAT for previous four fiscal years (FY2014-18) from the companies and farms.Despite having legal provision, the authority did not collect 15...

Agriculture proves its worth again

An estimated 24.5 million people have become 'new poor' in the country because of the pandemic. This was the finding of a ' rapid response research' carried out jointly by the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and the BRAC...

Helping the child learners recover their loss

With the second wave of the pandemic looking more ominous than the first, the plan for opening up of educational institutions cannot but be deferred, most likely indefinitely. Last year's lockdown was passed as a general holiday but this time...

Time to focus on collective mobilisation of Zakat

It is now well recognised that Zakat, the fourth pillar of Islam, is an effective tool to reduce poverty and social discrimination. Being a Muslim-dominated country, the impact of Zakat in the society of Bangladesh is not adequately visible. It...