25m families benefit from TCB’s OMS programme

The number of beneficiaries under the open market sale (OMS) operation has risen significantly as the Covid-19 pandemic forced people on low incomes to buy commodities at subsidised rates.The state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) sells sugar, edible oil, gram,...

Japan not keen on joint FTA study

Japan has shown its reluctance to take forward a proposal by Bangladesh for conducting a joint feasibility study on the possibility to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.They would not advance the initiative unless their local...

Earth observation and statistics for the SDGs

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aims to transform the world and is full of transformative commitments. The commitment to "promote transparent and accountable scaling-up of appropriate public-private cooperation to exploit the contribution to be made by a wide range...

A Sovereign Wealth Fund, by another name

In 2017 I wrote an article in this paper titled "Why Bangladesh needs a sovereign wealth fund"? Two developments led me to write the eponymous article. Firstly, the refusal of World Bank to finance Padma Bridge on the unfounded allegation...

When laxity reigns supreme

It will be improper to say the virus is back. The truth is that it has been there, but only in a subdued state. As the rates of both infection and fatality fell notably in the first two months of...

Exporters seek interim solution until re-fixation -

Apparel exporters have sought an interim arrangement to get rid of hassle and penalty of the customs authority until re-fixation of the minimum limit of wastages in manufacturing knitwear.They alleged unusual hassle, suspension of bonded warehouse licence and other problems...

Only urban hotbeds call for stricter lockdown

One of the highly disconcerting facts is that the young adults have been getting infected by the Covid-19 at a phenomenal rate. According to the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), as high as 68.8 per cent people...

Gender and unemployment: Lessons from the pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on both women's and men's employment - but at different stages of the crisis due to the gender segregation of economic activities in many countries.United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)...

Most importers show vague declaration of goods

A majority of the importers are giving non-responsive declarations in the import documents of commercial goods, forcing the customs authorities to conduct physical verification.The customs authorities said the time and cost of doing business increased in the process as they...

OTC companies to be shifted to newly-introduced trading platforms

Most of the OTC (over-the-counter) companies are set to be shifted to the newly introduced trading platforms as part of the regulatory move to inject life into the companies' operations.The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has already allowed the...

Ministry rejects proposal for inclusion of more e-commerce firms

The industries ministry has turned down a proposal put forward by the commerce ministry to bring more e-commerce firms under its sugar supply arrangements, officials said.The commerce ministry in a recent letter recommended sugar supply in favour of more e-commerce...

Govt set to procure Boro directly from farmers

In a major policy shift, the government is planning to purchase Boro harvest directly from the farmers this season to help ensure fair price for the latter and boost its own stock.On April 01, the cabinet division recommended that food...

Stocks keep losing amid virus-induced lockdown

Stocks extended the losing streak for the four straight weeks that ended on Thursday as investors reacted on the regulatory decisions amid ongoing virus-induced lockdown.The market witnessed a massive fall of 182 points on the first trading day of the...

A maverick man with a mission

By profession he is a mason but surely he has a noble mission. His mission is to get spikes out of trees. He is Abdul Wahid Sardar from Jashore town whose love for trees has gone beyond his personal considerations....

Dear mom, forget the cash

Y dear mother, I hope this letter finds you well, back in Italy. We are fortunate to have just visited; now we'll go back to seeing each other on screen for a few months. Still, how far we've come since...

Leveraging greater value from data to help the poor

Data has become ubiquitous-with global data flows increasing one thousand times over the last 20 years. What is not always appreciated is the extent to which data offer the potential to improve people's lives, including the poor and those living...

Office workers' hazards, safety and wellbeing

As Bangladesh economy's service sector has expanded quickly compared to its traditionally larger agriculture and manufacturing sector, the service employees' health and safety issues at the workplace have now become important concerns to acknowledge and address since service sector employees...

Tailoring government support

The race to vaccinate against Covid-19 continues, but the pace of inoculation varies widely across countries, with access unavailable to many. Global cooperation must be stepped up to produce and distribute vaccines to all countries at affordable costs. The sooner...

Tax receipts from DSE jump 113pc in nine months

The government's revenue earnings from the prime bourse marked a whopping 113 per cent rise in the first nine months of the current fiscal year (FY) compared to the same period of the previous fiscal.Market operators said on the back...

Accidents, deaths and probes

At least 35 lives perished when a small passenger launch -- MV Sabit Al Hasan -- capsized in the river Shitalakkhya in Narayanganj on Sunday last. The ill-fated vessel met the accident when a large cargo vessel had rammed into...

A success story of education in time of pandemic

At a time when students of the large public universities are passing their time amid unmitigated anxiety and uncertainty, the country's premier highest seat of engineering and technology has been a resounding success. Indeed, the Bangladesh University of Engineering and...

NBR bins DCL's plea for waiver of dues

The revenue board has ruled out a plea for the waiver of Dhaka Club's long-pending arrears of valued-added tax (VAT) and supplementary duty (SD) worth Tk 337.43 million.Officials of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) detected arrears of the Dhaka...

Identifying the economic impact of Covid-19

There is no doubt that the pandemic, originating from the global spread of deadly coronavirus, has dealt a severe blow to lives, livelihoods, and economies worldwide. Governments have tried to contain the virus's spread through lockdown measures, rendering the economies...

Transport integration in Eastern South Asia

Whereas intra-regional trade among the ASEAN countries account for 25 per cent of their total, the figure is barely 5.0 per cent for the countries of South Asia. The largest SAARC country India's bilateral trade with Bangladesh is only 1.0...

Govt in talks with ADB, EIB for $1.24b

The government has started holding negotiations with two multilateral lenders to borrow nearly US$ 1.24 billion for buying Covid-19 vaccines, officials said. They said the talks were on to get $ 940 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and...

Why youths should read literature

"Medicine, law, business, engineering-- these are noble pursuits necessary to sustain life. But, poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for."This famous dialogue from the famous American movie 'Dead Poets Society' was quoted by the legendary actor...

Why is the Indian government afraid of digital news?

I finished writing a book called The Price of the Modi Years a few days ago. It should be published later this year. It is a history of India since 2014 and I have examined the facts and the data...

A sustainable recovery depends on quality infrastructure investment

Covid-19 has hit the entire globe at once, slowing investment in resilient infrastructure that will improve lives over the long term. Effective governance is critical to ensure infrastructure projects are well planned, funded, and implemented.What do Covid-19, Sustainable Development Goals...

People with thalassemia in the time of Covid-19

"In the last five months, I had needle pierced in my body for more than nine hundred hours because I am taking intensive iron chelation therapy. But I am not sure whether I would be able to continue even this...

Lockdown in Ctg: Office-goers, business people suffer

CHATTOGRAM, Apr. 06: The office-goers and business people suffered a lot during the second day of lockdown that started on Monday. Police resisted the movement of vehicles including public vehicles on the roads during the lockdown on Tuesday. As a...