Stocks post modest gain as budget unveiled

Stocks posted a marginal gain in the outgoing week as growing tension over the virus scare and the floor price mechanism kept the market almost dull.Week-on-week, DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, went up by 13.92 points...

Drawing up tourism recovery plan

The sudden outbreak of Covid-19 has plunged the tourism industry of Bangladesh into a worst-ever evolving challenge. Like elsewhere of the world, the virus has already taken a great toll on the slow-progressing tourism industry of Bangladesh in its all...

Premier Li's speech reflects the wisdom of good governance in China

Covid-19 has shocked the world by the speed of its spread, but it is also bringing about another global change in the balance of power in politics of the world. After the Covid-19, the power politics of the world may...

Less globalisation, more multilateralism

Kemal Dervis, a former minister of economic affairs of Turkey and administrator for the United Nations Development Program, is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.With the COVID-19 catastrophe having laid bare the vulnerabilities inherent in a hyper-connected, just-in-time global...

We should not aim to return to normal

The world before Covid-19 looks very attractive right now. In light of the disease, mass unemployment and social distancing, a return to pre-pandemic normality seems appealing. Yet we should remember what normal was.Normal was obtaining 85.0 per cent of our...

Budget assumptions remain under questions

The goal of the budget for the next fiscal year (FY21) should be to tackle the unprecedented health and economic challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and restoration of stability of the economy. Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has acknowledged...

Addressing systemic flaws to establish justice

Ever since the outbreak of coronavirus as a pandemic, no news has overtaken that of the unprecedented disease until the massive protests against stifling George Floyd to death by a police officer in America. Even the fallouts of economic downturn...

Budget offers scope to whiten black money

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has proposed an opportunity to legalise money by showing undeclared cash, bank deposits, savings certificates, shares, bonds or any other securities.The opportunity could be availed without any question, but by paying taxes at a rate...

Ambitious, yet the right chord struck

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal tabled the budget proposals for the financial year (FY) 2020-21 in parliament on Thursday as the Covid pandemic continued to wreak havoc on life and economy. His budget presentation coincided with some key economic figures...

Health sector -- money and management

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed multiple fault lines in the health sector. Inadequate allocation of resources on an annual basis by the government is one of those. With the pandemic wreaking havoc on life and livelihood in the country as...

Renegotiations at firm levels: Comprehending effects of Covid-19

The SARS-CoV2 pandemic, leading to deadly Covid-19, brought disruptions in inter-country as well as within-country flow of goods and services. Economic Research Group (ERG) carried out a tele-based survey of 102 firms engaged in manufacturing and service sectors to assess...

Bank debt target likely at Tk 880b

The government is likely to set its bank borrowing target at Tk 880 billion to partly finance the budget deficit for fiscal year 2020-21.A senior official familiar with the public-debt management said on Wednesday the government will borrow the money...

Youth-led restaurants striving to survive

The restaurant industry is one of the most hyperactive industries in Bangladesh. This industry has become source of recreation for people-- specially for youths. As a result, for many youth entrepreneurs, the first go to segment is starting a restaurant...

Need for a shift to clean energy options

The country's power sector is facing a crisis because of excessive reliance on imported fuel including coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG). As a result, the price of electricity for consumers is often raised as financial pressure on the state-owned...

Deficit financing and fiscal transparency in budget FY21

Lower subsidy demand for some cash incentives and lower utilisation of project aid in mega projects could help lower the overall expenditure at the end of FY20. However, a significant revenue shortfall and expected rise in the public expenditure depending...

Should the asking price be tax-plus or tax-minus?

On a trip to a local pizza store just before the Covid-19 lockdown, one of us got an electric shock upon realising that a pizza whose menu price was Tk 670 was finally billed at Tk 915. Despite being an...

Span placement work now to end 'by Nov'

The target of completing the span placement work on Padma Bridge has been extended by five more months due to setbacks caused by the virus scare in assembling the spans, officials said.Earlier, the Bangladesh Bridges Authority set the target to...

Fiscal measure to upset car owners

The National Board of Revenue or NBR is set to increase tax on private car owners and the import of onion in the budget for upcoming fiscal year.It may also offer a string of tax-break facilities to the manufacturing sector...

Karnaphuli tunnel project hits snag

The Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) could manage only 1.5 per cent progress of the country's first road tunnel construction project under the Karnaphuli River during the corona pandemic-caused lockdown period from March 25 to May 10.Officials said works of many...

Will PPE alone protect healthcare professionals?

Doctors, nurses, laboratory staff and other healthcare professionals providing direct patient care have been reported to be at very high risk in combating the current Covid-19, and many have been tested positive by now and several others died very unfortunately...

Creation, utilisation of fiscal space in budget FY21

In the backdrop of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and its short-term impacts and medium to long-term implications for the recovery phase, the key policy concern emerging from the current public finance discourse relates to the creation and utilisation of 'fiscal...

Penal tax likely on fake investment, misinvoicing

The government may impose penal tax at a rate of 50 per cent on the amount involved in misinvoicing and fake investment in the upcoming budget (FY 2020-21).The penal tax in the case of misinvoicing in external trade transactions is...

Big push needed for digital education

Demand for online classes and communications for digital education has been increasingly felt once educational institutions have been closed in order to prevent spread of coronavirus in the country. There has been certain uncertainty in educational activities including examinations, and...

Saving people and securing economic recovery in budget FY21

The Bangladesh economy from the very beginning of the ongoing fiscal year (FY20) has been grappling with formidable challenges in the areas of revenue mobilisation, banking, capital market and export. The outbreak of Covid-19 has exacerbated these challenges by having...

CCH misses FY '20 tax collection target

CHATTOGRAM, June 07: The Chittagong Customs House (CCH) has failed to achieve its tax collection target in the current financial year (FY 2019-20) which will end on June 30.The CCH had set a target of collecting Tk 631.68 billion (Tk...

Some hacks for businesses to moderate post-pandemic impact

The Covid-19 pandemic continued it onslaught and expanded over 200 countries and regions around the world since its outbreak in China on December last. In case of pessimistic scenario assuming that the virus is not highly seasonal and that cases...

Encouraging online office work and shopping

If online shopping during the lockdown was an option for many families in the capital city, it is only more so now for them. Why? Now the city is behaving almost like it did in pre-pandemic time but the risk...

Of colour-coded zones and lockdown

As the demand for clamping a 'hard' lockdown from health experts and even business leaders is becoming louder, the government, apparently, is about to initiate a soft approach to contain the deadly novel coronavirus. The government, according to media reports,...

Growth, poverty and inequality implications of Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic, which primarily surfaced as a public health concern, has rapidly transformed into a socio-economic-humanitarian catastrophe of unprecedented nature and level around the world. Not a singular facet of modern-day life, be it individual, collective, social, national or...

Buses run staring at losses

Amid allegations of charging extra fare against transport operators and ignoring social distance, owners now complain about not getting adequate passengers to run their bus services.Long-haul bus operators mainly complained about not getting minimum passengers against their fuel costs as...