Need for meaningful reforms in the University of Dhaka

The University of Dhaka, the oldest and largest one in the present Bangladesh, started its journey on the first day of July, 1921. Its role in nation formation and the emergence of independent Bangladesh is a widely discussed issue. The...

Worries over sluggish revenue

The government appears to be in a catch-22 situation as far as resource mobilisation is concerned. Its tax revenue programme is off the track. The sale of savings tools that has so far proved to be an easy source of...

The EU's University in exile

On November 15, Central European University (CEU) officially inaugurated its new campus in Vienna, Austria, having been arbitrarily ousted from Hungary. On the same day, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's government opened another large sports stadium in Budapest.Predictably, the government-controlled...

Brokers seek Tk 100b govt funds

Stock brokers have submitted a work-plan for investment of Tk 100 billion funds, sought earlier from the government, to support the country's ailing capital market.They submitted the work-plan to the ministry of finance (MoF) on Wednesday, as the ministry demanded...

NBR revenue falls 24pc short of July-Oct target

The first four months of the current fiscal year saw a tax revenue shortfall of around Tk 202.20 billion against the target.However, the volume of tax revenue collection registered a poor 4.33 per cent growth, compared to the same period...

Nepal building tourism infra with new int’l airport

It is very rare nowadays that the tourists visiting Nepal without experiencing delays in cases of landing in and departing from the country's lone busy international airport. But government officials of Nepal say that days are not too far the...

Kim signals more confrontational stance with new horse ride, rare party meeting

Kim Jong Un mounted a white horse again as North Korea announced on Wednesday (December 04) it will soon convene a rare meeting of the ruling party's leaders, steps analysts say may signal preparations for a more confrontational stance with...

Trade diversification: Sustainable export-led growth

Bangladesh is experiencing an era of growth fuelled by strong customer demand at home and increase in exports. Time and time again the country has proved itself capable of facing uncertainties and adapting to changing market conditions, which is essential...

RMG: Branding Bangladesh following Japanese model

Marketing plays a significant role in familiarising particular product/service in domestic and international markets. Japan has attained enormous economic success by following some business models which an emerging economy like Bangladesh can do by promoting a sector and thus creating...

BB gets down to work

The central bank has started working on bringing down the industrial lending rate to a single-digit aiming to spur the country's overall economic growth through job creation and increased investment. As part of the move, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) has...

BD yet to be ready to cut TFA use in foods

Bangladesh is ill-prepared in minimising the use of Trans Fatty Acid (TFA) in various food items as well as meeting the World Health Organisation's (WHO) target of bringing it down below 2.0 per cent by 2023.TFA is one of the...

Automating segregation: Disintermediating economic interactions

There are many legitimate complaints about work in the "gig economy." But, in time, many of the gigs will be automated, eliminating a significant source of work for immigrants and the less educated. And as these jobs disappear, so, too,...

Supply-side economics and poverty reduction – A critique

There are two competing economic policies - supply side and demand side -- that are often considered and implemented by national governments when the economy slides into a recession. But when the economy is confronted with stagflation - a simultaneous...

Climate Summit kicks off, caught between realism and hope

Tens of thousands of delegates from state parties began working Monday, December 02, in the Spanish capital to pave the way to comply with the Paris Agreement on climate change, while at a parallel summit, representatives of civil society demanded...

Number of tax returns from new taxpayers poor this year

The number of income tax returns, submitted by individual taxpayers until the deadline (December 01), remained far below taxmen's expectations.The number increased by only 0.1 million this year despite several efforts on the part of the taxmen, countrywide survey and...

Govt almost exhausts bank borrowing target in five months

The government is set to make a net borrowing of more than Tk 45 billion from the country's banking system in December to partly meet its budget deficit, officials said.The government's gross borrowing may reach up to Tk 215 billion...

Mounting road accidents

Tragic deaths and injuries caused by road crashes are recognised worldwide as public health and development concerns. The World Health Organisation (WHO), in its informative Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018, pointed out that about1.35 million people perish in...

Nepal eyes over 2.0m foreign tourists

Nepal is set to launch an ambitious campaign next year to revive its tourism sector by raising the inflow of tourists in the Himalayan country which was hit by strong earthquake in 2015 and political instability for years.'Visit Nepal 2020'...

Firsthand assessment of makeshift Indo-Bangla border haats

In 2011, the governments of Bangladesh and India formally opened the first border haat at Kalaichar in the Indian state of Meghalaya and Baliamari of Kurigram district in Bangladesh. Later three more border haats were opened in between 2012 and...

Why does market get jittery?

The market is getting jittery as the year draws to a close. Meteoric and record rise in prices of onions - both local and imported varieties -may have shown the way. Even onion flown on cargo planes from overseas could...

Dengue deserves greater attention

The news about dengue that almost disappeared from both print and electronic media for nearly last couple of months again got a place in the front page of the last Saturday's issue of most newspapers.The news was about the record...

What kind of capitalism do we want?

What kind of capitalism do we want? That may be the defining question of our era. If we want to sustain our economic system for future generations, we must answer it correctly.Generally speaking, we have three models to choose from....

BUET simulator to study drivers' behaviour

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) has introduced a lab-based facility to assess behaviours of drivers in order to address growing road accidents in the country.This is part of a global road safety initiative made by University of Southampton...

Troubled loans to top agenda

Finance minister will sit with chiefs of private and public sector banks to discuss the issues of non-performing loans and banking sector volatility, officials said.Officials said finance minister AHM Kamal has called the chairmen and managing directors (MDs) of all...

Foreign fund in stocks continues to fall

Net foreign investment in prime bourse remained negative for the nine straight months in November as the overseas investors continued to pull out their fund amid depressed market outlook.The foreign investors withdrew record Tk 857 billion in last nine months...

Bangladesh development perspectives: Implementation challenges

All goals of Bangladesh Delta Plan (BDP) 2100 are directly or indirectly related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It must be mentioned that all six BDP 2100 goals are fully linked with SDG Goals 2, 6, 13 and...

River transport workers call strike

Bangladesh Noujan Sramik Federation (BNSF) Friday said it would go on work abstention for an indefinite period from early Saturday to press home their 11-point demand. The federation leaders took the decision about their work abstention programme at an emergency...

Taka losing value vs dollar

The local currency has depreciated by Tk 1.0 against the US dollar so far this year in the inter-bank foreign exchange market as demand for the greenback grew.The dollar was quoted at Tk 84.90 each in the inter-bank forex market...

NSI identifies 16 traders, 13 commission agents

The National Security Intelligence (NSI), the country's major civilian intelligence agency, has identified some 29 businesses who were allegedly behind the recent rise in onion prices in the country.The NSI, after thorough investigation at field-level, submitted a report in this...

Onion imports from Myanmar hit seven-year high

COX'S BAZAR, Nov 29: Onion imports from neighbouring Myanmar reached a seven-year high of nearly 45000 tonnes this year, according to official data released by the Teknaf Land Customs Station.The imports worth around Tk 1.93 billion arrived in the country...