Salt soars for ‘no reason’

Salt prices suddenly soared both in wholesale and retail markets across the country on Tuesday, according to traders and consumers.Prices of different brands of packaged salt were selling at Tk 50-60 a kg at retail levels against Tk 35.A consumer...

The ocean in us: Ocean action for climate ambition

In just under a month, countries around the world will gather for UNFCCC COP 25 (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties 25). The hashtag for this year's "Blue COP" is yet another reminder to us all...

Leveraging knowledge and leadership for sustainable development

Once, hundreds of miles of power distribution line got installed in the country without adding a single megawatt of additional electricity. Now, there is more electricity than the gridline can carry with huge expenditure for capacity payment of often idle...

An appeal for Sudan's future

On December 19, 2018, peaceful protests erupted spontaneously in cities across Sudan. Just four months later, the brave demonstrators succeeded in ousting the despotic regime of Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled the country for 30 years. Remarkably, it was Sudan's...

Non-life insurers must invest 7.5pc of assets in govt securities

The government has made it mandatory for non-life insurance companies to invest at least 7.5 per cent of their assets in government securities.The government securities include short-term and long-term securities such as treasury bills and treasury bonds.At the same time,...

Human error behind latest train crashes

Human error was the key contributing factor in the two latest train accidents in the east and west zones of Bangladesh Railway, enquiry reports cited.The rail authorities have received two separate reports of divisional and departmental enquiry committees formed after...

FRB NY to give BB technical support

The Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) of New York has expressed willingness to provide technical assistances to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) for mitigating its operational risks.A four-member delegation, led by Michael Schetzel - head of international affairs and strategy of the...

Govt to waive airport bills on onion import

The government has moved to waive various airport-related charges to help lower the import cost of much-talked-about onion, whose price has recently mounted amid short supply.The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has taken the step following a meeting with the importers...

Capital flight through foreign trips

The phenomenon that luxuries bought and brought from foreign countries has recently become a craze for the Bangladesh people, is nothing new. It was always there. To display gaudy style is always a psychological impulse and a propensity.However, it has...

Mind the learning gap

Despite frequent calls for action to provide universal primary education and eliminate gender disparities, few developing countries have made much progress toward these goals. For example, although South Asia made substantial progress toward achieving gender parity during the era of...

BB moves to cut dollar's spread at customer level

The central bank has started a process to reduce the spread between selling and buying rates of the US dollar at the customer level to the benefit of exporters and remitters, officials said.As part of the move, 10 leading commercial...

Customs see import cost, retail price mismatch

The customs have found a gross mismatch between the assessed import value and the ruling market prices of onion.The average price of a kilogram of onion currently stands at Tk 30 as per the customs-assessed value, but the item was...

The fall of the Berlin Wall and social democracy

It was already clear 30 years ago that the fall of the Berlin Wall would change everything. But precisely what that change will mean for world politics in the twenty-first century still remains to be seen.By 1989, the Soviet Union,...

For the love of birds

If rapacious, brutal and even sadistic instincts are witnessing unrelenting prolificacy in this country, small groups are starting to make a bold statement that violence and the anti-life are not all. It is because of this, someone in this heartless...

Inevitability of farm mechanisation

The transformation of the country's agricultural sector, in terms of its mechanisation, has been slow but steady. There is no denying that the mechanisation of Bangladesh agriculture is yet to achieve the level seen in most developed and a number...

Onion maintains its top flight

Onion prices were hovering on Saturday around the high level they reached, denting the consumers' hopes for a turnaround.The local variety of onion was selling at Tk 250-260 a kg and the imported varieties (Egypt and China) at Tk 230-...

Earnings of many textile cos down

The EPS (earnings per share) of majority number of listed textile companies declined while some eight others incurred loss in the last fiscal year (FY) compared to previous FY.On the other hand, some 10 companies were downgraded to `Z' category...

Will artificial intelligence help resolve the food crisis?

When UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a global appeal for "zero hunger" on World Food Day last month, he provided some grim statistics rich in irony: more than 820 million people do not have enough to eat, he said, while...

Onion battle takes to air routes

Some large importers of the country have been engaged in the battle against the runaway onion price as the fight has taken to the air route.For the first time in the country, the importers are procuring the spice item by...

Seasonal use of arable land

Bangladesh celebrates its self-sufficiency in food grain production. This owes to a noticeable transformation in the seasonal land utilisation pattern. The aus season – spanning from March to August – seemingly lost its historic importance as a provider of food...

BB steps up forex support to banks

The central bank has scaled up its foreign currency support to the commercial banks to help settle their import payment obligations, particularly for oil, officials said.The Bangladesh Bank, or BB, sold US$73 million to the banks during the last three...

Weak earning disclosures affect stock prices

Stocks backed to the red again in the outgoing week that ended on Thursday as risk-averse investors dumped their holdings amid 'poor' earning disclosures.Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 61.55 points or...

Cleaner production in environmental compliance

In the recent years, environmental worries have revolved us in maintaining environmental compliance issues in many organizations as required by the global environmental regulatory authorities. Environmental Compliance designates following to environmental laws, regulations, standards, or any other requirements as per...

Is Thorium an alternative to Uranium as fuel?

The weak radioactive metal Thorium (Th) in nature was discovered in 1828 by the Swedish chemist Jens Berzelius. The new element was named after Thor, the god of thunder in Scandinavian countries. Thorium is present in a small amount in...

The Sunderbans turns out to be saviour

Bangladesh's indebtedness to the Sunderbans, the world's largest mangrove, cannot be measured in terms of commercial values -which are quite huge -alone. That it stands guard against ferocious natural calamities like cyclonic storms, tidal bores, some of which could be...

Containing noisy, rowdy night parities

Winter is approaching fast and so the season of celebration. Wedding party is the biggest family and social festival to take place during the winter in this country. Other social parties to celebrate a number of occasions also pace up...

Economics and well-being of retiring in Bangladesh

Retirement decision falls in the study of behavioural economics, which like behavioural finance, combines "insights about psychology, economics and people's judgment and decision-making to generate a more accurate understanding of human behaviour". Consequently, retirement decision is often deemed as more...

Govt adopts new strategy to curb money laundering

The government has adopted a new strategy to combat trade-based money laundering and illicit financial outflow from the country with the incorporation of a few stringent provisions into it, officials said.It has been included in the 'National Strategy for Preventing...

BB asks state banks to ramp up recovery

The central bank has asked four state-owned commercial banks, or SoCBs, to gear up the recovery drive, keeping in mind top 20 defaulters.The instruction was given at a meeting held at the Bangladesh Bank headquarters in the capital on Thursday...

BSFIC sends SOS for Tk 12.70b fund

The Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) has sent a distress signal to the government, seeking immediate sanction of Tk 12.70 billion to save the state-owned sugar mills.The corporation sought the fund as subsidy to cover for losses incurred...