Businesses welcome proposed budget

Country's business community hailed the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 which was placed in parliament on Thursday.In their instant reaction the business leaders termed the proposed budget time-befitting and business-friendly. The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI)...

Ambitions galore, short of strategies

Undaunted by possible challenges, both domestic and foreign, the government Thursday placed in parliament an ambitious Tk.5.23 trillion budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2019-20. The proposed budget is unlikely to create much wave barring the issues such as opportunity...

Protecting children from bullying and cyber torment

Ending the torment: tackling bullying from the schoolyard to cyberspacePublished by the United Nations, 2016Pages: 174, ISBN: 978-92-1-101344-3 Bullying, including cyber bullying, is a key concern for children. It affects a high percentage of children at different stages of their...

It's DWASA again

It is no secret that residents of the capital city are not satisfied with the performance of the Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (DWASA). They do not approve of the way this major utility service provider has been handling its...

Gauging the state of happiness

Based on a survey of 156 countries, Finland has been ranked the happiest nation on earth followed by Denmark, Norway, Iceland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada and Australia by the latest World Happiness Report. It was released by...

Quit India: Brexit

If you want to study two phenomena, best way is to study either the contrast or the congruence or both. Whatever be the method, the above caption has one common denominator … the British Empire. While the first two words...

Financialisation - it's origin, global reach

The emergence and growth of financialisation from the 1980s has been driven by several factors operating at various levels - national and international, ideological and political, and of course, technological. The 1971 collapse of the Bretton Woods (BW) international monetary...

BD SEZs to attract higher FDI: UNCTAD

The current development of special economic zones (SEZs) through public-private partnership in Bangladesh and other Asian countries is likely to help attract more foreign direct investment (FDI). The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) predicted this in its...

Public purchase supervision

The government is set to establish a new entity - the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA) - by abolishing the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU), sources said.The CPTU, which is at present responsible for monitoring and coordinating state purchases, has...

Budget likely to up SD on mobile use to 10pc

Use of mobile phone is likely to be costlier with a two-fold hike in the existing Supplementary Duty (SD) on voice and data services in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY), 2019-20.Finance Minister A H M Kamal might...

Agent banking accounts rise to 2.9m

Agent banking is gaining more popularity across the country as about 2.9 million (29 lakh) accounts were opened and over Tk 37.34 billion (Tk 3,734 crore) was deposited in six years till March this year, reports BSS.According to the quarterly...

Lessons from India in digital disruption

Digital technology can rapidly transform how countries provide services such as education and health to their citizens. The public services of the future should be effective, efficient, fair, data-driven, and responsive to individual needs. And the groundwork to turn this...

Undergraduate students can do short internships after every semester

Fresh graduates looking for the 'six digit salary' dream job which will also ensure social status and the employers looking for the competent one having the balanced mixture of theoretical and practical knowledge to undertake professional challenges but rarely getting...

New VAT regime in Bangladesh: Issues yet to be resolved

The new VAT law (VAT and Supplementary Duty Act, 2012 and Rules 2016) has finally been scheduled to be put into effect this year starting from July 01, 2019. The law was put on hold for many a times due...

Pollution in Ctg city poses threat to environment

CHATTOGRAM, June 10: The natural environment of the port city is under threat due to severe pollution, rampant hill cutting, indiscriminate tree felling, poor drainage system and discharge of clinical, industrial and household waste into canals and rivers. Sources said...

BB set to form body to offer ways to cut NPLs

The central bank has decided to form a high-powered committee to recommend measures for reducing the volume of classified loans in the country's banking system.The decision was taken at an emergency meeting, held at the Bangladesh Bank (BB) headquarters in...

At-source tax on savings tools likely to go up

The government is likely to increase the rate of tax deducted at source from profit eared through savings instruments in the upcoming fiscal year (FY), 2019-20.The at-source tax rate for the government's savings tools might be revised upward to around...

Equipping migrant workers with internationally recognised skill-set

Remittances from migrant workers are important for the Bangladesh economy. Workers' remittances are currently the second highest source of foreign currency for our economy. In 2018, the country earned about US$ 15.54 billion in remittances sent by migrant workers and...

Revenue mobilisation in Bangladesh: Recent trends

Economic growth and poverty reduction performances have been very impressive in Bangladesh during the last few years. Real economic growth has been hovering above 7.5 per cent rate and poverty reduction rate was 24.3 per cent in 2016 according to...

Expanding the tax net

Bangladesh has a population of more than 160 million, but the number of registered taxpayers (e-TIN holders) is roughly 3.8 million and the number of taxpayers who file returns is about only 1.8 million. These figures obviously are not satisfactory...

Local mobile call apps mushroom

Home-grown apps for voice, video call and instant messaging services are making inroads into the market, posing a threat to telecom operators' dominance over the same, industry insiders said.Seven internet protocol telephony service providers (IPTSPs) recently sought licence to launch...

Rebate process for individual’s investment may be eased

Investment rebate for individual taxpayers might be brought down to two stages with modifications in the forthcoming budget to ease the facility for salaried persons, officials said.There might be 12 per cent and 15 per cent rates for the individual...

Classified loans cross Tk 1.0 trillion mark

The amount of classified loans in the banking sector surpassed Tk 1.0 trillion-mark for the first time in March 2019, apparently defying close monitoring of the central bank. The volume of non-performing loans (NPLs) jumped by more than 18 per...

Has a no-deal Brexit become more likely?

After British Prime Minister Theresa May's resignation announcement [she resigned as Conservative leader on June 07, paving the way for a contest to decide a new prime minister], several of the candidates to succeed her have proclaimed their desire for...

Bank borrowing to grow as revenue shortfall weighs in

The government's bank borrowing is set to rise further in June as the execution of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) gained momentum, but revenue target fell short of target.The authorities have targeted net bank borrowing at nearly Tk 99 billion...

Govt set to impose ban on rice import

The government is set to ban rice import aiming to protect the farmers following a drastic fall in paddy prices at growers' level, sources said.To this effect, a proposal has already got the prime minister's consent, according to them.Now the...

Fishermen protest ban on sea fishing

CHATTOGRAM, June 09: Fishermen from Sitakunda coastal area took to the streets on Sunday morning in protest against the 65-day ban on fishing in the Bay of Bengal, the source of their livelihood. They blocked the Dhaka-Chattogram highway for one...

Now advance tax at import, commercial stages likely

Advance tax (AT) is likely to be imposed at commercial and import stages under the new value-added tax (VAT) law aiming to ensure proper revenue collection from potential sectors.The new AT would replace the existing advance trade VAT (ATV) that...

Capital reduction of companies: Safeguarding interest of creditors and minority shareholders

Company is an artificial person formed with certain objectives to implement with its capital which is divided into a number of indivisible units of a fixed amount known as share. With the expansion of business a company may require to...

Carbon sequestration versus carbon stock

I have come across an interesting piece of report in the online version of The Financial Express (published on June 07 2019) on the economic valuation of carbon stock in the Bangladeshi part of the Sundarbans mangrove forests and the...