Bangladesh development perspectives: Planning strategies

Development activities of Bangladesh have gained tremendous momentum in the last decade. The indicators of an exceptionally strong development record have inspired the country to aim even higher. The country now aspires to reach the upper middle income status by...

Proliferation of indiscipline is worrisome

It is difficult to believe in the virtue of discipline in this country. Not that all the inhabitants have scant regard for discipline or they don't know the necessity of maintaining a disciplined life. Nevertheless, a large number of people...

Onion and tears

Celebrated Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was once invited to a lunch by his friend. The friend took him around beautifully groomed garden full of fruits, flowers, vegetables and spices including onion. Surprisingly his attention was drawn to an ordinary spice...

Determining compensation to be paid by the big emitters of carbon

The economics of climate change involves two types of costs which may be considered as two sides of the same coin. First is the economic loss incurred by countries individually and the global economy as a result of damages and...

Challenge is to ensure chemical-free fruits

The High Court quite rightly came hard upon the National Board of Revenue for non-compliance with its earlier order to set up devices for detection of chemicals in imported fruits at all land and sea ports. On submission of a...

World Bank suggests housing commission to ease financing

The World Bank (WB) has made a set of recommendations, including setting up an Affordable Housing Commission, to make housing finance more available to people.Its other suggestions include setting up a secondary mortgage market, introducing a credit migration tool, enabling...

Provisions shortfall soars in nine months

The provisions shortfall against classified loans in the country's banking system swelled by nearly 23 per cent or Tk 15.15 billion during the first nine months of the calendar year.The total shortfall soared to Tk 81.29 billion as on September...

Costly abuse of antibiotics

That antibiotics have been increasingly becoming ineffective against microbial infections is an old story. But what is more worrying is that problem has turned serious lately and it could be that antibiotics that have been developed until now will not...

Volume of NPL up 24pc in Q3

The volume of classified loans in the country's banking sector rose further to hit an all-time high at Tk 1.16 trillion (1.16 lakh crore) at the end of the third quarter of current calendar year despite close monitoring of the...

Lighterage workers’ strike hit int'l, domestic trade

CHATTOGRAM, Nov 27: Trades, including international and domestic through Chattogram Port are seriously hampered due to an indefinite strike called and enforced by the workers of lighterage ships today.Port sources said unloading of cargoes from large freight ships by lighterage...

Students engage in poverty alleviation discourse

Abhijit Banarjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer -- the 2019 Nobel laureates in Economics have made tremendous contributions in alleviating global poverty crisis. But how have they done it? Can their research model be used in the context of Bangladesh?...

Businesses have key role in safeguarding human rights

Unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011, the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights are the authoritative global reference point articulating the responsibilities of companies to respect and protect human rights.The UN Forum on Business and...

Pharmaceutical sector flourishing

Manufacture of pharmaceuticals is now one of the largest capital-intensive white-collar industries in the country, which has grown tremendously over the past few decades. Bangladesh enjoys comparative advantage in the sector, thanks to its cheap labour and raw materials, a...

The West's arrested social development

After three decades of worsening economic inequality, advanced-country populations are angry, and they are taking their grievances to the ballot box or the streets. But credibly addressing inequality also demands action regarding a less-discussed facet of this trend: declining intergenerational...

BASIC Bank in deeper trouble

The scam-hit state-run BASIC Bank is finding it hard to procure funds from depositors, officials have said.Its battered image is thought to be the number one problem.BASIC Bank managing director Md Rafiqul Alam wrote to finance ministry last Wednesday seeking...

Cyber threat detection body seeks access to cache servers

The government now wants to establish control over cache servers of internet service providers, international gateways and mobile phone operators in a bid to monitor internet contents. Cyber Threat Detection and Response has recently sent a letter to the Bangladesh...

Policy panel worried as tax collection dips

Falling revenue has worried top policymakers as a coordination council sat on Monday to take stock of the situation.The meeting weighed options, including widening the area of value added tax, VAT, net to help offset the revenue deficit.It also discussed...

Sri Lanka's presidential election brings back a polarising wartime figure

On November 16, Gotabaya Rajapaksa - who served as defence secretary during the final phase of Sri Lanka's brutal civil war - won a decisive victory in Sri Lanka's presidential election.Although Rajapaksa's victory was not a surprise, the margin of...

Insurers can now invest in infrastructure bonds

The government has created scope for life insurance companies to join hands with it in development work through investing in infrastructure bonds.Officials concerned said a new regulation to this end has also allowed the insurers to invest in immovable assets...

SIBL for mobilising low-cost deposits

Social Islami Bank Limited (SIBL) has put emphasis on mobilising low-cost deposit by bringing more unbanked people under its network through bolstering financial inclusion programmes across the country.Under the latest moves, the second generation private commercial bank (PCB) is set...

Vehicle-free road for children's play

The decision of keeping Manik Mia Avenue off-limit to vehicles for three hours on Fridays was first of its kind. Its novelty was only more so because the wide avenue in front of the Jatiya Sangsad was turned into a...

Economy needs prudent borrowing

It is no wonder foreign loans are now flowing into Bangladesh in an increased volume. The government is now borrowing more than before to bankroll a number of large infrastructure development projects. Moreover, increased foreign borrowing has become a necessity...

Most non-life insurers post higher EPS

Majority of the listed non-life insurance companies saw higher earnings growth in nine months of 2019, compared to the same period a year earlier.The earnings for the January-September period rose due to lower operational costs and higher bank interest rate...

Lower import of 10 major items, exemptions blamed

Revenue officials have delved into why tax shortfall has hit Tk 149.06 billion during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, missing the target.In a written paper, both customs and VAT wing explained the reasons for the declining trend...

Foreign debt payment shoots up in Q1

The country's external debt payment reached a new high of nearly $500 million in the first quarter (Q1) of this fiscal year.The quarterly debt-servicing data released by the finance division showed the repayment rose by over 24 per cent to...

Onion price hike and market intervention

Consumers have witnessed an abnormal and rapid surge in onion prices in the retail markets during the last two months. Average price of per kg onion surged to Tk 210-220 at the middle of this month from Tk 50 at...

Alluring books to decode economics

Nobel Prize in Economics was introduced 67 years after the original Noble Prize. The subject was not included at the will of Alfred Nobel. 'The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel' was introduced by the...

Evolution of mode of financial transaction and its way forward in Bangladesh

It is of no surprise that in Stone Age days we used to rely on barter system to trade where goods were exchanged for goods. With time money came into play which carried certain values and got accepted as a...

Ways to face post-LDC challenges

It is by now quite well-known in the informed circles that Bangladesh is on its way to come out successfully in the next assessment in March, 2021, to be conducted by the Centre for Development Policy (CDP) of the United...

Why a strong intellectual property regime matters for Bangladesh

The idea of protecting claims to intellectual property (IP) – proprietary knowledge and inventions – is involved with almost as many tricky aspects as the inventions themselves. After all, how many of us haven't heard about the story of Sir...