Saving peasants from thunderbolts

Frequency of thunderstorms and their attendant lightning strikes are increasing globally and the culprit is global warming. The issue has been discussed multiple times on different occasions in the media. The fact that the country's peasants are dying in increasing...

Elegy for the dead and dying of occupied Palestine

Elegy is usually used for the dead. In the absence of an equally emotive word to convey the feelings of grief and remorse for those who are dying in plain sight on television screen of viewers, the same nomenclature can...

How ICB's dividend plan for FY25 may boomerang on unitholders

The state-run Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) has proposed that mutual funds (MFs) be allowed to distribute dividends from profits in the current fiscal year without meeting provisional requirements but experts say it will cause capital erosion. Both fund managers...

Tax ceiling up, corporate rates rise

Tax-free income threshold for all individual taxpayers is going up and corporate rates are being raised in the new budgetary measures ready for the chief adviser's perusal today (Monday).Essential commodities are, however, spared from tax hikes as inflation bites all...

Can local ISPs survive the coming storm?

The internet revolution in Bangladesh did not begin with global tech giants or mobile operators. It began with local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who, through personal grit and grassroots innovation, laid fibre optic cables across alleys, towns, and remote areas....

Double standard of political leadership

So, Donald Trump has made a great discovery, "A lot of people are starving" in the Gaza Strip. This brief remark, notably, comes at a time when the first foreign tour of his second term saw him about to conclude...

Protecting marginal chicken farmers

The country's poultry sector is again in distress. But it is not due to any manmade crisis often created in the sector by the so-called profit-hungry syndicates. As in the past years, here nature is at work. A report published...

Fresh STP estimates big-budget investment worth $59b

A big-budget investment of US$59 billion is estimated in an updated strategic plan to improve Dhaka's transport system as officials say lacking in planning heretofore resulted in the capital city's deteriorating traffic situation.The investment requirement has been proposed in the...

IDRA calls for probe as insurers refuse to provide data alleging corruption

The Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) has requested the government to find out if there were any irregularities when a digital information system was introduced in 2019 to ensure accountability of insurers.It sent a letter on Saturday to the...

Suhrawardy Udyan tragedy a wake-up call

The shocking murder of Dhaka University student Shahriar Alam Shammo has once again brought to the fore concerns over students' security on the campus, the country's prime seat of higher education. Shammo, a master's student at the Institute of Education...

Renewing inland water trade & transit protocol

Even before the independence of Bangladesh, the waterway was one of the key modes for the movement of freights with India like it was historically the case through the railway. Most of the railway network of Bangladesh was also built...

US buyers may turn to countries with lower tariff exposure, fears BFTI

US buyers may attempt to shift the tax burden onto Bangladeshi exporters or divert their orders to countries with lower tariff exposure, potentially undermining Bangladesh's position as the world's second-largest apparel exporter.The Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI) feared it in...

Hefty interest payments to cost Tk 1.22 trillion

Significant rises in domestic and overseas borrowings make the government earmark some Tk 1.22 trillion for hefty interest payments in the upcoming budget, and officials see no letup in liability increases in the near future.Experts see high debt stock, interest-rate...

Project on cards to set up chord line

CHATTOGRAM, May 16: The government has decided to build a chord line of the Dhaka-Chattogram railway with an eye to reducing travel time and distance between the capital and the port city.Bangladesh Railway (BR) officials said the new line would...

Understanding liberty, liberation, independence and emancipation

Amar mukti alloy alloy ei akashey,/ amar mukti dhulai dhulai ghase ghase. Poignant and elevating, the song cannot but resonate with all receptive souls. Now what kind of 'mukti'---liberty, freedom or emancipation---Rabindranth is referring to here? Or, is there any...

Regulator wants it spent on investor protection, brokers prefer to keep it

Stockbrokers are at loggerheads with the securities regulator over the utilisation of interest income earned from investors' idle funds kept in a bank account namely Consolidated Customer Account (CCA). The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) wants the money to...

Mind behind monstrous acts of homicide

If the ultimate crime is homicide, Bangladesh has perhaps been witnessing a higher incidence of it lately. The recent surge in murder has a fair share in political vendetta. But this has also acted as a powerful provocation for settling...

Pending part's work to resume soon

The hurdle to resuming the construction of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway's (DEE) unfinished part is expected to be over after nearly a year with the completion of the formalities of transferring all the shares of First Dhaka Elevated Expressway (FDEE)...

Probe begins into nine banks' dubious forex dealings

A special regulatory probe into nine commercial banks with higher exposure to the foreign-exchange market begins to prevent potential volatility as Bangladesh transitions into a band-centric floating exchange-rate regime, officials said.Nine teams of Bangladesh Bank (BB) have been fielded to...

Titas proposes Tk 81b project to reduce gas wastage

Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution PLC wants to implement an ambitious Tk 81.61 billion project to reduce gas wastage by installing around 2,781 kilometres of new distribution lines and upgrading 5,000 kilometres of existing ones in the Dhaka, Gazipur, and...

Taking port capacity to next level

The Port of Chittagong stands on the brink of a transformative change, driven by the involvement of leading global players in port operations and logistics. Dubai-based DP World, renowned for managing some of the world's most efficient ports and logistics...

Protectionism, apparel export overreliance key barriers

Protectionist policies and overdependence on apparel exports are among the major internal challenges preventing Bangladesh from joining multilateral trade blocs, said Albert Park, chief economist of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).Speaking at an event on the sidelines of the 58th...

A beautiful form of art

Resin crafts capture these vanishing moments and give them permanence, which can also be seen as a form of preservation. A daisy trapped in a pendant, a wedding garland turned into earrings, a tiny shell from a last beach walk,...

Sukuk: a game-changer in socio-economic development

To tap the liquidity of Sharia-compliant banking area for financing the government’s deficit budget and for supporting the country’s overall development, a decision was made to introduce Islamic bond, or ‘Sukuk’, in the fiscal year 2019-20.On the one hand, a...

Poverty in Bangladesh stages a comeback

After remaining a role model for poverty reduction for over three decades, Bangladesh of late is beginning to show signs of sliding down on the scale of metrics used domestically and internationally. According to the latest survey by Bangladesh Institute...

NWPGCL to set up two solar plants with 140MW capacity

North West Power Generation Company Ltd (NWPGCL) plans to set up two solar power plants with a combined electricity- generation capacity of 140 megawatts as part of the government's effort to enhance the share of clean power in energy mix,...

United Power gets back gas but price fight isn't over yet

Gas supply to a plant of the United Power Generation & Distribution Company (UPGDC) has been resumed two weeks after suspension as the government, under pressure to meet rising energy demand, agreed to address a dispute over gas pricing. The...

Wasteful inauguration culture

Chief Adviser (CA) Dr Muhammad Yunus is scheduled to lay the foundation stone of the much-anticipated Kalurghat Rail-cum-Road Bridge on the River Karnaphuli on May 14 next. The 700-metre double-track and double-lane bridge will replace the existing 93-year-old single-lane rail-cum-road...

The intent of Trump Tariffs

The United States (US) president Donald Trump did just what he had said he would do if elected - he imposed incredibly high tariffs on most countries the US trades with including Bangladesh. Never since the Great Depression of the...

Policy predictability, reforms ‘must’ for investment

Bangladesh urgently needs policy consistency and comprehensive reforms to boost investment and also direct tax collection by curbing systemic leakages, says Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) President Mohammad Zaved Akhtar.Mr Zaved, also Chairman and Managing Director of...