Brexit: A wake-up call for Bangladesh

The British exit, abbreviated as 'Brexit', refers to the referendum whereby Britons voted to quit the European Union (EU) under Article 50 of the treaty of the EU on June 23, 2016. But this exit does not simply refer to...

BB puts stolen $81m as \'other receivable\'

Bangladesh Bank set aside the US$81 million stolen from its Fed reserves as 'other receivable' in its balance sheet. Officials said the board of directors of the central bank approved the BB balance sheet for the fiscal year (FY) 2015-16...

Women taxpayers on rise

Women are becoming taxpayers in an increasing number, constituting around 16 per cent of the total registered payers of income tax in the country, according to the latest official count.   The number of Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)-registered women taxpayers in...

Govt cuts interest rate on garment remediation loan

The government has fixed new rate of interest and services charges under the donor-assisted refinancing fund to help garment factory owners secure the loan, sources said. All charges have now been capped at 7.0 per cent, which were 9-10 per...

Trouble in paradise

You don't normally get advance warning of an attempt to topple a government. Efforts to oust leaders are risky undertakings and plotters usually keep their underhand schemes very secret. So I was very surprised when a colleague said she'd got...

App enables people boycott companies supporting Israel

It's a warm Friday evening in May, and hundreds of families, young couples and groups of friends are packed into Beirut's Masrah al-Madina for an event promoting the boycott of Israel. They sing along to a song played by oudist...

FARC commander recalls war years

It was 1990 and Judith Simanca Herrera, a FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) commander also known as Victoria Sandino had just graduated with a degree in journalism from a university in Bogota, more...

Reserve management: Rivalry between sterling and dollar

The Bank of France's losses were notable but not unique, Belgium and the Netherlands being other cases in point. They underscored the perils of foreign exchange markets. Gone now were the dull days of the 19th century when the bulk...

Bangladesh a model for the South to follow

After remaining in oblivion for a long time, the issue of South-South cooperation seems to have resurfaced. If necessity is the mother of invention, then its resurgence has to be there as 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and 169 targets...

An unattractive destination for equity funds

This paper Sunday last ran a report on its front page highlighting the failure of Bangladesh to secure even a tiny slice of the global equity fund. The flow of such funds across the globe is now quite high. The...

The status of Sundarbans in the context of coastal agro-economy

Importance of agriculture in a developing economy like that of Bangladesh needs no elaboration. However, it seems worthwhile to point out that economic dependence on agriculture in terms of population has started declining. The number of persons engaged in agriculture...

Dhaka-Delhi cargo crosses border

The maiden direct cargo trip from Dhaka to Delhi crossed the Benapole-Petrapole frontier Sunday, officials said.   The long-haul trip on nearly 4000-kilometre roadway between the two capitals under the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) started...

Reserve management: From gold standard to gold exchange standard

The 1920s and 1930s were pivotal decades for foreign exchange portfolio management by central banks. The period saw the rise and fall of the so-called gold-exchange standard. The idea of replacing the gold standard with a gold exchange standard, building...

Cities for migrants: The news is not all bad

In many countries, particularly in Europe, immigration is increasingly framed as a security issue. Mainstream politicians, bowing to pressure from fear-mongering populists, are calling for tighter restrictions, and some countries are openly flouting their legal obligation and moral responsibility to...

Applying \'plan bee\' successfully

The arrival of an elephant -not by choice but swept by flood waters -from India kept inhabitants of a few villages under Sarishabari upazila, Jamalpur district in a state of anxiety for about two months. People were inquisitive also about...

BSEC, both bourses skid into the soup

The securities' regulator and both the bourses are now in the soup over some 'irregularities' in completing the amalgamation process of Summit Power and three other companies. Following an order of the High Court (HC), the listed company Summit Power...

Move to improve ‘right’ targeting of BB refinancing loan

The livestock department will sit with the central bank authority soon to find ways of preventing misuse of low-cost loans meant for milk and meat production under refinancing scheme, a senior official said. The Department of Livestock Services under the...

White Helmets, Omran and fading hopes in Syria

One thousand and one hundred days. That's the length of time in which they woke up daily thinking they might be lucky enough to dig one person out alive. For more than 1,100 days, actually, they have opened their eyes...

Indian court gives women entry to inner sanctum of famous Mumbai mosque

Women in India have the right to fully access a famous mosque in the city of Mumbai, a top court ruled on Friday, bolstering a nationwide campaign aimed at securing women their religious rights and allowing them entry into all...

The woman who kills drug dealers for a living

When you meet an assassin who has killed six people, you don't expect to encounter a diminutive, nervous young woman carrying a baby. "My first job was two years ago in this province nearby. I felt really scared and nervous...

Ghost migrants eke out life on Greek-Macedonia border

Inside the sleepy canteen of Idomeni, the Greek railway post on the border with Macedonia, the ring of a phone breaks the endless silence. Stratos, the manager, jots down the order: five portions of okra, three of chicken, four salads,...

Rousseff allies fight impeachment in Brazil political turmoil

Angry quarrels erupted at suspended Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff's impeachment trial Friday, while her key ally, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, faced corruption charges on a day of turmoil for Latin America's largest country. Day two of Rousseff's Senate trial...

The saving-investment puzzle revisited: Is a linear relationship unfounded?

The least developed countries (LDCs) such as Bangladesh are often hamstrung by a lack of resources - domestic and foreign - needed for investment. Achievement of a high rate of economic growth is the only way to improve the standard...

Pre-WWI accumulating motives

Traditional explanations of the accumulation of foreign reserves have emphasised rising entanglements between politics and money management. Because the export of capital had significant implications for the management of sterling, the Bank of England played an increasingly important role in...

Diamonds make a woman weep and a man weak in the knees

In the 1953 classic Hollywood film, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Marilyn Monroe, gave a legendary performance. Clad in a bright pink ball gown and dazzling diamonds, she epitomised the significance of diamonds with her upbeat and seductive song: Diamonds Are a...

Tackling the problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

King Henry VIII, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, all lost their mothers to infections following childbirth, and literature abounds with tragic stories of maternal death, from A Christmas Carol to Wuthering Heights, Far From the Madding Crowd,...

The state of woman entrepreneurship

Not very long ago 'woman entrepreneur' was an oxymoron. To many in society and by available evidence women and entrepreneurship did not go to-gether. The belief was not only widespread it was well-entrenched. Entrepreneurship, with inherent risk and uncertainty did...

Govt goes for financial management overhaul

The government is set to start a comprehensive reform of public financial management under a five-year strategy to ensure proper use of national resources and better execution of national budget, officials said. On August 22, the finance minister endorsed a...

Metro rail contractor, IDRA at odds over insurance coverage

A foreign contractor of the metro rail project has threatened to go for entire insurance coverage of his part of works abroad unless the insurance regulator stops pushing it to have 50 per cent coverage from state-run Sadharan Bima Corporation...

Trend of going abroad for studies growing

The number of Bangladeshi students going abroad for studies has been on the rise over the years, sources have said.  According to them, some factors including career opportunities, better education system and inadequate job opportunities at home are encouraging many...