LDCs\' 10 questions on rules of origin

Flexibility introduced in the rules of origin (ROO) by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in its last ministerial conference has emerged as a major gain for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs).   The outcome of the ministerial conference, held in the...

Resisting child marriages

A recent conference in Copenhagen called 'Women Deliver' opened up our eyes in many ways. A galaxy of eminent women, including Melinda Gates, stole attention of the conference with their wisdom. Especially, Melinda's clarion call for accurate data generation for...

World traveller vs bureaucracy

A report on the ordeal of a 63-year-old Bangladesh-born Canadian citizen carried in a leading Bangla contemporary on Friday gives an insight into the country's bureaucracy. Freedom fighter Abdus Sattar, an accountant by profession, was on a world tour with...

Double trouble for consumers

One kilogramme (kg) of sugar used to cost a consumer below Tk 40 until the first week of August last year. But since the third week of the same month, the price of the item started soaring and, after nine...

Taxing income from house property

Dispute regarding annual value and income from housing property has been a major point of dispute among the assessee and the tax officials over the years. The officials often arbitrarily estimate the rental income without verifying the reality and violating...

Turning long-term savings into long-term investments

For global economy, the year 2016 dawned not with a bang but a whimper. It had a turbulent start in a situation when  stock markets were plummeting; emerging economies were reeling under the pressure of falling commodity prices; Europe was...

Female empowerment through education

Napoleon Bonaparte once made a visionary statement about female education: 'Give me an educated mother, I shall promise you the birth of a civilized, educated nation'. Female education has become a very important issue in Bangladesh. In fact, nondiscriminatory education...

Britain\'s EU referendum: A perpetual Europe debate

Britain is split over European Union. Both pro- and anti-EU camps assume that a stay/leave referendum next month is a process that will be able to settle this issue conclusively. Winston Churchill once declared that "we are in Europe, but...

Reforms a must for settling taxation disputes

For quite some time, the world has been observing an incredible upward curve of the Bangladesh economy. Without any doubt, today's Bangladesh is an emerging force to be reckoned with. But unfortunately the taxation system of the country is not...

Child budget and our expectations

Bangladesh has made substantial progress in reducing poverty. We have seen consistent 6 per cent economic growth coupled with social development throughout the last decade. Bangladesh is now one of the sixteen countries of the world where the goals of...

Risk management practices and limitations in banking sector

The most-talked-about issue in the recent banking arena is risk management which is considered to be the prudential means for ensuring sustainability as well as financial stability of banking business. The role of risk management is very critical in the...

When a marriage ends abruptly

Wedding in the evening and divorce by the next morning! This sounds incredulous but it is not. It happened in a village of Bijnor district under Uttar Pradesh, India. The crux of the matter was an alleged theft by relatives...

Crisis of safe drinking water in coastal areas

In Bangladesh, approximately 20 million people are living in coastal areas, continuously struggling for safe potable water. The majority of them depend on surface water for drinking purpose.  Seasonal calendar shows that pond water is generally used from mid-November to...

Brexit: The trade costs of leaving the EU

The "Brexiteers" - those who want Britain to leave the European Union (EU) - argue that their goal would be virtually cost-free and have no effect on the United Kingdom's global trade. They are wrong. On June 23, when voters...

Water and woes

WaterAid is a registered charity having network in many countries of the world. While visiting its stall at Copenhagen in connection with the 4th Congress on Women, this writer received a 'Brief' on the State of the World's Water 2016....

Power Division seeks Tk 50b more in next ADP

The Power Division has sought to pump up the budgetary target in the next fiscal year by Tk 50 billion (Tk 5,000 crore) for implementation of its different development projects successfully, officials said. "The division has sought an additional allocation...

Govt set to backtrack on new VAT, SD Act implementation

The government is likely to backtrack on its move to implement the new VAT and Supplementary Duty (SD) Act in the upcoming fiscal year following agitation of businesses and less preparedness of both taxmen and taxpayers. The National Board of...

Cabinet purchase body to approve nine projects involving Tk 47.25b

The cabinet committee on public purchase is set to approve next month a total of nine projects involving over Tk 47.25 billion that include construction of dual gauge double rail and conversion of the existing rail line into dual gauge...

Towards a fruitful teaching profession

An education system is only as good as its teachers. Teachers play the main role to ensure universal and quality education for all. They are central to shaping the minds and attitudes of the future generations to deal with new...

Deterrent to arbitrary arrest and torture in remand

An 18-year-long legal battle has finally come to a happy culmination with the Supreme Court (SC) upholding the High Court (HC) verdict delivered on arrest on suspicion by the police and torture in remand. The HC ruling made it clear...

Shady link of FDI with tax havens

Globally, tax havens and offshore jurisdictions are attracting huge amounts of foreign direct investment (FDI) when many developing countries are not receiving their required FDI even providing a lot of incentives. Again, outward FDI from the offshore secret jurisdictions are...

Ctg port braces for higher target

The ministry of shipping (MoS) has set a target of handling 54.50 million tonnes of goods at the the country's prime seaport in the next fiscal year, up by nearly 7.0 per cent, officials have said. In the current fiscal...

Corporate tax target at risk as banks\' profit declines

Lower growth in operating profit of major corporate taxpayers has put the revenue authorities in the soup as far as attaining its tax collection target for the current fiscal year (FY) is concerned. The Large Taxpayers Unit of the revenue...

BR plans overbridges, underpasses

Bangladesh Railway (BR) will have to spend minimum one billion taka for developing road infrastructures between Dhaka and Narayanganj as they find it difficult for them to close unauthorised level crossings. BR has already taken a move to close five...

The festival of making things—big or small

What happens when you are in Bangladesh and not in Silicon Valley? There are big questions of 'if' and 'how'.  Do we have the right institutions, the resources, the money, the tools, accessibility to investors and producers who can and...

Govt looks to keep inflation rate at 5.8pc in next fiscal

Despite some risk factors, the government is likely to keep the inflation rate at 5.8 per cent in the upcoming fiscal year (FY) 2016-17. The inflation target was estimated considering the existing prices of essential commodities including petroleum products in...

Not money\'s worth

If the projection made in a recent survey carried out by the Roads and Highways Department (RHD turns out to be true, the much-discussed Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway project would serve as a classic example of the way an incompetent and...

Cheap cigarette taxes likely to go up

The government might increase both price slab and tax rates of cheap cigarettes in the budget for fiscal year (FY) 2016-17 with the aim to reduce the consumption of the item. Price slab for 10-stick packet of cigarettes is likely...

Most of the listed MNCs maintain steady dividend growth trend

Most of the multinational companies (MNCs) listed with the local bourses declared significant amount of cash dividends for the year ended on December 31, 2015, maintaining their profit growth. Majority of the 13 listed multinational companies that account for 26...

Erdogan\'s misplaced sympathy for Bangladesh war criminals

While Pakistan went through a rather subdued routine of protesting execution of their one-time collaborators-the war criminals of Bangladesh-the Turkish President Erdogan has chosen to make louder noises with repeated outbursts against the trial and execution of what he thinks...