New Ctg-Cox’s Bazar railway track cost may rise tenfold

The cost of Chittagong-Cox's Bazar new railway track project is likely to swell ten-fold from its original one, surpassing recent estimation by the Ministry of Railway due to change of route to bypass the cantonment. The MoR earlier proposed a...

The distant prerequisites

The Financial Express in the first week of the current month ran a three-part  series on stock market revival. There was no attempt on the part of the reporter concerned to trace the causes of the latest stock market collapse....

Government forms body to reform trade associations

The government has set up a high-powered committee comprising the country's leading business personalities aiming to reform the existing trade associations, officials have said. The committee has been asked to put forward necessary recommendations so that well-timed reforms of the...

NBR forms data bank cell to realise income tax from foreign workers

With an aim to stop tax evasion by foreign nationals working in Bangladesh, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) formed last week a data bank cell empowering it to penalise employers as well for same offence, officials said. At the...

BB board meets today to devise cyber security

The central bank's recast governing board meets today (Wednesday) to find way of ensuring unassailable integrated IT security systems to avert recurrence of digital fraud, officials said. It will be a second meeting in a week after the maiden one...

GDP growth alone does not ensure economic equality

The economy of the country is projected to grow at a rate exceeding 7.0 per cent in the current fiscal year, according to provisional data of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and per capita income...

Going beyond growth target!

The country's GDP (gross domestic product) growth rate is likely to climb above 7.0 per cent in the 2015-16 fiscal. Releasing the statistics recently, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) went on to predict that the GDP growth rate this...

Tanners seek more time for relocation

The tanners will sit with the government tomorrow (Wednesday) to seek more time for relocation of their units at Savar due to inordinate delay in building infrastructure at the new sites. This indicates that their shifting to Savar is almost...

NBR eyes govt officials to offset revenue deficit

Taxmen are now targeting the government officials with hefty salary packages for extracting a considerable amount of income tax from them to offset the revenue shortfall in the current fiscal year (FY), 2015-16. Officials said the National Board of Revenue...

Shipment of medicines fails to get expected global share

Despite attaining a steady growth over the years, the country's export of pharmaceutical products is yet to grab the anticipated level of share in the global market, officials and industry insiders have said. According to them, the country's drug export...

Implications of Airtel-Robi merger

If Airtel-Robi initiative succeeds, the merged entity would hold 39.8 MHz spectrum power and the number of subscribers will reach 38,650 million. The operator's average monthly deficit will stand at Tk 406.7 million. Spectrum would be worth $1.08 per customer....

Creating conditions for better quality of life

Corporate sustainability strategies can aim to take advantage of sustainable revenue opportunities, while protecting the value of business against increasing energy costs, the costs of meeting regulatory requirements, changes in the way customers perceive brands and products, and the volatile...

Nutrition and enabling environment

Almost half of all children in South Asia are reported to be stunted. It is also assumed that agriculture has the potential to be a strong driver of under-nutrition reduction. But unfortunately, although agricultural sector serves as the main source...

BB finds macroeconomic outlook impressive

The central bank sees country's macroeconomic outlook for this fiscal year (FY) "impressive" for some major boosters. Increased domestic demand, prospective food production and a stable political situation helped a great deal in the turnaround, says an account given by...

Legitimate competition in telecommunication sector

Telecommunication (Telco) services are no longer a luxury; they have now become a necessity. According to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), 83 per cent of the total population of Bangladesh is using telco services. The total number of mobile...

The proposed new education policy - a critique

A report in the Dhaka dailies on the proposed New Education Policy (NEP) has attracted the attention of many including this writer. It said the government is in the process of introducing a NEP (a process that started in 2012)...

When children prefer loneliness

When as high as 74 per cent children do not eat timely and 59 per cent keep away from any physical exercise, it presents a very dismal picture of life they lead. And this is a picture that emerges from...

Banskhali lesson and land acquisition

A top official at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has said they have learnt a lesson from the Banskhali incident where attempt was made to 'evacuate only 50 families' to accommodate a coal-fired power plant. Speaking as the chief guest...

The Panama Papers: Some comments

The leaked Panama Papers (documents recently 'leaked' from the Panama-based Law Firm Mossack Fonseca) are a hugely shocking 'revelations' about tax dodging or concealment of wealth, through establishment of off-shore accounts and entities, by global big names including heads of...

NBR to prepare new income tax law, not direct tax code

Government's revenue authority has decided to transform the draft 'direct tax code' into a new income tax law with necessary changes to make it fit in the country's socioeconomic context. Officials said the decision came after the National Board of...

BD buys survey ship from Malaysia

Bangladesh will receive a ship from Malaysia this month for carrying out survey on marine resources in the Bay of Bengal, officials concerned have said. The ship 'RV Meen Shandhani' has already started its voyage towards the country from Malaysia....

Meeting development challenges in an indigent society

Whatever the detractors may have to say to the contrary, Bangladesh has been registering creditable growth over the last few years. It has been forging ahead despite depression in the developed economies and price of oil plunging to an all...

Integration with East and Southeast Asia will boost the economy

The Bangladesh economy over the past two and half decades has been experiencing a steady rise in economic growth rate which has been accompanied by the country's increasing trade-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio. The economy has become more and more...

Can the growth rate be sustained?

After posting a year-on-year growth rate around 6.5 per cent for the past several years Bangladesh economy earned the reputation of being stable, weathering adverse situations. When even the economic powerhouse and the second biggest economy in the world, China,...

SoBs to get $125 million for beefing up cyber security

The World Bank has come forward with US$125 million in assistance for fortifying Bangladesh's state-owned banks (SoBs) against cybercrime, officials said, as recent heists undermined banking security systems. Banking sector in the country is reeling from a chain of digital...

Move underway to stop abuse of bonded facility

A move is underway to reduce the gap in duty structure between the products imported by export-oriented industries under the bonded warehouse facility and those by commercial importers to thwart large-scale abuse of the duty-free facility by the former. The...

Move underway to streamline Postal Life Insurance scheme

A move is underway to streamline the existing Postal Life Insurance (PLI) scheme aiming to lure more people in it amid a poor response, officials said.   Increase of existing bonus rate and decentralisation of power to the grassroots level postal...

Second BD-Japan public-private economic dialogue April 15

Bangladesh and Japan will resume joint public-private economic dialogue in Tokyo 20 months after the first dialogue aiming to explore avenues for further improvement of investment climate and cooperation in line with the 'comprehensive partnership'. The first Bangladesh-Japan public-private economic...

Stocks break three-week losing spell

Stocks closed higher last week that ended Thursday with buoyant participation, snapping a three-week losing spell, driven by positive movements of large market cap stocks. Market insiders said investors took position on large-cap issues amid optimism as encouraging macro-economic indicators,...

China as a huge growth driver for Asia

According to Australian economist James Laurenceson, despite a bleak scenario of global economic affairs, China will still be a huge growth driver for Asia, which will continue to outperform the rest of the world. Laurenceson, who is also Deputy Director...