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Co-ops willing to disburse farm, SME loans

Siddique Islam | 2017-02-23 00:00:00

Cooperative societies opt for disabusing farm and SME loans by partnering banks in a latest development in lending to these thrust sectors.       Officials said the Department of Cooperatives (DoC) placed a proposal in this regard for approval at a coordination...

HBFC to reduce loan interest rate by 2.5pc

Syful Islam | 2017-02-23 00:00:00

State-owned House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC) has decided to lower interest rate of loans by 2.5 per cent to compete with other banks and financial institutions, officials said. To augment its activities and get increased number of customers, the HBFC...

Co-op with Australia, NZ under way to revamp food safety authority

Talha Bin Habib | 2017-02-23 00:00:00

The government has taken an initiative to get cooperation from foreign countries to strengthen the office of the Food Safety Authority, officials said.   The ministry of food has asked the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) to prepare draft memoranda of...

A US president from a surreal world

M. Serajul Islam | 2017-02-23 00:00:00

The US and the international media covered President Donald Trump's February 16 interview at the White House as an event with all the trappings for which viewers wait for a long time to watch on the television. That a US...

Sovereign wealth fund - in tune with global trend

Hasnat Abdul Hye | 2017-02-23 00:00:00

When the World Bank (WB) cancelled the US $2.0-billion loan for the construction of the Padma Bridge on the spurious ground of corruption the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) felt not only shocked and humiliated, the mega project of crucial economic...

RHD set to miss target of road maintenance work in dry season

Munima Sultana | 2017-02-21 00:00:00

The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) is set to miss its target of road maintenance works in the current dry season due to its failure to give work orders to contractors in time, allegedly, because of a change in electronic...

New finance co act limits family directors to two

Siddique Islam | 2017-02-21 00:00:00

The government moves to enact a new finance companies act for updating the existing overall regulations to ensure good governance in the sector. Officials said the Finance Companies Act 2017 will replace the Financial Institutions Act 1993 and create an...

Decision to offload 15pc PGCB shares soon

Rezaul Karim | 2017-02-21 00:00:00

The government would soon take a decision to offload 15 per cent shares of Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Ltd. (PGCB) in the capital market in addition to existing 25 per cent, officials said. "We are working on it. An...

Investors to get one-stop service as law under way

Talha Bin Habib | 2017-02-21 00:00:00

The government has initiated a move to enact a law to provide quick services to investors from a single place aiming to attract more local and foreign investments, officials said.    To this effect, the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) is...

Mother Language Day—a historic perspective

Helal Uddin Ahmed | 2017-02-21 00:00:00

Bangla is the mother tongue of the Bengalis, the state language of Bangladesh. With a heritage spanning more than a millennium, its progress bears the imprints of many struggles and sacrifices. In getting recognition as the state language when Bangladesh...

When the spirit of Ekushey goes global

Muhammad Abdul Mazid | 2017-02-21 00:00:00

The General Conference of the United Nation's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) declared 21st February as International Mother Language Day (IMLD) in November 1999. IMLD has been being observed every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural...

Structural inequality in South Asia

Abdul Bayes | 2017-02-21 00:00:00

The South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) organised a two-day annual economists' conference (February 18-19, 2017). The first day of the conference was devoted to an interesting panel discussion titled 'Managing Growth with Social Inclusion'. The panel comprised eminent...

Jan imports slump 6.0pc

Siddique Islam | 2017-02-20 00:00:00

The country's overall imports decreased by nearly 6.0 per cent or US$ 235.16 million in January as compared to the previous month mainly due to lower import of consumer goods and capital machinery, officials said. Actual import in terms of...

Accelerating development to spur growth

Shafiq Islam | 2017-02-20 00:00:00

Bangladesh maintained a steady growth rate of more than 6.0 per cent during the last decade. In 2016, the growth rate was more than 7.0 per cent. This sustained accelerated growth led to the improvement of per capita income and...

Behind meatless Dhaka

Neil Ray | 2017-02-20 00:00:00

Dhaka City has passed almost a meatless week on account of the strike called by the Bangladesh Meat Traders' Association and the Dhaka Metropolitan Meat Traders' Association. Meat lovers certainly did not take the decision in good grace. But the...

Replacing brands with generics

Shamsul Huq Zahid | 2017-02-20 00:00:00

In the second week of January last, a High Court bench ordered the relevant authorities to issue a notification asking doctors to use capital letters while writing their prescriptions or deliver printed copies of the same to patients. The bench,...

Countrywide mega traffic infrastructures under study

Munima Sultana | 2017-02-19 00:00:00

The government now moves to build overhead expressways along potential national highways and second bridges over major rivers under a mega traffic plan. Officials said the objective is to make nationwide road infrastructures ready for growing traffic beyond 2030. Building...

The art of the North Korean deal

Yoon Young-kwan in Seoul | 2017-02-19 00:00:00

US President Donald Trump's surprisingly restrained reaction to North Korea's latest ballistic missile test has left many observers wondering what his next move will be. Trump has publicly declared that North Korea's goal of developing a nuclear-capable missile that can...

EDCF deal on $500m credit soon

Rezaul Karim | 2017-02-18 00:00:00

The government is going to sign soon Framework Arrangement for US$500million worth of credits from Korea to finance development projects. Officials said the loan, packaged as EDCF or Economic Development Cooperation Fund, will be used for various development projects from...

Dhaka set to revive FTA talks with Ankara in Mar

Syful Islam | 2017-02-18 00:00:00

Dhaka is set to revive talks with Ankara regarding signing of a free trade area (FTA) deal which was virtually put on hold for months following a diplomatic rift centering war crimes trial, officials said. A Turkish delegation comprising officials...

Long-liners want govt to carry out survey on tuna

Ismail Hossain | 2017-02-18 00:00:00

Country's four novice long-liners that were awarded licence for fishing tuna in the deep sea in the Bay of Bengal are reviewing their decisions as the government once again invited applications for new licence for long-liner and purse-seine fishing. The...

Tk 1.60b project to repair coastal embankment of Shahparir Dwip

Talha Bin Habib | 2017-02-18 00:00:00

The government has taken a Tk 1.60 billion project for repairing coastal embankment in Cox's Bazar aiming to prevent lives and properties from damage being caused by sea water, officials said.   The project titled 'Construction of embankment with protective work...

Stocks stay upbeat for second week

Babul Barman | 2017-02-18 00:00:00

Stocks stayed upbeat for the two consecutive weeks that ended Thursday with high turnover value as investors took position on large-cap stocks amid optimism. Analysts said stocks maintained the upward momentum as buying interest spurred the sector specific large-cap issues,...

Carrying on the battle on child marriage

Rakibul Hasan | 2017-02-18 00:00:00

Peacempire, an initiative to scale down Early Marriage, have worked with 2805 adolescents, youths and adults, mostly aged 13 to 25 years, who represent over 32 villages in the district of Narayanganj. It surpassed the targets set. Until the eve...

Crafting celebrities out of the vacuous

Nilratan Halder | 2017-02-18 00:00:00

In an age of information, the ambivalence between too much of exposure or promotion and privacy can hardly be resolved. The media need to feed the public with juicy and spicy news about celebrities. In doing so, they now create,...

Success stories can help girls\' STEM careers

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of IPS at the United Nations | 2017-02-18 00:00:00

What makes a young girl believe she is less intelligent and capable than a boy? And what happens when those children face the 'hard' subjects like science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)? A recent study, 'Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability...

Safeguard against question paper leak

Nabil Azam Dewan | 2017-02-18 00:00:00

Since education is a fair measure of a nation, the procedure of an examination recognises the aptitude or skills of individuals appearing at it.  The process however can either be disrupted or tarnished by any undesirable intervention. In Bangladesh, one...

Sharp rise in deaths on roads

Syed Jamaluddin | 2017-02-18 00:00:00

Most road accidents occur due to over-speeding of vehicles and desperate attitude of drivers. This is the finding of the research institute of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). The research covered the period from 1998 to 2015....

Growth and employment

Abdul Bayes | 2017-02-18 00:00:00

Economic growth and employment generation are considered to be inextricably linked. In Bangladesh particularly, the most recent experience relating to growth-employment nexus does not seem to hold good.  Again, within employment, there could be a sharp difference between productive and...

The financial education of the Eurozone

Christopher Smart in London | 2017-02-18 00:00:00

In 2017, Europe's leaders will confront an array of severe tests, including tumultuous elections featuring populist insurgencies, complex negotiations over Britain's departure from the European Union (EU), and a new American president who thinks that the transatlantic alliance is "obsolete."...