Humane and innovative microcredit assistance

The origin of micro-credit or micro-finance is in Bangladesh. Micro-credit, contrary to conventional banking practice, does away  with the need for collateral to develop a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity. The Grameen Bank (GB) translated...

Universities run without VCs

Complaints against private universities in this country are often raucous on this or that account. Now the public notice issued the other day by the University Gants Commission (UGC) on the illegality of certificates issued by anyone other than the...

The wait continues to be too long

How is the present power supply situation in the country? Of course, it is far better now than any time in the recent past. The improvement, however, has been gradual and quite expensive. The improvement has also been made in...

Banks spread branches fast in rural areas

The branch network of scheduled banks has expanded fast in the rural and unbanked areas of the country, playing a significant role in rural development and economic growth, bankers said. It also helped deepen the financial inclusion by bringing the...

NBR holds tax week from Nov 24 to Nov 30

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will observe a tax week from November 24 to November 30 with the objective of providing services to individual income taxpayers for submitting their tax returns within the deadline. The NBR expects some 1.5...

China invests money into South, Central America, hoping to boost trade

Chinese President Xi Jinping's ongoing visit to Latin America, which started last Thursday, has once again drawn the world's attention to closer economic ties between China and countries in the region. In recent years, Chinese firms have invested billions of...

Dealing with Puerto Rico\'s debt

Jubilee USA along with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Charities and the US National Latino Evangelical Coalition, supported the passage of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA). We did this in partnership with several...

Overseas employment sector deserves more attention

In 1971, contribution of agriculture, industry and service sectors to Bangladesh's gross domestic product (GDP) was 51.03 per cent, 7.68 per cent and 41.28 per cent respectively. Similarly, it was 31.55 per cent, 20.63 per cent, and 47.81 per cent...

Now that it is Donald Trump, what\'s next?

American President-elect Donald Trump has literally trumped the global mainstream media by getting elected. Political leaders of all hues the world over were also crestfallen. Meanwhile, the same mainstream world media is awash with speculations about what the 'unpredictable' president-elect...

Chinese technology improves Ecuador\'s emergency-reaction capability

Thanks to an emergency warning and monitoring system developed by Chinese companies, Ecuador has significantly improved its capability in dealing with public security risks as well as its reaction speed towards disasters. The ECU911, designed and built by China National...

SoEs\' share divestment hits deadlock

Most state-owned enterprises (SoEs) could not make any appreciable progress in divesting on the stock market despite a government directive for time-bound action, officials said.     They recall that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had set a deadline some six years back...

Ocean survey ship gets going today

The first ocean fisheries research and survey ship of the country will be commissioned today (Saturday) to assess marine resources in the Bay of Bengal, officials said. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the commissioning of the ship through a...

Stocks stay positive for 3rd consecutive week

Stocks stayed positive for three consecutive weeks that ended on Thursday with rising turnover value as investors were mostly focused on buying spree driven by earnings declarations. Analysts said the market finished higher primarily driven by corporate earnings declarations coupled...

Banding together in anti-tobacco battle

While reflecting upon the game changing successes in the field of tobacco control on the sidelines of the 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Liverpool, UK, Dr Tara Singh Bam, Regional Adviser for Tobacco Control at the International...

Into the era of Trumpism

Last week Donald J Trump, the 70-year-old real estate magnet and former TV reality show personality, won the US presidential election against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton after securing more than 270 electoral votes necessary for a victory. However, his election...

Home delivery of medicine

Home delivery service is getting its ground gradually. In this capital, the traditional home delivery is milk by 'goalas' (men who depend on milching cows for their livelihoods). Fishmongers are the next to take order for occasional delivery of fish...

Admission in public universities

Admission to public universities appears to be a tough battle faced by students. The admission process is becoming increasingly difficult. On one hand, the cost of admission forms, that is, pre-admission cost has been soaring over the years and the...

Need for skill development

In this world, survival and day-to-day income become impossible for a huge number of educated people. In developing country like Bangladesh only education and pass marks sometimes cannot bring daily bread to many families.  Skill is a vital driving force...

From an economic cripple to a development puzzle

At independence in 1971, Bangladesh was considered as an 'economic cripple'. It was feared further that there would be no light at the end of the tunnel. A volley of reasons worked behind this unfortunate doomsday prediction: overpopulation, poor natural...

Banks struggling to hit turnover heights

The listed banks have failed for the fourth consecutive year to regain the top position in the turnover board of the country's both bourses although over five years have already elapsed since the last stock market debacle. Banks used to...

High land price dents garment village dream

The planned garment industrial park at Gazaria in Munshiganj district seems a forlorn hope as Chinese investors are unwilling to invest in the project for high cost of land, sources said. Losing hope about the garment village in that area,...

Higher NPLs weaken CRAR in Bangladesh

The capital-to-risk weighted asset ratio (CRAR) of Bangladesh's banking sector stands in a lower position than those of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka due to higher volume of classified loans, particularly in the public sector banks here. According to the...

Building a community of shared destiny for common progress

Chinese President Xi Jinping is going to pay state visits to Ecuador, Peru and Chile. China and Latin American and the Caribbean states are all developing countries in about the same development stage and face the same task of striving...

Exploring the commercial identity of Bangladeshi cinema

Despite massive technological progress around the world over the past few decades, cinema still remains one of the most popular mediums of entertainment. Bangladesh is no exception, especially in areas outside capital Dhaka, where it remains a prominent component of...

Where police set shining examples

Over the decades the police have constructed for them a negative image in general. It is partly because of some rogue members among them and partly because theirs is a thankless job. Ever since the Yasmin and Seema rape and...

Flawed link of GSP with labour issue

The latest assertion of the US envoy in Bangladesh that restoration of the Generalised System of Preference (GSP) largely depends on the improvement of the country's labour standard and factory conditions is not a new thing. She reiterated the so-called...

Businesses demand VAT threshold up at Tk 5.0m

Businesses demand raising the value-added tax (VAT) threshold for small traders to a turnover of Tk 5.0 million from Tk 3.0 million as a trade-off in withdrawing the package-VAT system. Former FBCCI vice-president and president of Dhaka Mohanagar Dokan Malik...

Classified loans leap to Tk 143.60b in 9 months

Loads of classified loans in the country's banking sector have leapt by nearly 28 per cent or Tk 143.60 billion in the first nine months of the current calendar year, belying close monitoring by the central bank. The volume of...

AMAL, dedicated healthcare service for underprivileged children

"This may sound weird but 3 out of 5 underprivileged kids here in Bangladesh are devoid of healthcare facilities. The number of suffering kids in the country is staggering 4 million," says Esrat Karim Eve, founder of 'AMAL'. She mentioned...

How effective is pictorial warning on tobacco packets?

There were mixed results as global tobacco control parties met at a six-day negotiation at the seventh session of Conference of Parties (COP7) at New Delhi from November 07 to November 12, 2016.  The COP to the Framework Convention on...