Making the most of demographic dividends

In the just published Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on the Asia-Pacific region, the prospect of demographic dividends for South Asian and South-east Asian countries has received special citation. Here is a region that has...

Banks won\'t need to sell excess shares

Banks detected with overexposures on the capital market won't have to sell off excess shares for compliance with legal limits within the stipulated timeframe as per fresh government policy support.   Under the revised policy supports extended by the central bank,...

FBCCI for wider tax cuts to avert evasion, capital flight

The apex chamber has prepared its budget proposals for the government to raise income-tax threshold to Tk 300,000 and consider wider tax cuts to avert evasion and capital flight. It seeks reduction in high rates of corporate tax and minimum...

Youths prove talents in programming

The word hackathon is combined from the words ‘hack’ and ‘marathon’, where hack is used in the sense of exploratory and investigate programming (not as a reference to committing a cybercrime, if you are wondering). It has been described as...

The era of content marketing

With the advent of digital media and all sorts of online based platforms, traditional mass media channels are failing to bring potential customers and users for businesses. Specially, if the businesses are not selling product and services to the mass...

Traversing asymmetric markets: The case of NTMs in Bangladesh-India trade

In an age of ever globalizing markets with value chains linking regions to form production lines across countries, Bangladesh stands to reap the benefits from South Asian intra-regional market connectivity provided internal policies are aligned to facilitate such linkages. Bangladesh...

WTO negotiations: Trade restrictive measures or policy tools?

The debate over identifying any trade-related measure as trade restrictive or valid trade policy tool is not a new phenomenon. In mid-April, members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) engaged in such a debate. Some member countries raised the question...

Why Senator Sanders fascinates the youth?

Senator Bernie Sanders has been in the campaign trail for the past twelve months seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for its presidential candidate. He has been in the Congress for over twenty years but his views and actions very often...

Two rly projects likely to be fast-track ones today

Padma bridge railway connectivity project and Dohazari-Cox's Bazar-Gundum railway project are set to be included in the fast-track projects as top monitoring committee of the projects meets today (Wednesday). Official sources said the fast-track project monitoring committee will take the...

32pc listed cos face complexities over uniform \'income year\'

About 32 per cent listed companies are facing some complexities in complying with the uniform 'income year' as per the circular issued by the revenue board. According to the circular-2015 (Income Tax) issued by the National Board of Revenue (NBR),...

TCB to sell key essentials during Ramadan

The government is set to sell five key essential commodities through 174 trucks at subsidized rates before and during the holy month of Ramadan to help keep their prices stable, officials said. The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) in its...

Is Independent Director\'s service a charity?

As part of its initiative to enforce better governance, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has introduced the Code of Corporate Governance for companies listed with local bourses. When the Code was first introduced in 2006 after the debacle...

Economics of Pahela Baishakh

Cultural events are not bereft of economics however incidental it may be. The more widespread a cultural event becomes with the passage of time and greater is the participation by people in its celebration the deeper becomes the penetration of...

Hailing a Hero

Today is the 80th birthday of Sir Fazle Hasan Abed KCMG, the founder and chairperson of BRAC. He was born into the distinguished Hasan family of Baniachong under Habiganj district on April 27, 1936. Two years before Rabindranath Tagore's knighthood,...

Restoring trust in the banking sector

It has been underscored in countless empirical studies and enquiry reports on the state of affairs in financial services that adequate and appropriate approach needs to be taken to rebuild the current low level of confidence in banks. The role...

Restructured large loans come under BB watch

Amid latest developments in the banking sector, restructured unpaid large loans are coming under a close monitoring by the central bank under a bid to get accounts straight. The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has sought latest updates on such credits from...

WB reminds govt to return $85m over breach of rules

The World Bank (WB) reminded the government to return its US$85 million, that it provided for a number of development projects, due to alleged fund misappropriation and breach of procurement rules, officials said.   The Washington-based lender recently sent a letter...

Banks, financials help foster SME growth

Lending by banks and non-banks has helped small and medium enterprises (SMEs) achieve considerable growth in the last five years, industry-insiders said. But to realise the sector's full potential it requires "flexibility" in terms of interest rate, lending conditions and...

Govt sits today to devise strategy for APG meet

The government will sit today to discuss necessary strategies on ongoing anti-money laundering (AML) and anti-terrorist financing efforts ahead of its meeting with an international organisation later this month, officials said. The meeting today is set to review progress on...

Financing in international trade: An overview

Unlike domestic trade, international business can not be performed without the involvement of banks of both buyer and seller as a standard foreign currency is involved for payment of the goods. That is why international trade is also called foreign...

The Fed\'s gamble on surplus labour

In recent weeks, the US Federal Reserve has buoyed markets by adopting a more gradual approach to policy normalisation. Fed Chair Janet Yellen's most recent public remarks, in late March, were more dovish than anticipated. And, at its last meeting,...

When social refinement becomes a casualty

A man is shouting at the top of his voice on his cell phone (mobile). It does not go with refined taste even if someone vents out his anger thus within the four walls of his home. But when a...

Mobility in land ownership and occupation

The household-level endowment of land is very low in Bangladesh because of extreme population pressure. Bangladesh now supports a population of about 160 million with an arable land of about 8.0 million ha. The latest Agricultural Census  enumerated 17.8 million...

White collar crime: Bangladesh perspective

White collar crime is an urban phenomenon, an offshoot of the urban affluent society. It is different from street crimes in that it is non-violent. Its impact is not felt immediately but the ripple effect of a single financial scam...

Chinese firm to build economic zone in Ctg

A high-powered committee has selected China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) to develop an economic and industrial zone in Anwara of Chittagong, where some major Chinese industries are likely to be relocated. Officials said the committee recently submitted its report...

Kuwaiti PM arrives in Dhaka on May 3

Bangladeshi businessmen will put forward a set of proposals to the Kuwaiti Prime Minister during his three-day official visit to Bangladesh early next month. The proposals include setting up of a crude oil refinery plant and investment in plastic sector...

Stocks extend losing spell for two weeks

Stocks extended their losing spell for the two straight weeks that ended Thursday as cautious investors' selling spree continued amid mixed trend of earnings and dividend declarations. Market insiders said investors were mostly cautious as the government is yet to...

Teacher-student relationship: How should it be?

Karn Wilkins asks whether with the growing use of IWDs, wikis, blogs, VLE and apps we are losing the vital rapport we have with our learners. By mediating our teaching through technology, are we losing or changing the student-teacher relationship?...

Recalling the Bard 400 yrs on

If April is the 'cruellest month', as dubbed by T S Eliot in his The Waste Land, then today's (April 23) celebration across the world has sidelined the cruelty for the time being. This is nothing but turning the sorrow...

Stolen childhood

One wonders what today's children will be nostalgic about. To be nostalgic, one must have association of memory with so many things that have either captured their imagination, pleased them with sights and sounds all around. In cities and towns,...