Govt may cut yield rates of hot-selling savings tools

The government is likely to revise downward the yield rates of its savings instruments to ease up the bulging debt burden following a surge in the demand for the same from the savers. Officials said the matter was discussed at...

Transit cargo, duty-free access, bus service top on agenda

Members of the technical committees on the Ministries of Commerce (MoCs) of Bangladesh and Nepal will sit next week in Kathmandu to discuss various bilateral trade-related issues. The issues include operational modalities of transit cargo, duty-free access of goods to...

MoI budget halved in last 3 years

Budget for the ministry of industries (MoI) has been halved in the last three years as it is discouraging foreign aid and increasing government's own financing, official sources said. In the coming fiscal year (FY), 2015-16, the ministry has made...

Fast move to buy vehicles under 2nd Indian LoC

A faster move is on to buy 500 trucks, several hundred double-decker and articulated buses and road-maintenance equipment worth 175 million US dollars under a second Indian line of credit (LoC) not yet finalised. Officials said the Road Transport and...

Foreign nationals take home $6.0b a year

A significant amount of foreign currency flies out of Bangladesh each year as the country needs to spend foreign nationals working in Bangladesh, a top chamber leader said. Hossain Khaled, president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the...

Elimination of hunger and malnutrition is good economics

Hunger and malnutrition are big global challenges that confront humanity. Nearly 850 million people across the globe are hungry. More than two billion people suffer from deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals, and about the same number of people are...

Budget 2015-16: Tackling governance issues

Finance Minister AMA Muhith is expected to present the national budget for fiscal year 2015-16 in parliament next month. As the readers are aware, the budget of a country is an account of the government's income and expenditure for the...

Demographic dividend: A big challenge

Lately there has been a lot of talk about Bangladesh's forthcoming "demographic dividend" that could transform our country's fortunes in the years to come. Demographic dividend is accelerated economic growth resulting from a country's declining mortality and fertility rate and...

Tax incentives galore for investors in hi-tech parks

The government has prepared a comprehensive incentive package for attracting both local and foreign investment in hi-tech and software technology parks. The investors in the technology parks, according to the proposed package, will be entitled to full waiver of corporate...

Foreign bidders vying for satellite contract

The telecom regulator has drawn positive response from foreign companies as they bid for Tk 30 billion contract for the country's first satellite, officials said. The officials said four companies have already collected necessary documents to participate in the international...

Printers prosper as poll campaign picks up steam

Paper sales and printing business are booming on the back of forthcoming city corporation election campaign, with traders expecting to ring up as much as Tk 300 million in income. The traders have got the chance to do brisk business...

BSEC in favour of waiving 2.0pc stamp duty on mutual funds’ trust deed

The securities regulator has given its opinion in favour of waiving 2.0 per cent stamp duty required for getting registration of Trust Deed of the mutual funds (MFs) considering the interest of the industry, officials said. The opinion of the...

Watching Mississippi Masala on Pahela Baishakh

Celebrating Pahela Baishakh in Washington, DC sounds impossibly exotic. Doesn't it? Not really! The first day of Bengali New Year came and went without much exhilaration for most Bengalis here, since it was a weekday. Most of us didn't get...

Train on reverse journey

Bangladesh can spring surprises for the rest of the world to marvel at. It has happened in case of the country's development parameters and now the long neglected railway perhaps wanted to capture world attention. Or, how else can a...

Bank borrowing—not a relishing sight

Borrowing by the government from the banking system, in the case of Bangladesh, is more of a double-edged sword. It cuts both ways. If it borrows heavily, the financial market feels the pinch in the form of what is widely...

Going by MRT project schedule now tougher

More new challenges have cropped up over implementation of the country's first mass rapid transport (MRT) project making its launch by 2019 doubtful. The Dhaka Mass Rapid Transport Development (DMRTD) project office has stumbled upon the challenges that deal a...

Thai co to set up first-ever packing film factory in Bangladesh

Thai Film Industries (pub) Ltd has proposed to set up a packing film factory in Bangladesh with an investment of US$ 40 million, a high official at Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) said. A team comprising three members of...

ICMAB for 10pc incentive for timely tax returns

The Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) has proposed providing 10 per cent tax incentive to individual taxpayers for submission of their income tax returns on time (by September 30). "This incentive will expedite submission of return...

Effective fraud risk management in banking sector

Every business, irrespective of locality, type or size has to face the risk of fraud. Frauds can be committed by customers, stakeholders, staff and managers of an organisation. The nature of business of banking sector is unique and completely different...

Internal govt transactions may go online

The government may conduct all its transactions online instead of the present paper cheque system to make it faster and secured, officials said. A committee, headed by Controller General of Accounts (CGA) Abul Kashem, recently suggested that accounts offices under...

Move on to cut duty on book import

The government has moved to waive import duty on books, making locals involved in book business worried that cheaper imports would throw them into deeper trouble. Import costs of a great array of reading materials in book forms will be...

Broadening bonded facility to BSCIC zones suggested

Export-oriented enterprises in seven industrial parks under the cottage industry corporation should enjoy duty-free imports of raw materials, a core group has suggested. The industrial estates in Rajshahi, Pabna, Sirajgonj, Kustia, Tangail, Narshingdi and Comilla under the Bangladesh Small and...

Stocks inch up amid calm political situation

The stock market inched up last week with improved turnover, after closing lower in previous two weeks, as the political situation apparently became normal ahead of City Corporation Elections. The week featured four trading sessions instead of five as the...

CLT in schools: Expectations and reality

As an international language English plays a significant role in the era of globalization. However, learning English is always a challenging task in a developing country like ours. To create a better opportunity for learning English the Government has taken...

The challenges immigrant women facing in Canada

Canada has long been the home of a diverse and multicultural society. Immigrants from various cultures and countries help enrich the multiculturalism. According to Statistics Canada 2007, immigrants make up approximately 20 per cent of its population. One immigrant among...

Celebration of Pahela Baishakh highlights Bangalee spirit

What a relief it was! After three months of stifling environment marked with violence and terror, people all across the country could finally breathe freely. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party under Khaleda Zia announced cessation of its indefinite blockade. Good sense...

Challenges affecting the economy

A few days ago the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said that a discomforting environment is prevailing in the country and such an environment impacts the economy as investors fear they would not be able to work freely and independently....

BPC eyes Tk 25b net profit this fiscal

Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) is hopeful of making a net profit of nearly Tk 25 billion in the current fiscal year (FY), 2014-15. The state-run organisation is likely to make pre-tax profit of more than Tk 29.50 billion this FY,...

Be more cautious to curb illegal capital flight

The banks have been asked to be more cautious about abnormal cash withdrawal and trade miss-invoicing to prevent illegal capital flight, officials said. The instruction came from a meeting of the central taskforce on anti-money laundering, held at the Bangladesh...

Finance professionals help better corporate governance

Corporate governance in the private sector is increasingly improving, helped by an army of locally-trained financial analysts, consultants and accountancy professionals, experts and insiders have said. They said apart from accountants and chartered accountants, finance and accountancy graduates are driving...