One-way traffic or not

A couple of news items published in two different Bangladesh dailies Sunday last did have the necessary contents to evoke a few logical questions about the seriousness of the authorities here to secure trade facilities from neighbouring India. The first...

Banks turn their back on call money mkt

Overall transactions on the call money market have dropped drastically in the recent days as lender banks now prefer lucrative alternatives for higher earnings, bankers said. The overall turnover on the inter-bank money market fell more than 47 per cent...

Income tax collection suffers Tk 8.13b shortfall until Feb

Income-tax collection suffered an aggregate shortfall by Tk 8.13 billion until February in the current fiscal year (FY), sending the collectors into a desperate drive to make it up allegedly by fair means or foul.      Tax officials attributed the lower-than-targeted...

Tk 42b RMG stocklot builds up on turmoil

Readymade garments (RMG) worth Tk 42 billion (4,200 crore)  have become stocklot due to the ongoing political troubles marked by frequent hartal and blockade, according to the research cell of the apparel exporters' association. The apparel exporters missed the shipment...

BBA plans to appoint consultants

The Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) is planning to appoint consultants to help them carry out the country's first-ever Karnaphuli tunnel project by sorting out problems with the project's contractor. Officials said the consultants will help the BBA in evaluating various...

Dhaka, Tehran move to sign memo to remove trade barriers

Bangladesh and Iran have agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding to help boost exports by removing trade barriers, an industries ministry official said. The main objectives of the MoU are to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the fields of standards,...

Adieu, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew, who transformed the tiny outpost of Singapore into one of Asia's wealthiest and least corrupt countries as its founding father and first prime minister, died on Monday at 91. He was in his final years more than...

Ensuring sound corporate governance in banks, FIs

During the last couple of years after global financial debacle, a lot of talks, seminars, training sessions and symposiums on corporate governance took place across the world. Swindling of bank money and capital market disaster also happened in Bangladesh. All...

Using flyovers to the full potential

The government is spending heavily on construction of flyovers in the capital with a view to easing traffic congestions. But the most crucial issue is whether the flyovers would yield the results they are aimed at. Because it has already...

Nine Chinese companies keen to build Paira port with buyers\\\' credit

Some ten foreign companies have expressed their interests to fund building Paira port, the country's third sea port in Patuakhali district, officials said. Of the proposals, nine came from China and one from Denmark. Officials said as per a cabinet...

Home budget set to spike by 25pc next fiscal

The home ministry sought to pump up the budgetary target for the next fiscal by Tk 30.48 billion (3,048 crore) or over 25.36 per cent from the projection in the medium-term budgetary framework (MTBF) in view of the current political...

Telcos link SIM tax dispute

The country's mobile phone operators have demanded 'final and satisfactory settlement' of the SIM replacement tax claim issue before holding the spectrum auction slated for April 30 this year. The telephony firms also sought Finance Minister AMA Muhith's intervention to...

CPA incurs Tk 1.78b loss in Karnaphuli dredging

The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has incurred a loss of Tk 1.78 billion in capital dredging and bank protection of Karnaphuli River project, officials said. Contractor of the project -- Malaysian Maritime and Dredging Corporation (MMDC) -- has suspended the...

Stocks break losing streak amid optimism

Stocks returned to the green last week that ended Wednesday, snapping five weeks losing streak as investors took position on lucrative stocks, hoping for the end of prolonged political tension ahead of city corporation elections. The week featured four trading...

Exporters hit by euro fall to get spl cash stimulus

The government moves to provide special cash stimulus to the exporters who mainly send their products to Europe amid continuous depreciation of the euro, officials said.    Besides, the prolonged political turmoil on the home front is also cited as factors...

Accumulation of capital in rural areas

Leaving aside land and livestock, rural people also depend on some non-land fixed assets to eke out their living. These assets constitute an important component of their capital stock to generate current income. These include power tiller, shallow tube well,...

Tea in trouble: The issue of enhancing productivity

Tea was once one of the principal cash crops of the country and students used to write essays on tea in the language courses of schools. But now, that does not happen, as instead of being a major export commodity,...

BD outshines Pakistan in several indicators

In over four decades of clinching independence from Pakistani rule, Bangladesh has outstripped Pakistan in many global development indictors that reflect the resilience of the nascent nation's growth potential. The country's economy has been growing over 6.0 per cent annually...

NBR for including proposals in Finance Bill \\\'15

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has found a set of proposals in the PPP incentive package, including tax waiver, beyond the bounds of fiscal law, and proposed their incorporation in the Finance Bill 2015. According to NBR, allowing relief...

Rethinking MBA schooling

Imagine a teacher with years of teaching experience but no corporate or other relevant real life experience/attachment (except as a customer) lecturing in a class of part-time MBA students (working executives) on how to be more competent in managerial job....

Journey of a transformer

Imagine, you own an incredible early stage startup in Bangladesh which can become the next big thing! But you do not have proper network, investors, and other technical resources required for expansion. To help you and your startup there are...

National progress sans politics

Fortyfour years ago on this day a nation was in the making. Bangalee ethos reached its climax to gain the ultimate prize in the shape of independence. It symbolised the triumph of Bangaleeness over the religio-politico-cultural concoction of an entity...

Bangladesh is growing in land size

Bangladesh with 147,570 km² in size and a population of more that 160 million is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. In the last four decades the size of its population has more than doubled. As...

Self-reliant Bangladesh: Concept and reality

Bangladesh was born out of a war for freedom, democracy, social justice and self-reliance, what Andre Malraux once termed as "the last noble cause." Since independence in 1971, our densely-populated nation at the head of the Bay of Bengal has...

Row over overseeing maritime affairs of Matarbari coal jetty

The ministry of shipping (MoS) and the Power Division are looked in a row over the authority of overseeing maritime affairs of a jetty of the proposed Matarbari 1200-megawatt coal-fired power plant, officials said. As per allocation of business, is...

Manpower shortage deters SPARRSO activities

The government's space research and satellite-borne remote sensing activities are being hampered, as there is no fresh recruitment the organisation concerned for over the last two decades. The government-run Space Research and Remote Sensing Organisation (SPARRSO) has been collecting satellite...

Fashion lovers drive leggings export sales

Fashion lovers' preference for leggings has opened up new opportunity for local exporters, with orders booming for close-fitting knit pants in the last two years, industry insiders said. They said local knit makers are looking to expand capacity to cope...

Online corporate learning and development

Blackboard entered the education arena in 1801 and coloured chalk came in 1814. Since then the education sector has few innovations in delivery of knowledge. Ironically through this education process there has been hardly any part of our life which...

Cricket, diplomacy, India and Bangladesh

The focus of everyone in Bangladesh is on what role India would play in the initiative of the international powers (USA/UK) and organisations (EU and UN) and a number of other countries to push the AL-led government towards a negotiated...

Emphasising trade for attaining development goals

Trade is well recognised for its importance in the development process. But as the development process across the world becomes increasingly complex, sustainability of development appears to be fraught with formidable challenges. So, making trade a comprehensively effective tool for...