Country\\\'s highways turn into death traps

A good communication network in a country is a sine qua non for its economic development as well as ensuring a desirable living standard for its citizens. Since the country's independence, successive governments tried their best to develop roads and...

How to get over admission test quagmire

Mayhem involving admission test has long been a regular phenomenon, after the publication of results of HSC and equivalent examinations every year. Admission-seekers and their guardians get in a mad rush for the golden deer - a seat in a...

Safe Food Act: Unsafe foodstuffs to feed

Consuming safe food is one of the fundamental rights for the citizens of Bangladesh. But the right is being denied widely by unscrupulous traders as they are still selling foodstuffs laced with toxins for their petty financial interests. The heinous...

Ban on felling trees goes unheeded

Despite ban imposed on cutting of trees nearly quarter of a century ago, systematic destruction of forest resources continues unabated across the country. Every year government launches afforestation programme amid fanfare which aims at boosting tree population and creating mass...

External sector management in South Asia

The most important and common feature of external sector management in South Asia is their deliberate effort towards greater integration with the world economy. Such integration is popularly known as globalization .Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate economist, defines globalization as...

Global financial crisis: The tasks ahead

A safe path of global balance and stability will be a lot easier if global liquidity growth is tied to the growth of real global output in some mechanism that injects and withdraws liquidity counter-cyclically as global real output growth...

DSE turnover hits fresh 4-month low

Stocks witnessed a sharp decline Wednesday, a day after upturn with turnover hitting fresh four months low as investors remained reluctant to make fresh exposure amid weak sentiment. The market opened with a positive mood, but cloud not sustain. At...

DSE, CSE open positive

The prices of most of the shares at Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) saw positive trend in early hours of trading on Wednesday, the 4th session of the week. DSEX, the prime index of the DSE,...

Maiden yet good beginning

The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), established under the article 127 of the Constitution, Monday last made the audit reports on financial dealings of a number of government organizations public. The CAG himself disclosed the contents of...

Receipts are up but not number of taxpayers

The ratio of population and actual taxpayers, implying those who submit their annual tax returns, in Bangladesh is at one of the lowest levels among the South-Asian countries, largely due to lax tax compliance and 'fear factor' among the taxpayers....

BB in a fix over cancelled, torn currency notes

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has long been facing serious trouble with stockpiles of cancelled and torn notes as the Department of Environment (DoE) has refused permission to it to burn those, sources said. "A huge amount of torn notes has...

Food security: Silver lining in dark clouds?

Is it not a major victory for India? Washington and New Delhi have resolved differences over the food-stock piling issue at the WTO, paving the way for implementation of the pending trade facilitation agreement to ease customs norms. It has...

Why Iran nuclear talks failed to meet deadline

Iran and six powers failed on Monday (November 24) for a second time this year to resolve their 12-year dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, and gave themselves seven more months to overcome the deadlock that has prevented an historic deal....

Transition to inorganic banking

A few years ago, keeping money in a safe at home was the norm, though unsafe. Keeping track of one's money in a bank was an arduous process. (Still today, people in Bangladesh hide their money under mattresses or inside...

Obama widens post-2014 combat role for US forces in Afghanistan

President Barack Obama has approved plans to give US military commanders a wider role to fight the Taliban alongside Afghan forces after the current mission ends next month, a senior administration official said. The decision made in recent weeks extends...

Fears grow about Hindu \\\'Modi-fication\\\' of education

Indians were flying aeroplanes, carrying out stem cell research and may even have been using cosmic weapons 5,000 years ago, according to the chairman of India's leading historical organisation. Professor Y. Sudershan Rao, the head of the Indian Council of...

China commits $45.6 billion for economic corridor with Pakistan

The Chinese government and banks will finance Chinese companies to build $45.6 billion worth of energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan over the next six years, according to new details of the deal seen by Reuters on Friday. The Chinese...

Banking culture breeds dishonesty, study finds

A banking culture that implicitly puts financial gain above all else fuels greed and dishonesty and makes bankers more likely to cheat, according to the findings of a scientific study. Researchers in Switzerland studied bank workers and other professionals in...

Many risk missing visa renewal chances, jobs

Abdul Khalaque has lived in Malaysia for 14 years, and now he needs another renewal of his visa. But he is in fear losing the chance, hence his job, for delays in getting a new passport. Hailed from Tangail district,...

BD\\\'s import from SAARC nations doubled in 5 years

Bangladesh's import of goods from seven SAARC countries has almost doubled in last five years, widening further its trade imbalance to US$3.695 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2013-14, statistics show. In FY 2009-10 Bangladesh imported goods worth $3.617 billion from...

Stocks return to green

The bourses turned around on Tuesday after three sessions’ sharp fall with turnover remaining sluggish as investors went for buying spree on lucrative stocks. The market opened with a positive mood which sustained throughout the session. At the end of...

DSE, CSE up at opening

The prices of most of the shares at Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) saw upward trend in early hours of trading on Tuesday, the 3rd session of the week. DSEX, the prime index of the DSE,...

Cost to go up by Tk 2b for extension of time

Cost of the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway project is set to increase again by minimum Tk 2.0 billion from the existing Tk 32 billion, as the project's lifetime has to be spun out by another year. Sources said the Roads and...

AIT pays dividends but individuals still shy of coming under tax net

The number of actual personal income tax-payers has been stagnant, if not on the decline, during the last two years. A substantial part of the individual income tax receipts comes in the form of as advance income tax (AIT). The...

BB sells $45m to 5 banks

The central bank resumed its foreign-exchange support through selling the US dollar to the commercial banks after nearly two years and a half to keep the market stable, officials said. As part of the move, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) sold...

HC allows 14 days to take better preparation for hearing

Petitioner's counsels of the long-pending litigation regarding foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country's commercial service sector have taken two-week time from the High Court (HC) to take better preparation for hearing in the case. The part-heard legal matter was...

Of mechanised agriculture

The impacts of mechanisation in the 20th century on farm productivity in particular and society in general are profound. Available studies show, at the end of the 19th century, it took 35 to 40 hours of planting and harvesting labour...

Banks: Bad loans drive out sound loans

It is too well-known to elaborate that some of our banks are in serious trouble after having advanced a huge amount of money to some big customers. It is learnt from Bangladesh Bank sources that there are loans that can...

DSE key index dips below 4,800-mark

Amid weak market sentiment, stocks fell further Monday with key index of the major bourse dipping below 4,800-mark after more than two months since September 16 last. The investors went for selling spree as soon as the market opened and...

DSE, CSE down at opening amid volatility

The prices of most of the shares at Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) saw negative trend in early hours of trading on Monday amid volatile trading, the 2nd session of the week. DSEX, the prime index...