Banking industry: Converting challenges into opportunities

The banking sector of Bangladesh has been experiencing a torrid time for last three years or so. With increased number of financial scams and classified loans, the industry has come under severe criticism from all quarters. Our banking sector is...

Early varieties of vegetables

Even the least probing eyes should not miss that an array of winter vegetables has literally flooded the market. This was the case long before the advent of the month Agrahayan, the last month of Bangla season Hemanta. There has...

River erosion - natural calamity or not?

Natural calamities such as floods, cyclones or storms because of the country's geographical location do visit Bangladesh very often. However, none can make any long-term projections about their timing. Forecasts are usually made when these calamities start brewing either in...

Thousands of Rohingyas missing in boats en route to Malaysia

Thousands of Rohingya boat people who have left Myanmar in the past month have yet to reach their destinations, say relatives and an advocacy group for the persecuted minority, raising fears their boats have been prevented from reaching shore. About...

Battle with Islamic State starting to turn?

The United States' top military officer told American troops on a surprise visit to Baghdad on Saturday that the momentum in the battle with Islamic State was "starting to turn", but predicted a drawn-out campaign lasting several years. General Martin...

Scotland may seek new independence vote if UK delays devolution

Scotland may seek another independence vote if Britain's rulers fail to honour their pledge to grant it further autonomy, outgoing Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond warned last week, less than two months after Scots spurned independence. Salmond, in his...

Euro zone grows faster than expected but still weak

The euro zone economy grew more strongly than expected in the third quarter as France beat market forecasts and Germany narrowly avoided a recession, but the bloc remains weak and could need further stimulus. European Union statistics office Eurostat said...

Dearth of land in BD redirects FDI

Disappointed at high land prices and its shortage in Bangladesh, top Asian industrial giants are now considering relocating their factories to Myanmar, Vietnam and some other countries, sources said. Faced with higher worker wages at home, industrialists were seeking to...

Illegal gas users attack mobile court

Illegal gas users, equipped with sticks, attacked a mobile court and Titas Gas employees, after they disconnected unauthorised connections in Narsingdi last week. Press reports say at least 20 people including an executive magistrate, Titas gas officials and journalists were...

Export trade under strains

Despite political stability since January 05 elections, the country's export trade registered a negative growth during the first four months of the current financial year. It was surprising that the country's export business had performed better during the turbulent times...

Mozena\\\'s zero-tariff theory on apparel exports

There is an interesting debate-or should we say, war of words-going on between the US Ambassador, Dan W. Mozena and Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on the latter's claim that Bangladesh pays $800 million each year as tariff for export of...

The race for power in Asia

Asia has emerged as the great prize in the geo-political arena for which rivalry among great powers is being ratcheted up. The prize consists of spreading both political and economic spheres of influence. At least this is true for the...

Private universities should get rid of their Achilles heel

Universities are an inseparable part of the progress of human civilisation. A modern nation is learned, enlightened and intellectually liberated by universities. 'A university should be a place of learning, of light, and of liberty' as Benjamin Disraeli (1804 -1881),...

Tk 5.6b farm loan stuck against 0.2m cases

At least Tk 5.6 billion of six state-owned banks (SoBs) remained stuck against 2,02,460 cases filed to recover the money from farm loan borrowers, statistics show. By the end of the third quarter of 2014, since January 1991, some 10,297...

30pc production capacity of textile mills unutilised

More than 30 per cent production capacity of local textile mills has remained unutilised for long as garment manufacturers are increasingly sourcing their raw materials from abroad. The latter are 'capitalising' on the liberalised rules of origin by the European...

National blood centre soon

National Blood Centre is coming up soon as a central platform from where collection and safe transfusion of blood will be controlled across the country, as indiscriminate business spreads in this crucial medical field. Sources involved with this important development...

Stocks undergo rough ride

Stocks edged lower for the second straight week, with key index of the prime bourse dipping below 5,000-mark as investors followed 'wait-and-see' approach. The week featured all five trading sessions. Of them, three sessions saw negative trend while two sessions...

Farm size and productivity

It all started with Amartya Sen's seminal work on farm size and productivity possibly in the 1960s in the Indian context. It sparked debates relating to efficiency of small versus large farms. He observed an inverse relationship between farm size...

Need for a regulatory framework

RELATIONSHIP BANKING AND ETHNICITY IN COLONIAL INDIA: In colonial India, there was widespread prevalence of relationship banking. Kinship networks provided intricate webs of trust. Some of the Indian bankers had branches or agencies spread all across India - from Peshawar...

Culture is hurt by blind imitation

It is not uncommon to feel that the newspapers one receives on the tea table are thicker and heavier than usual. Sure enough they bring out supplements and issues on different occasions like the anniversary issues. But the particularly pregnant...

BD, Bhutan to ink separate deal on trade in service

Bangladesh and Bhutan have decided to sign a separate deal on trade in service without incorporating it in the bilateral trade agreement, scheduled to be renewed next month, official sources said. Bangladesh wanted to incorporate trade-in-service in and bring some...

Significant decline in Q1 corporate VAT collection

Collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) from major corporate houses marked a significant decline in the first quarter (Q1) of the current fiscal year (FY), mainly due to fall in revenue from cigarette manufacturing companies and mobile phone service-providers, according...

Trip to a mind which is awake

I had the opportunity to read in the newspaper some of the write-ups included in this recently published book 'Reflections at Twilight'. Retiring after about 35 years' yeoman service to the nation Prof. Sarwar Md. Saifullah Khaled has done a...

Democracy as a free lunch

In a democratic system, every eligible person is free to vote. But free-to-vote doesn't mean that voting is for free, and it doesn't have any cost at all. Nobody pays to vote, but voting has costs. People vote for the...

What will be end result of BRTA drive?

How ludicrous! The on-going drive against unfit, unlicensed vehicles and drivers without driving licences is making news more for the sufferings caused to commuters than for the success of the drive. A report quoting the chairman of the Bangladesh Road...

The power of the financial oligarchy

ETHICAL BANKING AND RELATIONSHIP BANKING FOR THE NON- AGRICULTURAL SECTOR: As I had written some time back: 'Economists have recently theorised about a fact which bankers had recognised all along, viz., that credit markets are necessarily imperfect and that rate...

Economic burden of diabetes

Diabetes is one of the major health and development challenges of the 21st century. There are currently 371 million people living with diabetes and another 280 million are at high risk of developing the disease across the world. Half a...

Cell in MoC to monitor prices of essentials

The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has formed a cell to monitor and forecast prices of essential commodities aiming to stabilise internal market price situation, officials said. The cell named 'Price Monitoring and Forecasting Cell' will help provide information to the...

Sri Lanka\\\'s Supreme Court okays president\\\'s third term

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has cleared President Mahinda Rajapaksa to stand for a third six-year term and declare snap presidential polls after he completes four years in office, his party said in parliament November 11. The Supreme Court had responded...

China seeks greater role in Afghanistan with peace talk push