Rural women\\\'s economic empowerment

Bangladesh is predominantly a rural economy with about 80 per cent of the people living in rural areas. Women constitute nearly half of the total population and half of its potential. For ages they have been the co-builders of civilisations...

Ranking of banks

My attention has been drawn on a report regarding the ranking of banks in a daily newspaper where it ranked top ten banks among the 29 listed private commercial banks based on their published annual reports for the year 2013....

How to face flood disasters

Judging from all available information and data on meteorological changes, it can be predicted that frequency, intensity and severity of floods will increase in Bangladesh in future. It is indeed certain that whenever any natural disaster strikes, it affects the...

Who will broker peace between Israel and Palestine?

There was a glimmer of hope in an Egyptian-proposed cease-fire. But the cease-fire collapsed on Tuesday and Israel has resumed its air strikes in the Gaza Strip. Gaza medical officials say 191 Palestinians, including at least 150 civilians, among them...

ICAB to take actions against CAs

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) has started actions against about a dozen Chartered Accountants (CAs) and CA firms for their professional misconducts, sources at the institute said. The ICAB Council initiated the move in line with recommendations...

Japan economics minister warns of premature QE exit, sees room for more easing

Japanese Economics Minister Akira Amari warned that it would be premature for the Bank of Japan to consider an exit strategy from its massive stimulus programme, voicing hope instead for further monetary easing if achievement of its inflation goal falls...

India disallows Reliance from cost recovery of $2.4b

India has disallowed Reliance Industries Ltd from recovering $2.376 billion invested to develop offshore gas fields in the D6 block on the country's east coast as output has fallen drastically and is way below the promised volumes, the oil minister...

Stocks turn green amid high turnover

The country's two bourses returned to the green on Wednesday after previous session’s negative trend as optimistic investors took position on lucrative stocks. The capital markets opened with a positive trend that continued till the sessions closed. Eventually, the DSEX,...

Stocks close higher amid high turnover

The stock market returned to the green on Wednesday after previous session’s negative trend as optimistic investors took position on lucrative stocks. The market opened with a positive note which continued till the closure. Eventually, the DSEX, the prime index...

Stocks open positive

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) witnessed positive trend in early hours of trading on Wednesday, the fourth trading day of the week. DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went up by 19.02 points...

Footwear sales sluggish, craze for Chinese shoes

Transactions in the city's footwear outlets are yet to pick up ahead of the holy Eid with locally produced items facing tough competition with Chinese ones, traders said. They said sales in their shops dropped by more than 40 per...

CCH : Where \\\'Faltus\\\' are indispensable!

All concerned do know that nothing would get into or move out of the Chittagong port without the greasing the palms of a section of corrupt port and customs officials. The direct victims of the evil practice, the exporters and...

Withholding tax on life insurance policy benefits draws flak

The decision to levy tax at the rate of 5.0 at source on the return received in excess of the premiums at maturity of life insurance policies has given rise to some complexities. In the budget for the fiscal year...

Inter-MFI interest rate capped at 10pc

The microcredit regulator directs the country's micro finance institutions (MFIs) not to charge interest at more than 10 per cent rate during inter-MFI transactions.  The Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA), in its recent guideline on the inter-MFI transaction, said the guideline...

MoU on building BCIM corridor soon

Bangladesh prepares to develop the necessary infrastructure in its part of the proposed 3000-kilometre economic corridor connecting Bangladesh, China India and Myanmar (BCIM) with China's assistance, as the proposal is already approved. Officials said the Ministry of Communications (MoC) has...

Achieving targeted GDP growth

Since Finance Minister AMA Muhith tabled the Finance Bill (Budget) 2014-15, the media has been flooded with streams of comments and views. Economists, planners and financial experts have converged to dissect the budget, highlighting its merits and demerits, strengths and...

Modi and South Asian cooperation

The invitation sent to the heads of governments of the SAARC member states to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi at his insistence and the quick response from these countries signal a positive message for promotion of...

International community fails to check Israeli aggression

While slogans like "Shame Israel Shame" and "Free Palestine - Free Gaza" rent the air across the globe - from Australia to India - from Europe to the Middle East  condemning the brutalities of Israel in Gaza, the international community...

Shanghai most likely hqs for BRICS dev bank

Shanghai looks set to become the headquarters of a development bank being launched by the BRICS emerging market nations, despite fears by some members of the group that China could hijack the bank to serve its interests. Brazil, China, India,...

In Malaysia, Islam\\\'s legal advance divides families and nation

Deepa Subramaniam would not let go of her son, clinging to five-year-old Mithran's leg even as the car into which he had been bundled began to accelerate. The 30-year-old, a Hindu in Muslim-majority Malaysia, says she was dragged along the...

Iran nuclear negotiators under pressure after Khamenei\\\'s speech

A major speech by Iran's Supreme Leader has limited the ability of the Iranian delegation at high-level nuclear talks to make concessions with six world powers and this could scuttle chances for Tehran to reach an accord to end sanctions,...

Italian textiles struggle to weave a new spell

Italy has fallen behind two groups of rivals in recent years: high-tech, high-end competitors in countries such as Germany and the United States, and low-end producers in places like China, Bangladesh and Turkey. The best place to see the latter...

Putin pledges to help Cuba explore offshore oil

Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to help revive Cuba's struggling offshore oil exploration last week at the start of a six-day tour of Latin America as Russia aims to reassert its influence on the communist-ruled island. Putin was joined in...

After decades of disappointment, Berlin\\\'s economy looks up

It has taken a quarter of a century longer than hoped but Berlin is now glimpsing the prosperity that was supposed to land in its lap after the Wall came down in 1989 and it was restored as the jubilant...

Stocks return to red

Stocks returned to the red on Tuesday, a day after upturn as investors followed cautious stance ahead of Eid festival. Only seven trading sessions are left ahead of Eid vacation. “Investors’ sentiment still remains shaky and their prompt need to...

Stocks see downward trend

Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) saw negative trend in early hours of trading on Tuesday amid volatility, the third trading day of the week. DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down by 0.34 points...

Overseas employment: Domestic linkages

Temporary movement of labour abroad for employment is a relatively new phenomenon in Bangladesh. It started a few years after the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent country on a modest scale. Only about six thousand people went abroad for...

BPC faces July crunch time

The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) is facing a big problem with managing its funding shortfall this month, as it takes a very small of amount of loan in line with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-prescribed 'indicative target' (IT). Operation of...

Costly pvt sector plants to beat public ones

Power generation in the private sector has reached 45 per cent of the total production during the last seven years, and experts say gradually the private sector will outbid the public sector in terms of production. Against the country's current...

Govt prepares project to reach internet services to rural areas

The government is set to lay optical fiber network in all of its offices at district, upazila and union parishad with a view to spreading internet services to the grassroot level across the country, sources said. According to the sources,...