Syrian civil war: No respite in sight

The Syrian civil war entered into the fourth year with no sign for settlement of the conflict. The uprising in Syria began on March 11, 2011 as a sequel to the "Arab Spring", sweeping across the Middle East and the...

Loan disbursement among SMEs marks phenomenal rise in 2013

Disbursement of loans for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) marked a phenomenal rise in all sectors in 2013. Such an increase has been attributed mainly to entrance of new entrepreneurs and ventures following combined efforts of the central bank and...

REHAB Fair begins March 20

A five-day long REHAB Fair begins March 20 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city. Leaders of Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) in a press conference at the National Press Club on Monday disclosed this.A total...

Chevron Bangladesh & BRAC EPL win ACCA awards

ACCA has confirmed that Chevron Bangladesh has met the quality criteria for the Award of Approved Employer Trainee Development-Platinum and BRAC EPL Investments Limited with Professional Development. This means that  all  finance and accounting employees who are registered as students...

Taskforce to recommend making RAJUK land available for MRT-6

The taskforce for monitoring fast-track projects has decided to make a recommendation to the effect that the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakhha (Rajuk) makes its 40 acres of land available for a metro-rail project considering its importance in mass transportation. The recommendation...

Energy crisis affects investment seriously

Private sector investment in the country has dropped drastically in recent times due to power and gas shortage, people concerned said. They said most investors have been displaying a lukewarm attitude towards making fresh investment. According to the Board of...

Dream to set up a medical research centre shattered

The long cherished dream of a philanthropist to establish an "Integrated Medical Centre for Research and Training" has remained unfulfilled since 1982 though successive governments have expressed interest to help set it up. The establishment of the centre is aimed...

Fast food becoming increasingly popular

Fast food items are increasingly becoming popular in the country with the effect of globalisation along with growth of disposable income, industry insiders said. Many people, specifically the younger generation are consuming various fast food items everyday as these are...

Need for effective use of aid

Aid is an important instrument to catalyse development, but only if it is managed in an effective manner. Significant efforts to enhance the effectiveness of development assistance have been made over the last ten years through three High-Level Forums on...

Bangladesh on world map of innovation

Bangladesh is not particularly known for making breakthroughs in areas of science, technology and medicine. Satyendra Nath Bose, who developed way back in the 1920's with Einstein Bose-Einstein statistics, theorising the characteristics of elementary particles and after whom one of...

Looking beyond the law

It took a decade or more to get the law called the Consumers Rights Protection Act passed in the year 2009. Successive governments had spent time, deliberately or otherwise, in drafting and redrafting the act again and again. The government...

Need for adaptation in promoting green business

The challenges to creating decent work and increasing social inclusion in environmentally sustainable development can be grouped in three areas: (1) economic restructuring; (2) climate change and its threat to jobs and livelihoods and (3) adverse income distribution effects originating...

Two sections of Demutualisation Act, 2013 challenged

The High Court (HC) has issued a rule as to why two sections of the Exchanges Demutualisation Act, 2013 shall not be declared illegal, officials said. The court has issued the rule following a writ petition filed by a member...

DSE turnover dips below Tk 3b-mark

Stocks ended lower for the third running sessions Sunday with turnover on the prime bourse dipped below Tk 3.0 billion-mark once again as investors remained reluctant to make fresh investments. The market opened with a negative note and the downtrend...

Stocks down at opening

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) witnessed negative trend in early hours of trading Sunday, the opening day of the week amid modest see-saw. DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down by 10.63...

Ukraine crisis centring Crimea heading for severe complications

 The last-ditch efforts by the United States and Russia for easing tensions surrounding the situation in Crimea, particularly the referendum there on March 16, have failed. This makes it amply clear that the larger "Ukraine" tangle is inexorably moving towards...

NBR sets target to net in 0.2m taxpayers by Dec

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has set a target to net in around 200,000 or 0.2 million new taxpayers by December this year by conducting an external survey across the country. The board was casting the tax net wider...

App developed to connect mobiles via land phones

Calls made from a land phone to another land phone will automatically be diverted to a smart phone belonging owner of the latter by an app, developed by a company owned by Bangladesh nationals, if none picks up the phone...

New threat to public health

Adulterated rice is on sale in different markets across the country. This evil practice has added a new dimension to large-scale adulteration of food items -- fish, fruits, meat, vegetables, milk and milk products etc. A private TV channel in...

Labour rights, safety standard below required level

The Department of Inspection of Factories and Establishments has found labour rights and safety standard below the required level, official sources said.    Besides, some important compliance issues have not been addressed satisfactorily. The issues are: formation of trade union, insurance...

BD fails to attract investments due to licence issuance hitch

Bangladesh has failed to attract fresh foreign and joint venture investments in several commercial service sectors due to the problem of licence issuance. In the last 18 months a good number of willing investors went back as they failed to...

Evaluating various financing alternatives

Slow implementation of project results in slow disbursement of aid which leads to time and cost overrun. It impacts negatively on the balance of payments leading to increased borrowing from domestic sources. Factors creating difficulties in the speedy implementation of...

A greener economy is an absolute necessity

There is no denying that in order to make Bangladesh an environment-friendly country, we have to address two of the defining challenges of the twenty-first century: achieving environmental sustainability and turning the vision of decent work for all into a...

Social and linguistic benefits of using facebook

Facebook has been developed as a special tool for social media to stay connected with friends across the world.  The users can communicate with lots of people at one time, can send or post notices about news or activities to...

Discussion on China-BD business dev

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in Bangladesh, with support from Chinese Chamber of Commerce, recently organised a discussion platform on the topic of ‘Bangladesh - China Business Outlook’.  Li Jun, Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh, Andrew Tilke, Chief Executive...

Govt weighing 7.3pc GDP growth target in FY ‘15

The government is considering setting the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth target at 7.3 per cent for the next fiscal year (FY) amid some possible challenges in respect of investment, resource mobilisation and continuation of political stability. The possible GDP...

Costs of road division projects balloon

The communications ministry has demanded an additional allocation of Tk 5.25 billion in the Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) to help road division development projects continue uninterrupted, official said.   "It is high time to implement road division projects to help...

Only 4,500 pre-paid gas meters set up in 2 years

The installation of 600,000 pre-paid meters by the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd. to prevent misuse of the non-renewable fuel and manipulation of bill has failed to make any substantial progress even in two years. So far, the...

Stocks down for 3rd straight week

The stock market extended losing streak for the third straight week with lower market participation as ongoing volatility and apparent lack of directions kept investors indecisive. "The market observed another declining week marked by lower participation from the investors as...

Developing economies: Feeble silver lining in smog

With the passage of time the developing block has been experiencing newer challenges. In fact after the recent financial turmoil - recession is over in many biggies but the impact of recession remains very much alive - the fundamental challenge...