Coca-Cola to increase investment in Bangladesh CSR

Global soft drink giant Coca-Cola has pledged to increase its investment in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme as much as its business grows in Bangladesh. "Our business is small here. We will be growing bigger. With the growing of...

Certificate business in private universities

A very recent report regarding the education of private universities was released in the Parliamentary Standing Committee of education ministry meeting which has baffled us. It directly said that certificate trade and irregularities are rampant in the private universities. Even...

BJMC seeks Tk 5b from govt to buy jute, pay salary, bonus

The state-run Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) has sought Tk 5.0 billion from the government for payment of salary and festival bonus of its employees as well as purchase of raw jute and payment of dues. The corporation, through the...

High-ups for expediting ongoing Chinese, Japanese projects

Government high-ups have taken a move to expedite implementation of the ongoing Japanese and Chinese projects in Bangladesh, official sources said. The ministries and departments concerned have been directed to ensure it. The directive happens to have been issued at...

Polluting industries to pay green tax

Industries polluting environment and generating health hazards will have to pay 1.0 percent surcharge, a new fiscal measure defined as green taxes, from the current fiscal year. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has issued two separate rules by explaining...

Int\\\'l tender to print textbooks for 2015 disappoints local printers

Disappointment has gripped the country's printers as the government has invited international printing houses for the fifth consecutive year to print textbooks for 2015 whereas almost half of the local printers remain idle during the peak season. The government has...

Smart phones add impetus to mobile apps dev job

Mobile application (app) software development business is gradually increasing in the local market as the use of smart phones is scaling up. According to importers, 10 million smart phone sets had been imported annually during the last three years and...

Stocks post modest gains on short-term profit

Stocks posted modest gains last week that ended Thursday, the first week of the new fiscal year, as investors booked short-term profit in later part of the week. The week featured four trading sessions instead of five as trading was...

Vision-2021: The role of small and medium enterprises

The present ruling party declared Vision-2021 before the 9th parliamentary election. It is not understandable why Vision-2021 is not much highlighted now. Maybe, it is because some of the goals of the document were supposed to be achieved by this...

Empowering the youth

A fundamental component and major investment of society that remains under-utilised is young people.  It is the youth who are the foundations of effective and progressive development. Half of the world's human population is young people. They hold enormous stake...

Riverbank erosion : An impediment to alleviation of poverty

Riverbank erosion is a major problem caused by the large rivers in Bangladesh. The hazard has severe consequences for the livelihood of those living on nearby floodplains. While normal floods are considered beneficial to agriculture and fisheries, erosion and continuous...

No alternative to good governance for Bangladesh

Although the term 'governance' has become a household word, it is one of the haziest terms in the discourse of development studies or international relations. Simply put, governance means 'the act of governing'. And accountability, transparency, participation… are the basic...

Impaired or double vision?

The matches of the World Cup football have lately been scheduled for 10 pm and 2.0 am. There is no problem of the first match's timing but it is not so with the ones held at the small hours. Earlier...

Inward remittances fall after 13 yrs

The flow of inward remittances recorded a fall after 13 years in the just concluded fiscal year (FY) 2013-14 due mainly to political turmoil and static trend of manpower export, officials said. The inflow of remittances declined by 1.61 per...

Digital monitoring of ship movement in port delayed

The ministry of shipping (MoS) has detected irregularities in the implementation of the Vessel Traffic Management Information Systems (VTMIS) project. These have caused delay in digitally monitoring ship movement in Chittagong port's water area, sources said. An intelligence agency of...

Secy-led 9-man committee to facilitate Japanese investment

The government has formed a high-powered committee to look into some issues relating to infrastructure and creation of other facilities for attracting more Japanese investment in the country.    Headed by Abul Kalam Azad, Senior Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office...

Govt to raise safety measures for launch passengers in Eid

The government will gear up safety measures for the homebound launch passengers during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr festival, and the authority concerned is taking necessary preparations in this regard, a high official said.    To this effect, the state-owned Bangladesh Inland Water...

MoC seeks spl allocation for big projects from next fiscal

 The ministry of communication (MoC) has sought a special allocation for its seven big projects like the Padma Bridge from the next fiscal to tide over the difficulty with distribution of funds for ongoing projects. The ministry finds it hard...

When low end of economy pulsates

If the month of Ramadan is a time for self-abnegation, its all-inclusive impact on the population far surpasses most people's imagination. When the number of rickshaw-pullers in the cities and towns, particularly in the capital, goes up, according to conservative...

Revenue from DSE marks 21 per cent rise

The government revenue earnings from the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) marked 21 per cent rise year-on-year in the just-concluded fiscal year (FY) as the trading volume was on the rise. The government bagged tax worth around Tk 1.54 billion in...

No headway to lower rate of int’l incoming call termination

Telecom regulator's recommendation to lower the rate of international incoming call termination has apparently remained blocked under the bureaucratic red tapes, according to the sector insiders. For the last couple of months, letters were being exchanged between the regulator and...

Stocks edge lower for 3rd day

Stocks closed in the red for 3rd straight session on Thursday as investors followed cautious stance amid profit taking tendency. The market started with a positive note, but could not sustain as late hour sell pressure wiped off early gain,...

Stocks edge lower for third day

Stocks closed in the red for third straight session on Thursday as investors followed cautious stance amid profit taking tendency. The market started with a positive note, but could not sustain as late hour sell pressure wiped off early gain,...

DSE, CSE open positive

The prices of most of the shares on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) saw upward trend in early hours of trading on Thursday, the last trading day of the week. DSEX, the prime index of the...

Inertia grips SoEs in offloading shares

The government decision to offload shares of state-owned enterprises (SoEs) under an economic reform recipe has yet to be followed up with tangible progress despite repeated directives from the high-ups, official sources have said. At least 15 out of the...

Transport owners to pay higher tax

The government doubled the tax from 10 per cent to 20 per cent on commercially-run vehicles in the current fiscal year, which may have a cascading impact on road travel and haulage. Revenue officials said the tax would be considered...

MRA to assess input of microcredit to GDP

The Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) is planning to assess the contribution of microcredit to the gross domestic product (GDP), as the regulator thinks that there is no authentic and in-depth research about the microfinance input to the economy. The 37th...

DSE sees significant jump in portfolio investment in June

The foreign investment in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) marked a significant jump in June compared to May 2014 as overseas investors injected fresh funds into fundamentally strong stocks. Easing of political tension and favourable macro economic indicators attracted foreign...

World Cup 2014 awaits more surprises

Football fans and players after living through tears and smiles are now heading to ride a turbulent roller coaster of breathless emotions as the eight teams are about to wage a World War from Friday with intense excitement, fervour, energy...

Give us jobs, not rock songs, say Indonesia\\\'s young voters

To attract Indonesia's army of young voters, one presidential candidate is hoping a Two Finger Salute will do the trick. It's a song by top Indonesian rock band Slank, and refers to the serial number two on the ballot paper...