Facilitating reverse flow of money stashed abroad

With huge wealth accumulated through corruption or illegal means, hordes of black (or undisclosed)-money-holders seem to be busy moving their riches out to safer havens. With leadership crises fraying the fabrics of our society, those who are honest and eager...

Western Union to strengthen presence

Western Union, leading global money transfer service provider, looks to continuously grow its presence in Bangladesh by providing different options to the customers to send and receive remittance here. "Bangladesh is very important remittance market for us…. Our goal is...

Proposed VAT raise on mobile handset to increase price burden

Finance minister`s proposal in the budget for imposing 15 per cent VAT (Value Added Tax) on mobile handset at the import stage will increase price burden on the customers, even it will impede the growth of digital Bangladesh, said the...

Secondary education still lacking basic requirements

Currently I am working as the President of the newly founded Volunteers Association for Bangladesh Canada (VAB-Canada), which is a chapter of parent VAB-USA. This charitable organisation was originally founded in the USA in 1998, under the leadership of Dr....

Steps to ease traffic snarls at city intersections

The government has initiated steps to improve management of intersections in Dhaka city aiming to overcome difficulties in handling hundreds of thousands of motorised vehicles that make long queues during busy hours every day. Under the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority...

Rajuk limps with ambitious housing projects in Dhaka

Rajdhani Unnayan Kortipakkha (Rajuk) appears to be failing to hand over plots and flats to the winners of lottery arranged for allocating those in its housing projects in Purbachal,Uttara and Jhilmil in Dhaka, sources said. In Purbachal, the overall development...

Good connectivity to facilitate rapid dev

The China-South Asia Expo kicked off in the Chinese spring city of Kunming Friday aiming to expand cooperation in diversified areas from trade-investment to silk corridor development through road and sea in the region. Some 46 countries including Bangladesh are...

IEA World Congress begins in Jordan

The World Congress of the International Economic Association (IEA) began at King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre in the Dead Sea, Jordan Friday.  It aims to promote interaction among prominent economists towards gaining a truly world perspective on issues of...

Typhoon Yolanda: Lessons in post-disaster management

It has been more than six months since the fiery typhoon Yolanda (the local name of Haiyan) struck. Most of the affected people in the Philippines are still recovering from the devastation. Responding to the Yolanda aftermath was quite different...

FDI: Key to multi-pronged development

Like most other developing and least developed countries, Bangladesh also considers Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as an important tool for development. In order to attract more and more FDI, the country has taken many initiatives. One such initiative was the...

Derivatives: A long way to go

'Derivative' is the new buzz word in the financial sector of Bangladesh. Some local and international experts are continuously telling about the importance of introducing a derivatives market to mitigate investment risks in a developing country like Bangladesh. The Bangladesh...

Challenges of consultancy

Most people perceive consultancy as an easy source of earning handsome amount of money and consultants as persons having least accountability for their activities.  But in reality this perception is not true. In fact, though monthly salary of a consultant...

Corruption: Where to draw the line

Corruption takes many forms. It is not easy to draw a line to define corruption. The definition of corruption no longer fits into a definite pattern as the ways of corrupt practices are becoming increasingly wide ranging. Definition of corruption...

Climate change adaptation research in Asia and Africa

IN the book titled 'Global Warming and the Political Ecology of Health', authors Hans Baer and Merrill Singer mentioned, "Our world is changing in dramatic and consequential ways. From melting glaciers to rising seas, and from increases in violent storms...

How will Narendra Modi change India?

The Bharatiya Janata Party's landslide victory in parliamentary elections has ended an era of shaky coalition governments in India. The desire for change among the country's youthful electorate after a slump in economic growth, years of policy drift and a...

The role that Dhaka University has played so far

The headline "Bangladesh after four hundred years of its existence" reminded me of a course I took in Sociology at the Dhaka University. It was taught by National Professor Dr Rangalal Sen, a renowned sociologist and I am honoured to...

DSE hails budget

Dhaka Stock Exchange has hailed the budgetary proposal to exempt the demutualised stock exchanges from paying taxes for the next five years "This is a positive message for the stock exchanges", said Swapan Kumar Bala, managing director of DSE. The...

GDP target not achievable:CPD

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Friday said the quality of investments, both public and private, is needed to be increased to achieve the target of 7.3 percent growth set by the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Dr Debapriya...

Ambiguity, populism mark a pro-growth approach

Finance Minister AMA Muhith Thursday placed the Tk.2.5 trillion national budget for the next fiscal (2014-15) setting the country's economic growth target at 7.3 per cent for the year. The finance minister fixed the higher growth target with the expectation...

19-party to stage countrywide demonstration Monday

The BNP-led 19-party alliance will stage demonstrations across the country Monday protesting the 'growing' incidents of killing, forced disappearance and abduction, reports UNB. BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the programme at a press briefing at the BNP's...

A deep look into the present-day realities of Bangladesh

Bangladesh is negotiating a difficult path in the present-day global scenario as it is beset with myriad problems that a developing nation, having its own characteristics, generally faces. Nevertheless, the country of 160 million people is making remarkable strides on...

Unemployment and corruption

The fact that unemployment causes corruption is well established and makes sense both from common observations and rigorous theoretical points of view. However, the fact that corruption also causes unemployment can struck one as a total surprise. To make an...

When the US needs support, Europe pleads poverty

The United States has troubles. This was the subtext of President Barack Obama's speech at the United States Military Academy at West Point last week. The latest trouble is the raw ambition of Russian President Vladimir Putin to dominate as...

S Korean exports suffer worst decline

South Korean exports last month suffered their worst decline in eight months as a drop in Chinese demand and the effect from fewer working days more than offset growing purchases by European and US customers. South Korea, the fourth-largest economy...

India services activity grows for first time in nearly a year

Activity in India's huge services industry expanded for the first time in nearly a year in May, driven by a surge in new business, a survey showed on Wednesday. The HSBC Services Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by Markit, rose to...

Stocks close flat amid cautious stance

Stocks closed flat on Thursday with slight improvement in turnover as investors remained cautious on announcement of the national budget.The market started with a positive note, but the morning hype evaporated gradually as session progressed. At the end of the...

DSE, CSE open positive

The prices of most of the shares on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) witnessed positive trend in the opening sessions on Thursday, the last trading day of the week. DSEX, the prime index of the DSE,...

July deadline for Iran nuclear deal appears in jeopardy

Option B: The blueprint for Thailand\\\'s coup

On Dec. 27 last year, Thailand's powerful army chief stood before a crowded news conference and stunned the beleaguered government of Yingluck Shinawatra by saying he would not rule out military intervention to resolve a deteriorating political crisis. General Prayuth...

Stock market regains stability, not buoyancy

Country's stock market that had received severe mauling in 2010 has been able to regain stability in the outgoing fiscal (2013-14) but not the desired level of buoyancy.  The capital market regulator and the government initiated a number of measures...