Move to put a cap on significant shareholding faces stiff opposition

A move to put a limit on shareholding in bank companies by individuals, family members, and entities is facing strong opposition from the stakeholders, officials say.The central bank in a draft for amending the bank company act has proposed that...

Export potential of Bangladesh's handicraft sector

Export diversification remains a critical development objective for Bangladesh as the country seeks to reduce its heavy reliance on readymade garments (RMG). Within this context, the handicraft sector presents a viable alternative export avenue due to its strong backward linkages...

HC verdict on safe water: What next?

The recent High Court verdict recognising access to safe drinking water free of cost as a fundamental right is a welcome and timely juridical intervention. By declaring that "access to safe drinking water free of charge is a fundamental right...

Rate high, rebate reduces overall tax incidence

Bangladesh is transitioning into a ramped-up 15-percent VAT regime amid some concerns, but a redeeming feature is the provision for rebate meant for reducing the overall tax incidence. Officials define it as a paradigm shift as latest fiscal policies are...

Winter redefines Dhaka's appetite

After sunset, the gates of the National Zoo and the Botanical Garden close to visitors. Inside, the paths fall quiet. Outside, the evening begins. In front of the darkened entrances, carts line the roadside. Charcoal fires glow under aluminum pots,...

How investor exit, thin liquidity are rewriting the DSEX

The latest rebalancing of the benchmark index of the Dhaka bourse has pushed out several fundamentally strong stocks in favour of junk stocks, a consequence of investors' prolonged exit from the secondary market over the past two years."This is a...

Bangladesh-Nepal commerce secretary-level meeting today

Bangladesh and Nepal are set to step up efforts to deepen trade, transit, and connectivity cooperation, as senior officials meet today in Dhaka for the 8th Bangladesh-Nepal Commerce Secretary-Level Meeting (CSLM), sources said.The meeting will review progress since the 7th...

BSEC urges caution as DSE pushes for share netting

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) has recently proposed introducing share netting to boost liquidity in the secondary market, but the market watchdog wants risk-minimising infrastructure to be in place before approving it.Share netting offers investors an opportunity to adjust their...

When ideology, power, and sport collide

The T20 Men's ICC World Cup has transcended being a mere celebration of sporting success. In the Global South, particularly in South Asia, it has become one of the most ardent expressions in this age. It is in this context...

BD in troubled waters of tomorrow

As is the usual practice every year, economists and experts on business trends locally and globally have been making their projections and predictions about how the country's as well as the world's economy will fare in the coming year (s)....

Tk 2.0t revised ADP to be tabled today

A proposed Tk 2.0-trillion Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) for the current fiscal year will be placed before the National Economic Council (NEC) today for approval, marking a 7.41-percent decline from the FY25 RADP and the lowest revised development outlay...

Modernising data protection laws

Data are what a piece of information is made of. So, it is important that data on any subject are well-preserved and protected; and the information they generate is also well-preserved and protected. In this Digital Age, which started from...

RSTP proposes 3 more metro rail corridors

Development of three more metro rail corridors has been proposed in the Revised Strategic Transport Plan (RSTP), of which updating is now at the final stage. However, officials said the new corridors would be working as the bus priority corridors...

NBR launches bKash-enabled services

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is going to launch the payment of large amounts of tax through mobile financial services (MFS) to simplify tax payments by corporates. The country's largest MFS provider, bKash's online merchant wallet, will be used...

Latest high-profile meeting fails to make progress on new listings

Last week's much-hyped meeting on the listing of state-run and multinational companies delivered little beyond a renewed reminder of the government's intent to their top management.Despite Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed's claim that 10 companies had agreed to offload shares,...

From financial inclusion to systemic risk

Bangladesh's microcredit sector is not a conventional financial industry; it is the outcome of decades of social mobilisation, institutional innovation, and an integrated development philosophy that blends finance with health, education, disaster response, and livelihood support. The draft ordinance issued...

LPG crisis exposes regulatory gaps

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is no longer a luxury; it has become an essential cooking fuel for millions of households across the country. As domestic natural gas reserves dwindle, authorities have for years encouraged domestic use of LPG as an...

Global economic prospects and Bangladesh

Forecasting or projecting the world economic conditions for the near future is a regular exercise of a number of international bodies or organisations. The projections are primarily linked to a number of 'ifs' and 'buts', which minimises the scope for...

Major industrial groups seek Tk 165.5b bailout funds

Constrained by stated severe liquidity crunch in the country's industrial sector, eleven conglomerates seek some Tk 165.5 billion in interest-free loans from the government to sustain operations and meet staff-payment obligations, sources say.The SOS (save our soul) appeal comes from...

Terrifying moments on the tracks

Trains move on, but some journeys remain unfinished in the mind. In candid conversations with The Financial Express, four veteran locomotive masters of Bangladesh Railway recall moments of fear, bravery, and responsibility on the rails that still haunt them One...

MoF asks specialised banks to stay within mandates

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has instructed specialised banks to distribute loans according to their mandates after it was found that they were going beyond their authorised areas.Officials say the specialised banks were formed with the target to make loans...

Street food culture gains new dimension courtesy of enterprising small traders

Who says the Bangalees are the idle lots of all peoples? Street snacks, tea and coffee have long been a fad here. Every winter the mushrooming growth of small temporary street eateries of traditional 'pithas' (indigenous cakes) is witness to...

Impacts of cold spells on health and economy

A moderate cold wave is sweeping across at least 12 districts in the north of the country with Naogaon district recording the lowest ever temperature this year at 6.7 degree Celsius on January 6 last. Temperature in Rajshahi hovers between...

BB moves to speed up settlement of Tk 750.52 billion audit backlogs

The central bank has initiated a move to fast-track the settlement of long-standing audit backlogs involving more than Tk 750.52 billion, sources said.Such long-standing fund impasses regarding the 1,206 unsettlement audit objections at the Bangladesh Bank (BB) remain a big...

Regulatory mkt intervention ramped up for balancing exchange rate

A higher inflow of remittances prompts the central bank to scale up intervention in the foreign-exchange market to forestall any imbalance in dollar-taka exchange rates and avoid its economic domino effect.Officials say amid a steady rise inflow of remittances in...

SME board pays price for speculative excess, sheds 22pc in 2025

The SME board of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) suffered a sharp year-on-year decline in 2025, significantly underperforming the main market index.Sixteen of the 20 SME stocks suffered erosion in market value during the period, many of which had experienced...

Desire to overcome despair and angst

510 years ago, in 1516, Utopia by Thomas More was published in Europe. Written in Latin, the English meaning of the full Latin title is: ‘A truly golden little book, not less beneficial than enjoyable, about how things should be...

Accountability deferred, democracy denied

A democracy will not often fail with the loud cracking of Glass. In fact, failure will often occur in the silent hours of fear rebranded as order, of oppression justified as stability, of institutions of democracy subverted to safeguard power...

Rural health clinics: promises, performances, and despair

Across Bangladesh’s countryside, a remarkable health-policy transformation has unfolded over the past two decades. Tens of thousands of low-level health posts—community clinics and union-level health and family welfare centres—now bring medical care within reach of rural populations. The ambition is...

Aviation prospects abound, but fleet proportionately undersized

Bangladesh's state-run airline feels incapacitated to increase flight frequencies and fly to potentially profitable new international destinations, belying rising passenger demand and revenue growth, sources say. Biman Bangladesh Airlines is caught in such a paradox because the national airline has...