Virtual trading floors useful in real life

IN the immediate aftermath of September 11th 2001 the trading floors in New York City fell eerily silent as financial activity ground to a halt and large swathes of Manhattan were sealed off.No one could access the southern part of...

India's report card fails to make the grade

"Now there's a doctor to look after us. And medicines too! See how our confidence has grown."That is how India's ruling coalition, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), kicked off its Report to the People, the official score sheet marking the...

Rising per capita income: We could get more

It was heartening to note that our per capita income of US$ 440 has increased to US$ 599. This has happened in just four years time. When we all are busy debating the 'corruption' in our country, the satisfying progress...

commodities digest

to three-month highLONDON, June 21: Aluminium prices jumped to a three-month high on Friday as investors bought on news a US producer shut down about half its capacity, while copper hit a one-month high. Benchmark aluminium on the London Metal...

Bangladesh can become the next BPO destination

DURING garment boom, Bangladesh's economy improved significantly in the last decade. The country earns nearly three-quarters of its foreign exchange from garment exports. Because of abolition of the quota system from January 2005, the growth slowed down somewhat. Retailers are...

Elusive unified theory of everything

The mystery of creation has mystified man ever since he started to question the universe's origin and his coming into being. But the answers to his queries have like himself undergone transformations over time. First it was all magical. It...

Using the media for good governance

THE incumbent caretaker government has been stressing right from the start of its tenure that it attaches high priority to a lively and functional press as they can learn from the press many things needed for the good governance of...

Cell to monitor compliance in RMG sector inactive

A government body set up to monitor the compliance issues in the country's apparel sector has stopped functioning as none, except its chief, is available to work, a senior official said Thursday.The government formed the body--Compliance Monitoring Cell (CMC)--under the...

A tribute to my idol on Father's Day

MY father was the most important person in my entire life. There was no one like him. That's why I recall him with this write-up. Those who lost their father cannot do much but for recalling the good times with...

American candidates ignore Asia at their peril

Barack Obama and John McCain, the US presidential candidates, should understand better than most why Asia is important to any incumbent of the White House. Unlike former president George H.W. Bush, neither has been an envoy to Beijing, but each...

Free economy and growth

LAST year, The World Economic Freedom Index listed Bangladesh in the 143rd place among 157 nations sampled by it. This was notwithstanding the fact that Bangladesh had been fast liberalising its trade and seemed to be a front runner in...

Europe's big test: why the euro will not help

TEN years have passed since the founding of the European Central Bank (ECB) but it seems as if it was yesterday. This was the last crucial step towards the introduction of the euro, a currency that was adopted by many...

How imbalances led to credit crunch and inflation

Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon. Milton FriedmanWHAT explains the combination of a "credit crunch" in the US with soaring commodity prices and rising inflation across the globe? Are these unrelated events or part of a bigger picture?...

Oil price helps Libya extract better terms from Eni

ENI, Italy's biggest energy group, rewrote recently all of its contracts in Libya, setting the tone for the rest of the industry by accepting worse terms in return for another 35 years of access to one of the world's most...

Price rise amid overflowing supplies

The markets in Bangladesh can indeed defy all economic laws and dictums. The simplest of the economic laws says that the more the supplies of a commodity the less would be its price as abundance of the good in the...

New challenges facing banking sector

Banking sector remained a core segment in the country's financial arena for a long period due to its growing contribution to the development of the private sector-led economy. Significant progress has been made in the financial sector, especially in the...

Football money-laundering fears

Claims that football clubs and other sports team are being used as a conduit for money-laundering are to be investigated by the global watchdog on criminal fund flows.The inter-governmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has agreed to investigate whether sporting...

Making TCB a public limited co is again on the cards

The government's plan to make the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) a public limited company is now again on the cards to reinvigorate the activities of the state-owned agency, said a senior official Thursday.He said the plan came at a...

corporatewatch

10pc cash dividendPragati Life Ins: The board of directors of Pragati Life Insurance Company Limited has recommended 10 per cent cash dividend for its shareholders for the year 2007. The annual general meeting (AGM) of the company will be held...

Bureaucracy needs complete reform

A number of discourses on reform has gained currency in the administration in recent times. The political parties are at the moment under close scrutiny. The electoral system is another candidate. In fact, the whole political and administrative system of...

NBR concerned over excessive import of luxury cars, export of normal rice

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has expressed its concern over excessive import of luxury cars and export of normal rice in violation of a government ban.A section of importers has brought in large number of cars before the announcement...

Food inflation threatens refugee crisis

FT Syndication ServiceGENEVA: Soaring food prices and the effects of global warming threaten to drive ever more people from their homes, the head of the United Nations refugee agency warned the other day.The UNHCR said the number of refugees worldwide...

No-bid contract awarded to US companies in Iraq

NEW YORK, June 19: Iraq's oil ministry has provoked sharp international reactions by awarding no-bid contract to the US companies to revamp its shattered and war ravaged oil industry. It is a difficult terrain to work with insurgency still on...

SME Foundation to disburse over Tk 2.0b from next fiscal

The SME Foundation will disburse over Tk 2.0 billion from the beginning of next fiscal for development of the country's Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs)."We will start disbursing SME loans from next month," SME foundation chief Mohammad Ayub Miah told...

Prospects bleak for manufacturing growth, export promotion

A survey that was conducted in 2000 estimated the reserve of extractable gas from the 20 fields so far explored in Bangladesh at 13.8 trillion cft. From the reserve, 3.3 trillion cft has in the meantime been extracted. According to...

Coping with the power crisis

THE daily production of power in the country is not enough to meet the effective total demand for power at around 5,000 mw. Total production of power by the government's Power Development Board (PDB) being in the neigbourhood of some...

'Conservative budget' plays it safe

HAD the democratic processes in the country not been interrupted, the finance adviser of the caretaker government would not be required to present even a single budget, but on June 9 he had the privilege of presenting the second national...

World Bank backs contentious director

Colin Bruce, the World Bank country director at the centre of a storm of controversy during Kenya's post-election crisis, has been named as director of operations and strategy for Africa.Officials said the appointment was not technically a promotion, but it...

Prices of poultry birds almost double in city

Prices of poultry birds have almost doubled in Dhaka retail market since February amid an acute supply crisis caused by last year's devastating bird flu epidemic, an industry official said Wednesday.Industry operators said prices of poultry birds in the city...

Vietnam eyes rates to rein in inflation

KUALA LUMPUR: Vietnam is ready to raise interest rates further to bring inflation back below 10 per cent before the end of next year, from 25.2 per cent in May, according to its finance minister.Vu Van Ninh has said returning...