Preparing for the 'post-gas era' economy in Bangladesh

The port city of Chittagong, which is also called the commercial capital of Bangladesh, has been facing severe gas and power crisis since long. However, the source of both the crises is again gas, since most of the power plants...

Addressing unemployment

WHY unemployment is bad for any economy is obvious. The unemployed ones are not productive, they do not add to the net of goods and services. They are rather dependants consuming what others produce, say, in the family, community or...

US Congressional body reports high incidence of tax evasion by companies

NEW YORK, August 13: The tax dodging is a global phenomenon. It is not unique to Bangladesh only. Tax dodgers everywhere have transactions with on-shore banking. Billions of dollars are being stashed in banks outside one's own country.A recent study...

Globalisation and its impact on insurance industry in Bangladesh

NOWADAYS we quite often hear the word globalization. The term 'Globalization' was first used in 1985 by Theodre Levitt in his write-up "The Globalization of Markets". Levitt used the expression to symbolise the rapid changes that have taken place during...

BEPZA draws Tk 4.80b plan for Comilla EPZ expansion

Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) has completed its plan for expansion of the Comilla Export Processing Zone (EPZ) at a cost of Tk 4.80 billion (480 crore).'Comilla EPZ is going to be the country's biggest EPZ with the large-scale...

NBR begins distributing 'status card' to self-motivated tax-payers

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has moved for distributing 'status card' to self-motivated tax-payers across the country to facilitate a hassle-free tax payment environment for them throughout life.The Board recently initiated the move to show due respect to the...

Easter Island - still a mystery!

EASTER Island, also known as Rapa Nui, in the South Pacific, is host to one of the world's greatest archaeological sites. Its isolation is one of the key factors affecting the culture that evolved here. The settlers of the 66...

Better not to reignite the old flames

IN spite of ourselves, many of us always stay reserved and refrain from talking in a manner that may sound childlike. Because of the fear of being ridiculed we resist our temptation to play a game with children. We deny...

'Conspiracy' theory and TU rights in RMG

Violence, it seems, has become a never-ending phenomenon in the country's export-oriented readymade garments (RMG) sector. It flares up every now and then in Dhaka or its adjoining areas or in the port city of Chittagong with RMG workers, allegedly,...

Farmers stop raising layer chickens for fear of fresh bird flu outbreak

Fear of a fresh bird flu outbreak in the upcoming winter season has gripped the country's thousands of farmers, causing some 40 per cent drop in layer chicken farming for egg production, industry said on Tuesday.Poultry farmers said they don't...

Adopting a comprehensive environment policy

THE environment of Bangladesh has been deteriorating during the last two decades and a half. But the ministry that was exclusively created to address this worsening environmental situation seemed to do little to arrest its degradation going on at a...

Idle relationship between spouses

Marriage is a gift, a special bond between man and woman, husband and wife. Much has been written about how we should behave towards a spouse after marriage, but no texts are more appropriate than the teachings of the Qur'an...

PSI cos assigned to furnish quality control certificates of imported goods

CHITTAGONG, Aug 11: Imported consignment of all commodities including the essential ones, can now be cleared from the port on arrival without any quality control test by the different agencies.In this connection, Pre-Shipment Inspection (PSI) companies have been assigned with...

PPP for building infrastructure

The slow pace of foreign investment in the economy, despite all the publicity campaigns to this end launched by the successive governments, has often been an issue of discomfort among the policymakers as well as the intelligentsia. That the corrupt...

US asks govt to lift ban on trade union activities

The United States has asked the caretaker government to lift ban on trade union activities and improve labour rights in the garment factories before it holds a hearing on Bangladesh's GSP facilities in October, an official said.The call came late...

Manpower export needs streamlining

Emergency provides the opportunity for harsh and swift application of the laws against unethical practices. Besides, it gives the government sweeping powers to address pressing economic issues safeguarding the genuine interests of the workers of modest means who, getting cheated,...

Delhi hosts BIMSTEC summit in Nov

The long-deferred second summit of the economic bloc of seven South and Southeast Asian countries has been scheduled to be held in the second week of November in New Delhi, an official in Dhaka said Monday.The Bay of Bengal Initiative...

Europe needs boardroom diversity to stay competitive

Too German, too white and too male: that was the verdict of Siemens' own chief executive on the engineering group. But Peter L

Humanities group disappearing from many schools

IT was one of the happiest days in Mahin's life. The result of his Master's degree examination was published and he did well. Delighted, Mahin's parents thought their hard time was over as their son obtained the highest degree and...

Is central bank's autonomy under threat?

If the media reports on the functions of the newly created macroeconomic policy unit under the ministry of finance are true, the top brass of the country's central bank should have ample reasons to feel frustrated.The unit that has been,...

Microlending pioneer opens first branch in the United States

Grameen Bank, acclaimed for improving the lives of the poor in Bangladesh by providing tiny business loans, has begun operations in the United States.This is its first attempt to bring microlending to the poor in a developed country.Grameen America's first...

Subway can ease Dhaka's traffic congestion

SOLVING the problem of congestion in a mega-city like Dhaka is not an easy task. A solution should approach a system that consumes less of fuel.Trams and trolley bus would provide a performance even better than that of underground mass...

Hazaribagh one of 30 most polluted places on earth

World's well-known environmental magazine 'Ecologist' has termed Hazaribagh in Dhaka as one of 30 most polluted places on the planet.The widely read weekly UK magazine in its article titled 'Hell for Leather', published in June this year, criticised the efforts...

Gas crisis hits dozens of ready EPZ plants

Dozens of newly set-up factories in the country's export processing zones (EPZs) could not start operation as they have failed to get gas connections despite assurances by the authorities, officials said Saturday.The companies-most of them owned by foreign entrepreneurs--- have...

Policy support for the private sector

Bangladesh desperately needs faster economic growth. The growth has to be led by the private sector. The smaller the role of the government, the better the prospect of efficient use of scarce resources for economiSc growth.Following this principle, Bangladesh has...

What will be in Apple's next laptops?

Soon after Intel's recent announcement of its new Centrino 2 mobile platform, rumours began to circulate about what would be inside Apple's next round of MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops (which are, themselves, rumoured to be refreshed in the near...

South Asian University to offer wider choice to students

THE posh South Asian University (SAU) is expected to start by 2010. It will be going in for a "cafeteria approach" (freedom of choice in opting subjects) where students can go straight for studying science and humanities courses.The regular university...

Shrimp price fall puts squeeze on earnings from frozen food export

The shrimp price fall in global markets put a squeeze on earnings from the country's frozen food exports, exporters concerned said Friday.Earnings in the sector, the country's second biggest foreign currency earner after garments, fell short of the target by...

Social safety net covers only 10pc of hardcore poor

Only 2.0 million out of 20 million ultra poor could be brought under the government's social safety net programme (SSNP) due to delayed disbursement of fund, lack of planning and weak surveillance and monitoring, a study report said."

The triple threat: Our food, water and climate challenges

FOOD prices rose 4.0 per cent in the United States in 2007, the highest rise since 1990. All over the world, food prices are on the rise and Bangladesh is no exception.There are many reasons contributing to this current crisis,...