Forex reserves to stay over $32b even after ACU payments

Bangladesh's treasury won't feel dollar stress even after settling import- payment obligations to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) member- countries as gross foreign-exchange reserves are yet expected to stay over US$32 billion.The latest payment of $1.5 billion is scheduled to...

Dozens of auditors, firms under scanners over cooking books

A host of audit firms and auditors are under the scanner of government investigation agencies over alleged irregularities in audited financials of business tycoons implicated in the major banking-sector scams during the previous regime.According to official sources, chartered accountants (CAs)...

Bangladesh will not play World Cup in India

Bangladesh's Youth and Sports Advisor Asif Nazrul said on Wednesday that he would try his best to convince the International Cricket Council (ICC) to relocate Bangladesh's venues for the ICC T20 World Cup, insisting that the governing body of the...

Govt hesitating for long 'in fear of impact' on present operators

The government has long been hesitating to introduce electric bus services in the capital, 'apprehending its impact' on the existing bus operators, which have hardly cooperated to bring discipline in the public transportation system, insiders said.They also said the Road...

Revised rules put dividend-deficient mutual funds at liquidity risk

Many pooled funds risk liquidation under the revised mutual fund rules if they fail to pay dividends for a third consecutive year.Under the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (Mutual Fund Rules, 2025), trustees may convene a meeting of unitholders to...

Regulate, not ban cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is banned in Bangladesh, but its usage is booming in the shadow of a legal grey zone and the absence of effective regulatory oversight. Bangladesh ranks 13th among 151 countries worldwide in terms of cryptocurrency usage, according to the...

Gas crunch hits fertiliser output

The state-run BCIC has sought an uninterrupted supply of at least 197 million cubic feet of gas per day (MMCFD) to keep four urea fertiliser factories operational for 11 consecutive months.The Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) recently made a proposal...

Policy rate likely to stay unchanged

Elevated policy interest rate is likely to stay unchanged in the upcoming monetary policy stance (MPS) for the second half (H2) of this fiscal year as inflation rebounds after some remission.Despite an outcry from the business circles over higher lending-rate...

Cheap capital, costly scrutiny: Why state-run energy firms shun listing

State-run fuel and energy companies could reduce their dependence on government and foreign funds as well as bank loans by listing on the stock market, but political and bureaucratic resistance persists -- largely to avoid heightened scrutiny of corrupt practices.Government...

Corruption corrodes ICT-powered knowledge economy

A government white paper after regime change has found Bangladesh's ICT and telecommunications sector steeped in misdealing sending billions of fast bucks into pockets of a small group of politically and commercially favoured firms.Such unholy practice happened in the fastest-growing...

Limits of monetary policy independence

The issue of central bank independence has two elements. First— governance, how is the central bank governed? Are its leadership appointments merit-based? Are its internal decisions insulated from day-to-day political interference? The prevailing wisdom around the world is that management...

Planning Commission approves Tk 2.0t revised ADP

The Planning Commission has approved the proposed Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) worth Tk 2.0 trillion for the current fiscal year (FY2025-26), giving the highest priority to the transport and communications, power and energy, and housing sectors.The extended meeting of...

Move on to get 10 SoEs, MNCs listed

A move advances to rope in 10 more entities having public shares to the stock market long starved of good stocks and facing frequent volatilities, officials say. Of the ten blue-chip companies, some are solely owned by government while some...

The Venezuelan dilemma

The sitting president of Venezuela has been, what the US said, 'captured' along with his wife, son and other officials as a fugitive evading law. Venezuela is a oil-and-mineral-rich country of the South American continent lying along the coast of...

Trump is a threat to global order

As president Donald Trump spoke to the press at Mar A Lago, with his secretary of state, secretary of war and joint chief of staff behind him, a stunned world including his own country came to know that American armed...

Deadline for NBR bifurcation missed, Jan action in wintry chill

December deadline is missed and bid for completing all must-dos for bifurcating the revenue board within January has yet to get into right gear although revenue-sector overhaul is among major uprising-mandated reforms. Officials say the final stages of splitting the...

Risk-free appeal lifts T-bond trading in secondary market

Secondary market trading in Treasury bonds surged 53 per cent year-on-year to Tk 1.95 billion in 2025, driven by falling yields and investors' preference for risk-free assets.Bond prices are inversely related to interest rates. As a result, sellers booked capital...

LPG cylinder-price hike and BERC inaction

The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has fixed the price of a 12-kg LPG (liquid petroleum gas) cylinder at Tk1,253 but its retail price has now crossed the Tk 2,000 mark. However, according to a report carried in a leading...

Return of gold as safest asset

Precious metals including gold and silver have turned pricier recently. This was the trend last year when central banks around the world added hundreds of tons of gold to their reserves, according to the World Gold Council trade association. Similarly,...

Why others should follow him

In a world where most people measure success in salaries and promotions, Munjer Alam chose a different path. Once the director of Finance at a prestigious multinational company, he turned away from the glow of corporate life to build something...

BRTC's CNG bus-purchase project limping

The Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) has spent only Tk 27.5 million in more than two and a half years -- just 0.24 per cent of the total Tk 11.33 billion project -- to procure 340 CNG-powered single-decker air-conditioned buses.Amid...

Auditors sound alarm as support lags and warnings go unheeded

Auditors make observations on businesses' financial reports, but no regulatory actions follow critical opinions on data mismatches or other anomalies. The accumulation of non-performing loans is just one outcome of that regulatory failure, say auditors.This is the backdrop to repeated...

Can a single health vision remedy AMR crisis?

After a week of illness, a rural doctor changed a 6-year-old's antibiotic for the third time. Two days later, the child lay in Dhaka Shishu Hospital with sepsis. Nearby in Gazipur, a farmer watched 3,000 broiler chickens die from a...

Green revolution in RMG: Leave no factories behind

For apparel makers, 2025 has been an exceptionally challenging year. In the aftermath of the July-August 2024 uprising that ended Sheikh Hasina's authoritarian rule, the sector had hoped for a fresh start. Instead, a series of setbacks has pushed the...

Challenge of curbing inflation

For the last three years, the country has been experiencing high inflation, eroding the real income of fixed-income people as money loses its value and becomes a melting asset. So, the key question now is whether inflation will continue to...

Midsize projects also face budget downsizing

Many midsize development schemes also find their fate entwined with megaprojects in the infrastructure sector in downsizing budget outlays as the interim government tries to make two ends meet with limited funds. Sources say a large number of medium-scale development...

Rebuilding trust, unity and a shared national future

Political division is a universal reality. No country in the world is free from differences in ideology, beliefs, or political allegiance. Even in the most established democracies, allegations of vote rigging, manipulation, and misinformation surface from time to time.Yet, despite...

ADR the faster way of justice dispensation

As Bangladesh's national elections draw closer, political pressures increase -- and their wave effects are also felt in industrial areas. Especially in industry-dense zones such as Ashulia, Savar, Gazipur, and Narayanganj, a latent instability often emerges before and after elections....

How time changes and perception of generations follows suit

At a time when the Generation Z or popularly known as Gen Z is making media splashes all across the globe, there are reasons to be inquisitive about what its preceding or post-generations stood for. Its immediately preceding generation is...

A diplomatic note under public scrutiny

The condolence letter, penned and signed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and addressed to Tarique Rahman in tribute to Khaleda Zia upon her passing, has arrived in Bangladesh at a moment in history laden with meaning. On one hand,...