Unprecedented debt will surely derail the hope of sustainability after Bangladesh’s graduation as a middle-income country, according to civil society organisations. They came up with the opinion at an event led by EquityBD including BDCSO Process, Bangladesh Krishok Federation, CLEAN, CSRL,
The country’s health budget should be raised to 3 per cent, from the existing 1.5 per cent, to attain the Sustainable Development Goal of securing universal healthcare for all by 2030. Meanwhile, 46 per cent of Bangladeshis faced difficulties meeting medical expenses in the country, accordin
Key sectors like the banking should have guardrails against "bad influence of party politics" to ensure run of the state machinery by meritocracy, says Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud as noted economists speak out on what have gone wrong. He feels that there should be a fine balance between politicization an
The government on Thursday approved a Tk 2.65 trillion annual development programme (ADP) for the next fiscal year (FY25). Presided over by the Prime Minister, the National Economic Council (NEC) endorsed the ADP at its meeting on Thursday in Dhaka. Among the outlay, Tk1.65 trilli
In an effort to promote a robust domestic debt market, the government is strategising to increase its share of marketable securities in the coming years. According to a recent Finance Ministry document, the administration is also committed to continued issuance of Islamic securities Sukuks but has
The country’s total foreign exchange reserves stood at $23.72 billion after the central bank settled import bills for two months through the Asian Clearing Union (ACU). However, per BPM-6 manual of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), total foreign exchange reserves stood at $18.30 billion
In a bid to downsize the bulging non-performing loans (NPLs) in the country's banking sector, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) has asked all banks to resort to the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism availing the services of the Bangladesh International Arbitration Centre (BIAC) and similar othe
Food inflation in Bangladesh increased to 10.22 per cent in April, up 35 basis points from 9.87 per cent a month prior, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). This is the highest food inflation in the country since November last year, when it hovered around 10.76 per cent. Howeve
Expatriate Bangladeshis sent home a total of $810 million in remittances in the first 10 days of May, according to Bangladesh Bank sources. Of the $810 million, $93.95 million came through state-owned banks, $1.86 million through specialised banks, $715.13 million via private banks, and 2.84 milli
Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali has said the country’s public accounts system should be reformed in line with international standards of accounting. “There is a need to reform the public accounting system in line with international standards and demand of development partners,
Malgovernance and improper management, fuelled by political interventions, are the factors behind the present sorry state of the banking sector of Bangladesh, a former central bank governor has said. A culture of impunity and undue benefits to loan defaulters and their allies in banks are also l
Bangladesh Bank has introduced a crawling peg mechanism, increasing the exchange rate to Tk 117 per dollar from the existing rate of Tk 110. The central bank also revised the Interest Rate Corridor (IRC), enhancing the policy rate by 50 basis points to 8.50 per cent from 8.0 per cent. The major d
Bangladeshi expatriates sent home 2.04 billion US dollars ($204.30 crores) in remittances in April this year, according to central bank data. Most of the remittances came from Middle East countries, where the United Arab Emirates was at the top of the list. UAE expats sent around 382.81 million U
