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
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
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
Country’s debt sustainability needs proper assessment as it has been failing to address repayment issues tarnishing its long-established reputation on payback.Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya said the repayment period for the Rooppur power plant has been awaiting an extension by another two years wh
Bangladesh's youth labour force is shrinking, according to official data, as the total workforce has been estimated at 25.92 million in the first quarter of 2024. In the January to March period of the current calendar year, the youth workforce aged between 15 to 29 has fallen by 1.46 million com
Casting wide tax net and bolstering it base would be prime concern in the next national budget to ramp up the tax-GDP ratio, said speakers at a meet here Monday. Mentioning that the budget is in a 'difficult time', they said the government would have to address fiscal policy for the graduation pre
Agricultural loan disbursement witnessed a 10.55-percent increase during the July-March period of current fiscal year (FY 2023-24) compared to the matching period of last FY. According to Bangladesh Bank data, the agriculture and rural credit rose to Tk 266.67 billion at the end of third quarter (
Net inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country declined by 13.80 per cent in the last calendar year, according to the latest statistics of Bangladesh Bank. It showed that the net inflow of FDI came down to US$3,000 million (or $3.0 billion) in 2023 from $3,479.45 million (or around $
