Ahsan H Mansur

The upcoming budget is crucial for shaping the strategic direction that the government will craft to trigger a sustainable recovery.

Uncontrolled inflationary pressure is one of the most problematic phenomena in the country.

Even though the amount of our default loans is over Tk 130,000 crore, according to the government accounts, IMF suggests it is almost over Tk 300,000 crore.

As the covid-19 pandemic unfolded, central banks across the globe responded with a dramatic easing of monetary policy to provide liquidity support for the faltering economic activities.

As expected, the Bangladesh Bank has announced an expansionary monetary policy.

The next monetary policy statement (MPS) of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) will be announced at a time when the economy is in a deep recession, unemployment is high, millions of people and households have become poor overnight, and the infection level is still on the rise.

When I was a student and a lecturer at Dhaka University in the 1970s, we used to talk a lot about Dr Wahidul Huq.

Making the budget for next fiscal year in this time of pandemic will most likely be the most challenging task shouldered by a finance minister yet.

Bangladesh has started dealing with the severe consequences of the global coronavirus pandemic in earnest, with curtailed economic activities manifested in factory closures, cancellation of and/or sharply reduced export orders, falling remittance inflows, and depressed demand for domestically produced goods and services.

It is believed that around 1.3 crore people have become jobless in the country so far due to the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdown.

It was clear on Friday that the Western Europe was grinding to a halt because of coronavirus.

Since the 1990s, Bangladesh has done well in terms of increasing growth. It is apparent that the modest growth that we had during the seventies and eighties has been overtaken by recent growth, especially during the last few decades. Even though the growth is sustainable, it cannot be taken for granted.

Bangladesh Bank issued its new six-monthly monetary policy statement at a time when the economy is at a crossroad due to the