Fahmida Khatun

For Bangladesh 2017 has been a mixed year of achievements and challenges. Though some macro indicators reflect the positive trends, the overall strength of the economy is weakening due to a number of developments toward the second half of the year.

It has been a highly debated issue and the business community was unhappy from the beginning. They felt that it would be a pressure on them and reduce their profitability. Consumers were confused and apprehensive. They felt that any additional tax would be passed on to them as always and raise their cost of living.

Bangladesh's national budget for FY2018 comes at a challenging time. Despite being powered by high growth and cushioned by low international prices, the Bangladesh economy has been facing a number of disquieting features.

The banking sector has been passing through a turbulent period for some time. Given that a sound financial sector is key to sustained

Illicit cross-border financial flow is not uncommon. It happens in all countries. With globalisation it has become more complex.

The readymade garments (RMG) sector of Bangladesh has undertaken significant compliance measures to ensure safety of factories...

Social sector budget traditionally receives less attention amidst big allocation for the hardware part of the economy. Infrastrucutre,

Bangladesh's long dynamic relationship with India has many facets, ranging from economic to social to political.

A lot of time has been spent on improving primary education enrolment. Global goals emphasise on 'education for all' and focus on bringing more people under the umbrella of primary level education.

In order to have any meaningful decentralised policy implementation, the budget-making process should involve the local administration, law makers, and all stakeholders.

The number of educated women has increased over time, but the rate of highly educated women is not as large yet when compared to men. Statistics show that women's educational attainment at the secondary level is higher than men. However, it starts to decline afterwards.

Just at the time when a major conference on the apparel sector of Bangladesh was held on February 25 in Dhaka with the promise to work together for a better tomorrow, disappointing news on labour rights in the readymade garments sector has surfaced.

Increased movement of labour influences the welfare of a country through remittances and has been viewed as a stimulus to the development process of developing countries.

The banking sector in Bangladesh has been plagued with a number of disappointing trends for some time.

Export performance of Bangladesh in the recent past has been somewhat gloomy. During July-December 2016, Bangladesh's exports grew by only 4.4 percent which was targeted to achieve a growth of 8 percent.

Recently, I had the unique opportunity to interact with more than fifty children aged around sixteen years. They had just finished their tenth grade at school.

The most shocking incidence of 2016 has been the terrorist attack in Holey Artisan Bakery. The nature of the attack was different from earlier single incidences where religious militants killed members of minority groups, two foreigners and a number of bloggers.

The ninth Global Forum on Migration and Development Summit is being held in Bangladesh at a time when the world is facing the worst migration and refugee crisis in the history of human civilisation.

Following the end of almost fifty years of military rule in Myanmar and the release of the Nobel Laureate leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 2011, the world had looked at the country with much enthusiasm.

It is encouraging to note that the National Income Tax Fair is becoming increasingly useful and popular among ordinary tax payers in Bangladesh.