Md Asaduz Zaman

Revenue collection by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) witnessed robust growth of 21 per cent in the July-August period of the current fiscal year thanks to the devaluation of taka, high inflationary pressure and expansion of the economy.

The ongoing Household Income and Expenditure Survey is giving special emphasis to gauging Bangladesh’s food security in keeping with the global food shortage sown by the pandemic and turbocharged by the Ukraine war.

Bangladesh’s external debt repayment obligation will double in the next three years, according to data of the Economic Relations Division (ERD).

The government’s austerity measures have hit implementation of the annual development programme (ADP) in the first month of the current fiscal year, with just 0.96 per cent of the total allocation being spent, the lowest in the last four years. 

Despite a lot of emphasis by policy-makers on cutting dependence on a single product for exports over the years, the share of readymade garments has increased gradually, putting external sales, jobs, and the economy as a whole at risk. 

A Tk 9.95 crore project of the commerce ministry aimed at expanding the country’s export basket and reducing import dependency has failed to meet its deadline for a second time due to the slow pace of implementation.

Cement makers are passing tough times amidst a decline in demand from public construction in tune with the government’s austerity measures and sluggish private initiatives on building homes and other facilities for inflation.

Though four of its five stipulated years have already elapsed, a Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) project on developing 2,210 kilometres of rural roads has witnessed the completion of only a third of its core task. 

Bangladesh is wasting its once-in-a-lifetime window of demographic dividend --  the economic growth potential that can result from a peak in working-age people -- due to its inability to create jobs.

Real estate companies in Bangladesh are cautiously taking up new projects as the war in Ukraine, the strain on foreign currency reserves, the dollar shortage, runaway inflation and higher construction costs have cemented worries that sales of flats might slow in the coming months.

The government is finally moving ahead with a project to roll out fifth-generation (5G) mobile internet services through state-run network provider Teletalk, according to officials of the planning ministry.

A project undertaken by Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) to install 2,000 solar-powered irrigation pumps has been advancing at a snail’s pace. 

On July 9 last year, a massive fire raged through a juice-making factory in Narayanganj, killing at least 52 people. And the whole nation witnessed how firefighters struggled to bring the blaze under control.  

The progress in using concrete blocks instead of bricks for all public development projects has been sluggish as government agencies have made little efforts in this regard due to lax monitoring by the relevant authorities, according to experts.

Amid rising prices of food essentials and other basic necessities, the recent hike in prices of toiletries and other homecare products has added a new burden for people. 

In 2012, when the government decided to construct the Padma Bridge using its own resources, many economists feared that Bangladesh’s foreign currency reserves would take a big hit.  

Furniture makers are passing tough times even ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, which is usually a high sales period, as people are uninterested in buying luxury items in the face of rampant inflation in recent months, according to market players.

The budget for the upcoming fiscal year has appeared to be insufficient in terms of needed measures, incomplete in terms of outlining strategies and inadequate in terms of addressing the present macroeconomic challenges, said the Centre for Policy Dialogue today.

The proposed budget has not properly addressed the pressing issues – higher inflation and the US dollar crisis -- that are causing immense macroeconomic imbalances, said economists in their immediate reaction.

The volume of exports through Akhaura land port in Brahmanbaria has fallen significantly over the past six years as increased connectivity between north-eastern Indian states and other parts of the country helped them reduce imports from Bangladesh.