Rejaul Karim Byron

Bangladesh will face an uphill task in convincing major trading partners and regional blocs to sign free trade agreements (FTAs) because of higher tariffs as it looks to retain duty benefits after its graduation from the LDC group, according to a government report.

University-going students aspiring to be tech-entrepreneurs are set to get a shot in the arm as the government is planning to create innovation hubs at both public and private universities to develop digital entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems.

Bangladesh’s export earnings and the flow of concessional foreign financing and grants will decline once it becomes a developing country, according to a government study.

Small traders, entrepreneurs and farmers who had no access to finance from banking channels will now be able to avail loans at 4 per cent interest from a fresh Tk 1,500 crore stimulus package.

Bangladesh’s economy will return to the high growth trajectory in the next fiscal year overcoming the scarring impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a United Nations report.

The coronavirus crisis has worsened education inequality between rich and poor in Bangladesh as a huge number of students from poor families are not able to access the distance learning adopted by the government, according to a World Bank working paper.

The government plans to take a Tk 428 crore project to develop the skills of 256,000 unemployed and disadvantaged women to turn them into entrepreneurs and create jobs.

In 2019, the government took up a project to construct the first terminal of the Payra Sea Port and its related infrastructure.

In 2017, the government took up a four-and-a-half-year project, worth over Tk 3,900 crore, to construct bridges in rural areas for boosting agricultural and non-agricultural productions as well as sending the produce to the market easily.

With small businesses still struggling to recover from the pandemic-induced economic slowdown, the government has rolled out two fresh stimulus packages involving Tk 2,700 crore to boost the cottage industry and SMEs and expand the social security scheme for the elderly and widows in poverty-stricken areas.

The cabinet committee on government purchase yesterday approved a proposal to import 50,000 tonnes of wheat.

Bangladesh will seek to retain the zero duty benefit and the market access for five years after its graduation to a developing country as the pandemic took a heavy toll on the nation’s economy.

The government in June last year granted a blanket immunity for whitening black money in a bid to bring them into the mainstream economy and generate more revenues and jobs.

In a bid to boost food grain reserve, the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase yesterday approved a proposal for procuring 2.5 lakh tonnes of rice.

The World Bank has revised its GDP growth projection upwards for Bangladesh to 2 per cent for the last fiscal year, although the figure is still far lower than the government’s estimate.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday said that black money whitening has increased in the country as the government has given the scope to invest untaxed income in the housing sector.

Around eight years ago, the government had approved a project to establish Kushtia Medical College and Hospital between January 2012 and December 2014 at the cost of Tk 275.44 crore.

The government will inoculate in phases nearly 14 crore people against Covid-19 with double-dose vaccine from the COVAX facility under a Tk 6,786 crore pandemic preparedness project.

Average inflation rose to a three-year high of 5.69 per cent in the just-concluded calendar year as food prices maintained an upward trend for most of 2020.

Black money-holders legalised the highest amount of undeclared assets in history in just six months of the current fiscal year as no government agency now raises questions about some sources of incomes due to a waiver announced in the budget.