Rejaul Karim Byron

The government is aiming to clock more than 8 per cent economic growth on average during the Eight Five-Year Plan period as it hopes that the impacts of the devastating coronavirus pandemic would fade in the second half of the current fiscal year.

A South Korean joint venture is likely to be engaged in turning the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway into an expressway under a public private partnership (PPP) initiative.

Implementation of government’s stimulus package, announced to absorb the economic shock from the coronavirus pandemic, saw a mixed progress as around 26 percent of the massive Tk 111,141-crore scheme was disbursed in four months till July.

Around 68 percent of the people who had to stop working in urban areas of Dhaka and Chattogram due to the pandemic have lost their jobs, according to a World Bank report.

Despite some loopholes, the implementation of an electronic system for public procurement, replacing paper-based lengthy process, has been a boon for Bangladesh as it is saving millions of dollars and reducing time in the bidding process, the World Bank said.

Bidders need to give bribes in the form of financial benefits, arrange trips and host dinners for government officials to win public procurement contracts, says a World Bank report.

The planning ministry has expressed dissatisfaction over a decision to put on hold implementation of low-priority projects.

With development projects losing steam for the ongoing pandemic and several months of shutdown, the Economic Relations Division (ERD) hopes to get four back on track by getting loan agreements signed with China this fiscal year.

The government has not discarded its plan to offload shares of several state-run banks, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.

Banks managed to post 8.95 per cent credit growth in the last fiscal year despite a steep fall in business in the last quarter owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

Development expenditure dropped 10.18 per cent year-on-year to Tk 5,097.79 crore in August as activities are yet to pick up because of the lingering coronavirus pandemic.

The government yesterday gave its nod to a proposal to set up the country’s first ever waste-based power plant.

Government projects tend to witness increases in implementation costs for a myriad of reasons, including changes in design and land prices and tendering delays.

Bangladesh might have already started rebounding from the persisting coronavirus pandemic as the Asian Development Bank said the economy would see a gradual recovery in the first two quarters of the fiscal year.

The cabinet yesterday approved a draft law allowing the aviation ministry to keep its control over Biman, even though the national flag carrier was turned into a public limited company in 2007 to make it profitable.

Bangladesh’s exports to Bhutan would get a huge boost once the two sides sign the proposed preferential trade agreement, said exporters and experts yesterday.

Deposits at banks rose 10.49 per cent year-on-year to Tk 1,305,453 crore in the last fiscal year on the back of tightening of rules around national savings certificates, record flow of remittance and rebounding economic activities.

Bangladesh’s balance of payments (BoP) returned to the black in July on the back of a sharp decline in imports and a rise in remittance and exports.

State-owned enterprises have deposited Tk 16,746 crore to the national exchequer since laws were passed in the beginning of the year to make it mandatory for them to hand over the idle and surplus funds to the government.

A ray of hope has emerged for the laid-off, disabled and insolvent workers of export-oriented garment, leather and footwear manufacturing factories as the government has initiated a scheme to extend financial support to them.