Sharjil Haque

Riding on the long bull-run of 2017, investors in Bangladesh's stock exchange may have thought that perhaps the year 2018 will not be too bad either. After all if past record is any guide, election years typically mean more money being pumped into the market.

The curtains are falling on the year 2018 and for our economy it was yet again a roller coaster ride of achievements and disappointments. Challenges remain but if our economy's long history of unfaltering resilience is any guide, sooner or later we are going to overcome them.

About one year ago, I had the privilege of meeting one of the top corporate executives in Bangladesh. Well-known as a corporate kingpin heading one of the top multinational companies (MNCs) in our country, he was happy to chat when we were introduced at a family event.

If it was for a large, resource-rich country like the United States or Germany, a current account deficit of around USD 10 billion would be nothing. But for a small developing economy like Bangladesh, a current account deficit of USD 10 billion or four percent of GDP is definitely big enough to sound the alarm.

Playing the blame game is one of our oldest rituals. When a crisis strikes it's always easier to lay the blame on someone that appears, only on surface, to be the “bad guy” without admitting to more fundamental causes. Sanchayapatra is just that: the scapegoat of our growing economic and financial sector challenges.

An “economic miracle”—that's how leading international newspaper the Financial Times described Bangladesh in an article last year as it showered praises over our economic achievements.

There is a lot of controversy these days surrounding the interest rates offered by Sanchayapatra of the Department of National Savings, which the government uses to finance its budget deficit.

With the year 2017 drawing to a close, we are left with both positive and not-so-positive observations from the country's stock market. We all know that after the crash in 2010, the market has been in the doldrums for several years.

Bringing multinationals to the stock market is one of those long-standing policy challenges regulators have been grappling with for many years now. On the surface, it appears to be an issue of designing the right incentive structure.

One common discourse in the financial and policy arena of Bangladesh is the idea that higher rate on national savings schemes discourages investment in the stock market.

To cut or not to cut yield on national savings schemes (NSS)—that's one headache our finance minister is unable to get rid of. Will reducing rates on national savings schemes (NSS) have a strictly positive impact on our economy?

First things first, let's recall that a current account shows the flow of goods and services, primary and secondary income between a country and the rest of the world.

Detractors can fret about instability and balance of payment difficulties, but make no mistake, such risks will remain contained if capital controls are relaxed gradually (following a medium-term plan) and political conditions remain, by and large, stable. In fact, some of the foundations that merit a more liberal foreign exchange regime are already in place.

If studies by Columbia University's Jagdish Bhagwatiand and IMF's Pierre-Richard Agenorare are to be believed, restrictions on foreign trade and capital flows gave birth to generations of these illegal markets across the world.

If you thought Brexit was a fluke, then think again. The new game in town, populism, paved the way for Donald Trump to capitalise on economic and social frustrations of the forgotten blue-collar American....

Stock markets really are strange beasts. Those of us observing global financial markets expected stock investors to run for cover and scurry off towards safe havens like the Swiss Frank, Japanese Yen, US treasuries and gold following Donald Trump's shocking ascension to US presidency.

Cash is king in India, or at least it was. In one single sweep Narendra Modi just scrapped two high-value bank notes in the Indian economy in an all-out war to flush out black money, fight tax evasion and eradicate counterfeit notes that were being used by terrorists.

Global foreign exchange markets just took a hammering from Britain's shocking exit from the EU. In our own neck of the woods, the

It should not be surprising that private sector investment's share in GDP is shrinking. Banks are drowning in excess cash to the point where call money rate collapsed to historic lows.

Imagine paying interest to save money. A bizarre idea that was once theoretical curiosity is now a stark reality in several economies of the developed world...