Sohel Parvez

Raw jute prices hit a record high of around Tk 3,000 per maund as supply declined in the markets of producing regions owing to stocking by middlemen and slow release by farmers seeking to cash in on flood-induced production fall, various traders said yesterday.

The revenue authority has reduced value added tax (VAT) on locally made cylinders for storing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in order to allow domestic manufacturers to better compete with imported cylinders and enable users to afford bottled gas.

Revenue collection rebounded in August after remaining downbeat for four months since April, thanks to recovery in business and economic activities that buoyed overall receipts.

Despite the resumption of economic activities and signs of recovery in various sectors, paper mills are struggling to stay afloat as demand has not picked up yet, say industry operators.

The country has a stock of 5.25 lakh tonnes of locally grown onion and it will require six lakh tonnes more to meet domestic requirements until the next main harvesting season, typically the March-April period.

Questions have arisen over Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation’s (BJMC) decision to sell 100,000 bales of jute sacks at a price lower than the official rate as it is set to deprive the country of nearly Tk 8 crore in revenue.

Banks have beefed up security, vigilance and monitoring to prevent hackers from stealing money after the central bank and the government alerted them about the fraudulent activities of a North Korean group.

Repeated floods since the end of June have washed away Tk 510 crore worth of fishes in the central, north and southern districts, according to the Department of Fisheries (DoF).

Wheels have started moving on the streets of Bangladesh.

It is the story of dreams and despair. Rise and fall. It is the story of anguish and cheer. For Bangladesh’s startups, all appear to be true.

If you happen to be on the Padma or Meghna rivers for a cruise or are travelling to the country’s southern part, you will in no way miss a sporadic presence of numerous slow-moving small and large vessels alongside their sudden blasts of horns.

Maize imports rose by 54 per cent last fiscal year in the wake of crop losses for heavy rainfall and flood during the peak harvesting and drying periods of the summer crop, according to feed millers and import data.

Haji Nanna Biriyani, a popular restaurant in Old Dhaka that serves up a mouthwatering selection of sub-continental and rice-oriented dishes, has reopened its doors to customers nearly a month ago.

Workers in the agriculture, industries and services sectors witnessed a further drop in wage growth in July as they were shut of income opportunities due to the economic headwinds brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the soaring prices of rice affecting the poor, the food ministry has taken steps to assess the stock of food grain at millers and traders end.

The tax authority has yet to get a good response from the holders of undisclosed money despite offering amnesty that none will question the sources of income this fiscal year, said its chief yesterday.

Electronic fiscal devices (EFDs), the much-talked-about e-cash registers promoted by the revenue authority as a tool to curb tax dodging, finally began to show up at retail stores in cities.

Farmers are getting higher prices for raw jute after cyclone Amphan and prolonged floods damaged part of their cash crop, but millers are not happy with the price spiral, which they say will push up production costs and affect demand from buyers abroad.

The government is considering giving priority to leasing out state-owned jute mills to the private sector so that production could resume within a short time, according to officials of the textiles and jute ministry and industry stakeholders.

Bangladesh has more than 180,000 officially registered companies. Yet, roughly 35,000 of those businesses, that is just one-fifth of them, file income tax returns regularly -- a dismal picture even though rules make it compulsory for businesses to file returns annually.