Sohel Parvez

Bangladesh’s exports declined 4.28 percent year-on-year in July-May of 2023-24, said the central bank yesterday after correcting the shipment data published by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) earlier.

The annual average price spike in Bangladesh surged to its highest level in 12 years in the just-concluded fiscal year despite easing in June, reflecting the persistent erosion of real income and the deterioration of the living standards of low-income groups.

The central bank discovered six types of statistical wrongdoing that inflated export data, a development that led to a multibillion-dollar correction.

S Alam Vegetable Oil Ltd and S Alam Super Edible Oil Ltd have unpaid value added tax (VAT) and consequent penalty worth over Tk 7,000 crore, as they allegedly evaded VAT through various means, including by presenting lower purchase and sales data in VAT returns between 2019 and 2022, according to an audit by the NBR’s VAT wing.

With penalty, they owe government over Tk 7,000cr; S Alam Group director says they didn’t ‘evade even a single taka in VAT’

Every US dollar went for Tk 118 on the interbank platform of Bangladesh yesterday, the highest since the central bank loosened its grip on the exchange rate by letting market dynamics determine the prices.

Bangladeshi nationals and banks kept 17.71 million Swiss francs (CHF) in deposits last year in the banks of Switzerland, the lowest on record, reflecting the fading attractiveness of the country among the wealthy to park money.

The government has cut distribution plans for food grains for the upcoming fiscal year of 2024-25, which economists say is an illogical decision since food inflation has soared above 10 percent in the past two months

The tax measures unveiled yesterday for 2024-25 are not going to provide any relief to taxpayers.

The development comes after Bangladesh Bank relaxed the rules and allowed banks to receive funds from the OBUs amounting to up to 40 percent of their regulatory capital to settle payment obligations.

The government is expanding the size of the national budget every year. However, it has fallen short of attaining its targets over the years, be that in terms of revenue collection or development expenditure.

Data by the finance ministry showed that the allocation for the pensions and interest payments account for 30 percent of the total social security programme fund of Tk 126,090 crore for the current fiscal year of 2023-24.

To many, especially salaried and fixed-income individuals, this means they will have no option but to find ways to cut expenditures to bear increased electricity bills.

The two made Tk 333 crore profit in nine months

After parking his motorcycle and removing his helmet, a young biker opened a red umbrella and stood on the footpath.

Yesterday, the price of coarse grain, the benchmark variety, was 6.25 percent higher year-on-year, reaching Tk 50 to Tk 52 per kilogramme at retail markets in Dhaka.

On April 4, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) urged the government to pay attention to ensuring reasonable protection from customs tariffs for the sake of employment and promoting domestic industries, services and small and medium enterprises.

The central bank has already unveiled a framework to address vulnerabilities in the banking sector, rein in non-performing loans (NPLs) and punish wilful defaulters.

In 2021, some 2.25 percent of the population used SHSs. The number declined to 1.81 percent in 2023, according to a recent survey report of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

A provision in the Income Tax Act 2023 created the discrimination