Sohel Parvez

The Awami League government favoured the super-rich who controlled capital and laundered the funds aboard, dampening the country’s economy.

Five of the six operators of Nationwide Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN) have not gone public despite being mandated to float shares on the stock market several years ago.

The government’s net borrowing from the banking system rose in the first two and half months of the current fiscal year in the face of falling tax collection and surging foreign debt servicing costs, raising concerns of a crowding out effect on private credit.

Until early September this year, Mahfuza Begum’s Surzu Handicrafts was making eco-friendly, lightweight and reusable net shopping bags out of jute and cotton for a handful of buyers.

Availability of raw materials now a challenge

Experts say raising policy rate would have little impact on lowering food prices

Hilsa remains dearer, although annual production of the most sought-after fish in Bangladesh has increased for the last several years.

On the corner of a crowded and noisy floor, a bespectacled man was calling out bids for a basket of Hilsa fish. He repeated the prices quoted by traders in a loud, rhythmic tone: “1,400-1,420-1,450…”

Bangladesh’s exports of jute and jute goods have been falling continuously as many buyers have switched to synthetic and regenerated cotton yarn due to high prices of the golden fibre in the domestic market.

For the first time, Bangladesh has bagged more than 4 crore tonnes of rice in a fiscal year (FY) thanks to increasing yields of the most grown crop, according to official data.

For the first time, Bangladesh has bagged more than 4 crore tonnes of rice in a fiscal year (FY) thanks to increasing yields of the most grown crop, according to official data.

Bangladesh’s banking sector was not well-managed in recent years. Banks mostly gave loans to their owners, rather than to creditworthy entities. Consequently, several banks are now in difficulty.

At the turn of the millennium, travelling by road between Sylhet and Dhaka felt akin to a trek across rugged terrain. One would have to awkwardly traverse bumps along narrow and winding paths for upwards of 10 hours to make the trip either way.

The lender invited bids from interested buyers for properties mortgaged by the company in the capital's Uttarkhan, Uttara Residential Model Town and Bashundhara.

The workers’ demands are logical so owners should sit together to address this and restore stability to the garment industry, the country’s largest export-earner, said Kalpona Akter, president of Bangladesh Garment & Industrial Workers Federation.

Bangladesh may miss its target for cultivation of the Aman rice, the second biggest rice crop, this year as farmers in the eastern districts are unlikely to transplant the seedlings again in fields that were washed away by last month’s devastating flood.

The spread between interest rates on deposits and loans rose to 6.03 percent, the highest in two decades, indicating that banks are making money at the expense of depositors and borrowers.

When the Awami League (AL) announced its manifesto with the slogan ‘Charter for Change’ ahead of the general elections in 2008, it drew applause from various sections of society

Rice acreage and production in Bangladesh are likely to decline because of recent floods, which would affect paddy of the Aus and Aman seasons, said the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) at the end of last week.

Bangladesh’s sugar imports fell sharply in fiscal year 2023-24 as refiners stayed away from placing orders to foreign buyers in the face of an illegal influx of the sweetener through the borders.