Zahid Hussain

Bangladesh’s stock markets have been fluctuating sharply in recent years.

The government wants to form a public asset management company (PAMC) to buy distressed loans from banks.

Offshore Banking Units (OBUs) of domestic banks have borrowed from banks in the euro zone at 2 percent interest rate to meet their euro liabilities against Usance Payable At Sight (UPAS) issued by them to Bangladeshi importers. Simply stated, the UPAS issuing bank

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has caved in to pressure for extending the loan restructuring facility to large borrowers once again, albeit on

We know from growth accounting that GDP growth can be broken into growth in the labour force and growth in labour productivity.

The government announced a 2 percent subsidy on remittances in the FY20 budget and allocated Tk 3,060 crore for this purpose.

The monetary policy recognises the contextual challenges, particularly banking sector ailments relating to high non-performing loans

Bangladesh has made substantial progress in achieving price and macroeconomic stability. It has succeeded in maintaining inflation in modest single digits range, while also achieving high growth, due in a significant part to sound macroeconomic management.

The decision to reduce the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by one percentage point constitutes quantitative easing of monetary policy. A key

The tax system in Bangladesh is not very different from that of most other developing countries. A significant share of revenue is collected at the border, while domestic taxes are primarily from the VAT and income taxes.

The devastating Supreme Court ruling has not only delivered Nawaz Sharif the ultimate humiliation of being unceremoniously ousted from power, but has also put him and his entire family in the dock over corruption allegations.

Overall, the monetary policy statement is appropriate for the current state of the economy.

Bangladesh enters 2016 with its economy facing several challenges. The key challenges on the domestic front continue to be the acceleration of private investments and the better use of public sector resources to implement important infrastructure and social programs. The investment outlook is clouded by uncertainties pertaining to the dynamics of domestic politics; structural reforms; developments in infrastructure and energy; and global economic prospects.

Overall Bangladesh Bank has maintained policy continuity, albeit may be a bit too much so.

Headline inflation has evolved along the projected path, banks have started reducing their lending rates, the exchange rate has been

Many countries in the post-war era managed to reach middle-income status rapidly, but a few went on to become high-income

Ensuring better infrastructure ranked the top priority in the Dhaka Apparel Summit 2014 to reach USD 50 billion apparel export target by 2021.