SME Foundation says, analysing BBS economic census of 2024

Bangladesh’s first-ever short-term shariah-based sukuk drew overwhelming interest from individuals and institutions at its debut auction yesterday.

Weak public institutions are holding back Bangladesh’s economic growth and costing the country billions in lost tax revenue, the World Bank said yesterday, urging reforms to tax administration, procurement, auditing and project implementation.

Month-on-month inflation stood at 9.42 percent at the end of May, with the 12-month average above 8.6 percent

Industrial production grew by only 2.86 percent in the outgoing fiscal year -- the slowest pace in recent memory. Yet the budget projects that growth will somehow jump to 7 percent next year and continue rising thereafter. Such an acceleration is not impossible, but it demands a transformation far deeper than anything currently underway.

Bangladesh is pursuing a dual-track strategy to retain duty-free access to the European Union after graduating from the least developed country (LDC) category, negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with the bloc while also seeking to qualify for its GSP Plus trade preference scheme.

The government, for the first time in Bangladesh, has announced tax rates for five years to provide businesses with greater policy certainty and help create jobs, said Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, the prime minister's adviser on planning and economic affairs

This is the first-ever hatching egg export consignment from Bangladesh

Investors submitted bids worth Tk 56,607 crore against an issuance target of Tk 5,500 crore through the 273-day sukuk, making the auction oversubscribed by 10.29 times

A citizens' platform today demanded that the government immediately scrap plans to lease the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) and Chattogram Container Terminal (CCT) to domestic or foreign operators, saying the country's main seaport must remain under national ownership and control

The cushion of cheap, long-dated official credit that has spared Bangladesh the discipline of markets is shrinking, with no channel ready for when it runs thin

Ministries instructed to review projects with less than 30% progress and scrap those no longer viable

TIN requirement for opening bank accounts may be dropped

Trading in the Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) of Beximco Pharmaceuticals PLC on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) resumed on Friday after the exchange lifted a suspension imposed over delayed financial reporting.

Bangladesh’s insurance regulator is considering a one-time bailout package to help insurance companies clear around Tk 7,000 crore in outstanding claims, a move aimed at restoring public confidence in the sector.

A tax relief measure on mobile phone imports is set to expire next week with no extension in the proposed budget, stoking fears of further grey market expansion as the National Equipment Identity Register (NEIR) remains unimplemented.

Older, scaled firms poised to get major tax benefits

United Commercial Bank PLC (UCB) turned 43 on June 26. Incorporated in Bangladesh in 1983, the bank has grown into one of the country’s largest first-generation private commercial banks.

Bangladeshi agritech startup iFarmer has won a US$250,000 award from the OPEC Fund for International Development for helping smallholder farmers gain access to finance, agricultural inputs, advisory services, weather information and markets.

The Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) on June 23 issued a gazette notification making the use of the BSTI label or logo mandatory for seven new products to be marketed.