It is nothing surprising that the visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) team, now assessing the progress made in carrying out necessary reforms/ changes tagged with the Fund's $4.7 billion loan support for Bangladesh, has picked up, among others, the issue of safety-net leakages. The ongoing r
It is highly alarming that shortage of supplies of birth-control materials at government family planning centres across the country is threatening to reverse years of progress made in curbing population growth and reducing maternal and child mortality rates. According to a report published in this
Notwithstanding their lands being the biggest source of migrant workers, South Asian labourers are the worst victims of maltreatment and abuse in their host countries. Poorly regulated working condition and sponsorship systems in some countries are often the root causes of the workers' rights abuse
While Intellectual Property (IP) is an asset for any business, leveraging it to access finance is strategically important for growth and development. This is more so in respect of women entrepreneurs in a country like Bangladesh where IP can be weighed as useful collateral for accessing bank financ
Load-shedding has multi-dimensional consequences, especially at a time of punishing heat and humidity in April, the 'cruellest month'. According to the National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) at the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh, load-shedding on Wednesday reached up to 1500 megawatt (MW). Euphemis
The Bangladesh Bank (BB)'s policy of tightening money supply to combat inflation has been instrumental in pushing up commercial banks' interest rates. The BB has allowed commercial banks to add 3.5 per cent margin to the benchmark rate, the so-called SMART. Notably, the BB in July last year, remove
Against the backdrop of growing climatic turmoil Bangladesh and the rest of the world find themselves in, the country has formulated a national climate adaptability plan covering 27 years called 'National Adaptation Plan (NAP) 2023-2050. With the country ranking 7th in the Global Climate Risk Index
A severe heat wave now sweeping across the country has made life miserable. The latest update from the Bangladesh Meteorological Department offers little hope of respite and paints a foreboding picture of weather conditions across various regions. Khulna division together with Rajshahi, Pabna
That country's most institutions have become largely dysfunctional is hardly disputed. And, such an unfortunate decadence has happened amidst impressive development works, a phenomenon that many economists tend to describe as a 'paradox'. The fact remains that the economy in general is in doldrums,
The short-lived relief on account of reduced price of bottled soybean oil at Tk 163 from the previous Tk 173 per litre enjoyed by the common consumers for the last two months is over. Vegetable oil refiners have decided to return to the pre-VAT-reduction price regime. Notably, the government, throu
