Ahsan Habib

Companies faced high inflation, political uncertainty and rising borrowing costs, while weak demand and supply disruptions hit sales and profits

The stock market’s performance depends on how well listed companies perform, but many firms disappointed shareholders in the last fiscal year, offering low dividends mainly due to weak sales and profits.

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) fined individuals, intermediaries and firms a total of Tk 1,488 crore for their involvement in stock market manipulation during the interim government’s tenure. So far, the commission has received Tk 5.23 crore of the total fine amount.

Although the authorities say the foreign exchange rate is now fully market-determined, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has described the system as “incomplete”.

When Ahsan Habib Mansur assumed office in the second week of August 2024 following a mass uprising, the financial reality was precarious.

The list includes managing high inflation, weak tax collection, rising debt

The government, on its first full day in office, formally sought a three-year deferral of Bangladesh’s graduation from the least developed country (LDC) category.

When the interim government assumed office around 18 months ago, it inherited an economy under severe strain.

Economists urge the next government

Elections rarely spark dramatic rallies in Bangladesh’s stock market. The trend has been consistent at least in the last six parliamentary elections. Yet, stakeholders hope this time will be different.

The economic goals outlined in the BNP’s election manifesto read like a calculated challenge. It presents the coming decade as a stark choice:

Sales of prescription allergy drugs have surged more than any other types of medicine since the Covid-19 pandemic.

People usually dream of having a fantastic living house, and most of their thinking is centred on building a concrete house. Residents from Munshiganj think otherwise. Wooden homes remain immensely popular among dwellers of the district, and their popularity is growing among many districts nowadays.

Masudur Rahman, who has been investing in stock for nearly 20 years, was hopeful that at least a few state-run firms would be listed on the stock market soon, as the interim government directed authorities to do so. To his dismay, no new state-run companies were listed.

Foreign debt servicing by the government and its guaranteed loans rose 17 percent to $7.09 billion at the end of June in the last fiscal year.

A proposed pay hike of as much as 142 percent for civil servants clashes with the government’s austerity measures adopted after the 2024 uprising.

Sales growth of prescribed medicines has slowed to single digits, ending the double-digit expansion the pharmaceutical market enjoyed for years before the pandemic, as rising production costs and currency depreciation collide with prolonged inflation.

Two years ago, Mahbubur Rahman, a resident of Savar, worked in a garment factory on the outskirts of Dhaka.

The stock market regulator has rejected bond issuance proposals worth Tk 2,100 crore from several banks that had earlier received no-objection certificates from the Bangladesh Bank (BB).

At its core, banking is about pricing and managing risk. Trouble begins when risk is quietly recycled within the system rather than reduced or spread adequately across the board. In trading bonds, that is increasingly what is happening in the country’s banking sector.