Md Asaduz Zaman

Bangladesh concluded another year staring at prices of essential items taking a wild ride, the central bank scrambling to further tighten the money supply and penny-pinching among limited income people.

The government’s recent move to increase value-added tax (VAT) on 43 goods and services has raised two key questions: will it generate enough revenue to avoid a huge budget deficit and will it further stoke an already high inflation?

Bangladesh’s revenue collection fell in November this year even though the country saw improvement in its business climate that month thanks to the alleviation of political uncertainties stemming from the nationwide mass uprising in July-August.

Bangladesh’s foreign debt servicing surged 28 percent year-on-year in the first five months of fiscal year 2024-25 owing to the country’s expanded foreign loan portfolio and a rise in global interest rates.

Many low-income and unskilled workers in Bangladesh’s agriculture, industrial and service sectors are being compelled to reduce consumption as rising inflation eroded their real incomes over the past three years.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) should not both formulate policies and collect revenue, rather a separate, independent and specialised policy wing should be formed, recommended an advisory committee recently. .This should be the first priority when bringing about reforms, said the co

Fresh graduates, their faces pale and uncertain, spent 2024 poring over newspaper job advertisements, applying for any suitable position and frantically appearing for recruitment exams in Dhaka.

Despite a record increase in remittance this year, experts and migrant workers say the government has yet to take meaningful steps to alleviate their suffering or ensure their benefits and welfare.

The planning ministry’s taskforce for sustainable development has drafted a report with proposals to fix the economic fault lines identified by the white paper on the economic state of the country and achieve moderate economic growth.

The health ministry’s development spending has dropped substantially year-on-year in the first five months of the current fiscal year, despite the interim government’s move to raise its allocation in the revised budget.

Despite the fact that the population has been reeling from heightened inflationary pressures over the past two years, public food distribution under various social protection schemes fell by about 6 percent year-on-year in the first half of the current fiscal year.

The past government had been relying on international definitions and standards that are over four decades old to measure labour data, painting a rosy picture of low unemployment and an improved labour market.

Over 1 lakh youth with higher academic degrees joined the already long rally of graduates in a gruelling search for jobs last year, according to the latest official data, as experts point to an oversupply of graduates and a lack of skills among them.

Revenue collection in the first four months of the current fiscal year declined by 1 percent year-on-year

In the bustling area of Mirpur-10 in the capital, over 300 people gathered early Monday morning, hoping to buy subsidised essentialsthat serve as a lifeline for low-income families.

Pran-RFL Group, one of the country’s leading conglomerates with diversified interests, including in food processing, has started producing both whole wheat and refined flour alongside semolina. 

Stocks soared yesterday as investors cheered the substantial cut in capital gains tax by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to encourage big local and foreign investors.

Private facilities spring up around public hospitals as govt services fall short

The interim government plans to strengthen the universal pension scheme (UPS) with the aim of bringing people from all walks of life under a sustainable social security framework.

Amid cautious spending by the interim government and disruptions due to political turmoil, the implementation rate of the annual development programme (ADP) in the current fiscal year’s first quarter hit the lowest in at least 15 years.