Refayet Ullah Mirdha

Several business leaders and entrepreneurs have expressed their hope that Bangladesh’s economy will start to recover from mid-2021 after the Covid-19 vaccine arrives.

For many, 2020 has been a year of despair. The unprecedented effects of Covid-19 have jolted economies and supply chains worldwide with Bangladesh being no exception.

Bangladesh is set to graduate from the group of the least-developed countries but will face some challenges during the transition period because of the devastating impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, said a United Nations agency.

MA Hashem, a business tycoon, started as a humble tobacco trader in the early 1960s before becoming one of the leading entrepreneurs and industrialists in Bangladesh.

The ongoing pandemic has been a blessing for Lotto Sport Italia as it enjoyed increased sales in Bangladesh for the past several months following a boom in the demand for low-cost, non-leather footwear products.

Five years ago, Sadeka Begum had reached a crossroads. Looking to avoid early marriage, she left her remote village and came to Dhaka, and took up work at at an RMG factory as a floor worker.

Lockdowns and tightening of coronavirus restrictions ahead of Christmas in several European countries to tackle the second wave of infections have started adding to the woes of garment exporters in Bangladesh.

Rapid automation, wage hikes and complex production process in the garment sector and marriages have narrowed the female workers’ participation in the apparel industry in Bangladesh, according to a survey.

Apparel makers are once again facing trying times.

Bangladesh has formally initiated negotiations with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) to sign a free trade agreement to enjoy greater market access in the bloc after graduating from the least developed country grouping.

Bangladesh’s garment exporters will lose $4 billion if the duty-free trade benefit for the country comes to an end in the European Union following its graduation to a developing nation, according to a new study.

Bangladesh will ink its maiden preferential trade agreement (PTA) with Bhutan as the country looks to retain duty benefits following its graduation to a developing country from the least developed nation category.

Bangladesh’s apparel industry is struggling to graduate to a producer of high-end items despite being in the business for four decades and one of the top suppliers globally, missing out on the opportunity to receive premium prices from international retailers and brands.

Merchandise exports bounced back in November, rising 0.76 per cent year-on-year to $3.07 billion helped by garment, home textile and jute goods shipment, official data showed yesterday.

Workers in Bangladesh witnessed the sharpest fall in their real wages among their peers in Asia and the Pacific in the last decade despite higher productivity gains, according to a new report from the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Nearly 400 workers of an Italian-owned factory shuttered by the pandemic yesterday attempted to lay siege to the labour and employment ministry at the Secretariat demanding dues.

The US is optimistic about deepening ties with Bangladesh as the country’s exports to American markets have maintained a robust growth while investors are looking to widen their footprint in the South Asian nation, US Ambassador Earl R Miller said.

US engagement with Bangladesh on trade, economic and defence fronts has increased in recent months. In September, the countries signed an open sky deal and held comprehensive economic partnership dialogues.

Traffic movement through the capital’s Agargaon area will be a lot smoother than usual from next January as the government has decided to relocate the Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) from Sher-e-Bangla Nagar to Purbachal.

The government may ease the rules on the use of fabric imported duty-free to help local manufacturers shift to high-end apparels and boost export earnings as firms generate more waste while producing fancy items for international markets.