Rejaul Karim Byron

Though overall annual development programme (ADP) implementation slightly rose year-on-year in the current fiscal year’s first half, government spending for development projects is still below that of the pre-pandemic period.

The government plans to use the country’s foreign currency reserves to implement a $370.96 million power transmission project, ignoring warning from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The government should reprioritise spending, take steps to reduce corruption and initiate financial sector reforms for better use of public money with a view to overcoming challenges brought on by the pandemic, suggests the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Although the pressure to become a doctor or an engineer is gradually dissipating, the two professions still rank on the top among the youths, found a first-of-its-kind study by the government.

Bangladesh is expected to become the 24th largest economy in the world by 2030 despite a rise in poverty, unemployment and income losses because of the severe impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a government report.

The government is set to extend more policy and fiscal support, rationalise corporate tax, offer bonded warehouse facility and explore new markets and products as it looks to give a much-needed boost to export earnings.

The government plans to keep its foreign aid use target unchanged in the next fiscal year compared to the current fiscal year owing to lower utilisation of development allocations and projected reduced spending related to the pandemic, especially for vaccination.

As many as 1.6 million youths lost their jobs and about 20 million faced income loss for the pandemic, found a government study -- signifying the global public health crisis’s outsize economic consequences for Bangladesh’s younger population.

Wages have ticked up in Bangladesh in recent months, but rising inflation, fueled by internal and external factors, has eroded the gains for the workers in various sectors.

 Non-food inflation has been unbridled since the government hiked diesel and kerosene prices two months ago, touching 7 per cent in December, a six-year high, pounding consumers.

Old problems greet the Prime Minister-led Executive Committee of the National Economic Council when it convenes today for its first meeting for 2022: applications for project revisions.

Most operators are back behind the machines, so are the small traders, private service holders, vendors and domestic helps.

Bangladesh is gunning to become a half-a-trillion-dollar economy next fiscal year buoyed by a successful vaccination campaign and a steady growth in agriculture and industry.

Consumers in Bangladesh were squeezed further in November as inflation kept rising, driven mainly by non-food inflation as the impacts of last month’s hike of diesel and kerosene prices are taking a hold.

Consumers in Bangladesh were squeezed further in November as inflation kept rising, driven mainly by non-food inflation as the impacts of last month’s hike of diesel and kerosene prices are taking a hold.

The budget for the current fiscal year is set to be slashed by 1.6 per cent in the revised one because of lower development expenditure, with the cut being marginal for healthy revenue collection and higher subsidy spending.

The government plans to raise its economic growth target to 7.5 per cent for the next fiscal year, banking on the recovery of business activities and rising export earnings.

The government is procuring around 20 million Covid-19 vaccine doses from China, using funds given by the Asian Development Bank, under bilateral arrangements.

Bangladesh’s immediate challenge is accelerating the Covid-19 vaccination programme to cover the targeted 80 percent of the population, said a World Bank official.

The finance ministry has warned relevant government bodies that new projects will not be included in the revised annual development programme (RADP) for the current fiscal year if their details are not sent to the Planning Commission by January 2022.