Rejaul Karim Byron

Padma Bridge, Payra Port and Dhaka Metro Rail-6 are among the fast-track projects nearing completion, whereas several others are witnessing a slower than expected implementation rate, according to a progress report.  

Implementation of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) in July was 17.22 per cent lower compared to the corresponding month of last fiscal year due to the economic impact of a recent countrywide lockdown.

The already low incomes of skilled and unskilled workers have been squeezed further for last month’s countrywide lockdown, making it more difficult for them to stay afloat amid the Covid-19 fallout.

The government has saved about Tk 12,000 crore by embracing austerity in purchasing cars for its officials since the pandemic struck Bangladesh, a development that offers the scope to look into how to cut costs.   

The central bank will lend $50 million to under-pressure Sri Lanka this week as part of Bangladesh’s efforts to support the Island nation suffering from a foreign exchange crisis.

The unavailability of doses is once again posing as the sole reason behind the slow disbursement of the Tk 14,200 crore fund allocated for Covid-19 vaccine procurement in the budget for the current fiscal year.

The government is going to buy digital contents containing interactive and communicative lessons to help secondary students tap the potentials of distance learning.

The government is undertaking a project involving about Tk 200 crore to roll out fifth-generation or 5G mobile network on a limited scale in Dhaka by the end of this year.

The government is going to set up the country’s biggest solar power plant in Madarganj upazila of Jamalpur, in a move to raise the share of renewable energy in total power generation to 10 per cent by 2025.

The government is set to give a lifeline to Teletalk as the loss-making mobile phone operator looks to make a turnaround by winning customers through modernisation, network expansion and the launch of 5G technology.

Bangladesh’s economy may continue to suffer under the Covid-19 pandemic throughout the current fiscal year due to vaccine shortages and the government’s incapability to enforce a strict lockdown, said a recently released Fitch Solutions report.

Private investment in Bangladesh fell to its lowest level in 14 years in the last fiscal year owing to the lingering uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic and continuing structural weaknesses.

The economy grew 3.51 per cent in the fiscal year 2019-20, the slowest pace of expansion in three decades, as the pandemic wreaked havoc across the country, according to the final figure of state-run Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

Development spending in Bangladesh rebounded in the last fiscal year although the implementation rate was still one of the lowest in three decades because of the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic and structural weaknesses.

Bangladesh does not want any measures that promote integration of the Rohingyas into the local society.

Bangladesh will need an estimated $3.7 billion to inoculate 80 percent of the population against Covid in one and a half to two years and achieve herd immunity.

The government is going to give Tk 13,500 and career counselling to 200,000 migrant workers who returned home amid the pandemic.

The government recently distributed cash support worth Tk 450 crore to around 17.24 lakh day labourers, transport workers, and small traders, as part of its recent announcement of a Tk 3,200 crore relief package for the ultra-poor and destitute. It also increased allocations for OMS in urban areas and for food assistance in rural areas through the district administration offices.

Wage labourers in Bangladesh passed a gruelling year as their income growth dropped to a six-year low in the last fiscal year, whereas living expenses went up amid rising inflation, official figures showed.

Inflation spurted to 5.64 per cent in June, the highest in eight months, reflecting the disruptions faced by the supply chain and the rise in the cost of living, official figures showed yesterday.