Rejaul Karim Byron

The first meeting of the Bangladesh-China joint working group is set to be held in Dhaka next month to come up with ways to expedite the implementation of 27 projects that China had agreed to fund in October 2016.

The government is going to set up another 21 weighbridges on major highways to check overloading as the practice is causing damage to roads and bridges.

The cabinet yesterday approved a draft law that would allow the government to use “idle funds” of state-owned organisations for development work. There are 68 state-owned autonomous organisation which have Tk 2,12,100 crore deposited in banks, said Cabinet Secretary

International oil companies will now be able to export gas explored from Bangladesh’s offshore blocks in the Bay. The government has reintroduced the provision for export of gas by the drilling companies in the Offshore Model PSC 2019. This will not be applicable for onshore blocks.

Bangladesh stands to lose $7 billion in export earnings every year once it graduates into the developing country bracket in 2027 as the trade benefits it currently enjoys will be phased out then, a Planning Commission report says.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected Bangladesh’s economic growth to be 7.6 percent this fiscal year, which is 0.6

The government’s bank borrowing last fiscal year was almost half of what it had planned to, thanks to its lower development expenditure and higher sales of national savings certificates, much to the relief of the cash-strapped banking sector.

Bangladesh’s tremendous economic growth has been unable to create jobs proportionately over the past decade, raising questions about the significance of the growth for a large section of the population.

Foreign aid in the pipeline surged to a record $48.11 billion at the end of the last fiscal year and Bangladesh, despite spending more of the committed money, keeps on failing to reach its targets of utilisation.

The impasse over financing of the expansion of 214-kilometre Dhaka-Sylhet Highway into four lanes is likely to end soon, as Asian Develop-ment Bank has given “consent” to fund the project, officials said.

After initial delay, half of the 10 first track mega projects have finally gotten some momentum, ushering hope for positive change in the country’s economy and people’s livelihood.

A joint working group will be formed to probe the slow progress of the 27 projects involving around $20 billion that China had agreed to provide during President Xi Jinping’s Dhaka visit in October 2016.

The government has devised a strategy to ramp up revenue collection by Tk 60,000 crore in the new fiscal year in order to help the National Board of Revenue (NBR) reach its tax mobilisation goal.

The government’s subsidy expenditure has soared 29.36 percent to Tk 46,385 crore this fiscal year largely due to its concessions on demands from pressure groups.

Projects involving about $7.5 billion under the three Indian lines of credit are progressing slowly owing to lengthy processes in land acquisition, change in design and delays in hiring consultants and document preparation.

State banks did not get a single penny from taxpayers in the just concluded fiscal year to make up their capital deficit, in a clear sign from the government of its intent to stop pampering the errant lenders.

With around 3,000 more educational institutions coming under the monthly pay order scheme anytime soon, the government has proposed to allocate Tk 15,001 crore this fiscal year for salaries of all the teachers and staff on the MPO list.

Banks will transfer incentive to the bank accounts of remitters or their beneficiaries like they do in case of exporters as the maiden

Bangladeshis’ deposits in Swiss banks increased by 28.33 percent year-on-year in 2018 to 617.72 million Swiss francs or Tk 5,341 crore, according to the Swiss National Bank (SNB).

The government is going to shift chemical warehouses of Old Dhaka to Kathaldia in Gazipur’s Tongi temporarily, as the long-time plan to set up a permanent hub will take time.