Rejaul Karim Byron

The Asian Development Bank will more than double its lending to Bangladesh over the next three years, attaching priority to connectivity projects linking the country to India, Nepal and Bhutan.

Bangladesh will have to initially pay $132.1 million to become a member of the proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank or AIIB.

The government has proposed a 7.4 percent average growth target in the next five-year plan aiming to empower every citizen by way of better income distribution.

Teachers and staffs on Monthly Pay Order (MPO) are unlikely to get increased salary from next month under the new national pay scale, as the government might delay the hike by six months to evaluate the performance of MPO-listed educational institutions, said finance ministry officials.

Bangladesh may provide river transit to India on a limited scale this year after the two sides fix transit fees and charges. A joint committee comprising officials from both countries would be formed soon to make recommendations within two months for transit fees and charges, said shipping ministry officials.

A major portion of the non-development budget will be used to pay the increased salaries of government employees, and interest on loans.

The World Bank could lend more than $1 billion to implement a number of regional connectivity projects for boosting trade and investment among Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan.

India will provide $2 billion of fresh low-cost loans to Bangladesh, most of which will be used for connectivity-related projects to

The scope for whitening undisclosed money remains in place in the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year with only a couple of changes to the provisions.

The government is set to slash the allocation for subsidy by 10.34 percent in fiscal 2015-16 as it looks to capitalise on the depressed

The government employees are set to pay more tax as their salaries increase under the new pay scale, due to take effect from the next

Debt servicing will take up 17.56 percent more allocation in the upcoming budget than it did in the current one as the government

The forthcoming budget, set to be announced today, is going to be an increase of 21.65 percent over the current year owing to the new pay scale for government staff and increased development expenditure.

The finance ministry will scale down its plan to lay out a budget upwards of Tk 300,000 crore for fiscal 2015-16, as it has failed to find viable sources to fund such a big outlay.

The government is likely to reduce the corporate tax for financial institutions, even though the move would lead to revenue losses of about Tk 1,000 crore.

The road transport sector shrank in the outgoing fiscal year while the air and river transport sectors expanded owing to the three-month blockade and shutdowns enforced by the opposition.

The World Bank is set to extend long-term low-cost loans to private sector firms, including those from garments, footwear and light engineering sectors, in a bid to brighten the country's stagnant investment scenario.

The upcoming national budget is unlikely to spring any surprises, finance ministry officials said.

Bangladesh may get $2 billion in fresh loan from India for use in connectivity-related projects, an area of cooperation in which the

The government is set to cut subsidy by 5.5 percent in fiscal 2015-16 from the current year, as it looks to reduce fuel subsidy amid