Sohel Parvez

The government has started buying rice from the international market in its effort to replenish public food stocks and increase its capacity to intervene in the market to curb a price spike of the staple food.

The country’s food reserve dropped to 8.8 lakh tonnes on Sunday, despite bumper grain production in the last fiscal year.

Rice production is likely to decline by 5,50,000 tonnes in the May-April period of 2020-21 from a year ago as a result of cyclones, heavy rains and repeated floods, said a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) statement released on Thursday.

Samorita Hospital, the lone listed healthcare provider, yesterday reported a sharp drop in profit for the last fiscal year, reflecting the sluggish business in the country’s private healthcare sector as most treatment-seekers opted to stay away from hospitals.

The National Board of Revenue has made it easier for firms in the country’s export processing zones to use import-export containers, a move that will likely expedite the process and reduce the costs for exporters.

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has forced the world to adjust to a new reality. Many consumers who love to spend time at restaurants and cafes or even just enjoy traditional snacks, such as samosas and fuchka from roadside vendors, have had to think otherwise.

A new rule framed by India on determining the country of origin of a product is going to hurt Bangladesh’s exports to India and undermine the efforts to narrow large trade imbalance between the two neighbours, according to two government agencies.

The government has taken an initiative to increase onion production in the country by 10 lakh tonnes within the next three years in order to attain self-sufficiency and cut import dependence.

Inflation rose to 6.44 per cent in October, the highest in at least five years, driven by a sharp increase in the price of food items, official figures showed yesterday.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has decided to develop an online tax return filing system with its own resources so that taxpayers can file their annual income statements easily.

Repeated floods and unfavourable weather are likely to trigger a drop in yield of Aman rice, the second-biggest crop in Bangladesh after Boro, a worrying prospect amid the rising price of the cereal.

The government plans to provide incentives to encourage community cultivation so that farmers plant their crops in a synchronised manner and ensure simultaneous harvests.

The government yesterday announced to buy paddy and rice at prices that are below the production cost, raising doubts whether it would be able to attain the procurement target of the staple to build an adequate public stock.

The rapid expansion of electric three-wheelers, popularly known as easy bike, has opened up huge business opportunities for battery manufacturers and traders in Bangladesh.

With the prices of potato having shot up in the past few weeks, farmers who were preparing for the upcoming growing season are about to face a new reality.

Tax collection jumped in September as the country’s businesses and economic activities continued to pick up despite all the uncertainty caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Individual taxpayers will have to submit their income tax returns at tax offices this year as the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has decided against holding its annual tax fair to avoid mass gatherings and curb the risk of the spread of coronavirus, said officials.

The debate over Bangladesh’s GDP growth forecasts is back again. There is wide variation in the projections made by the multilateral development agencies for the current fiscal year amid deep uncertainties about the near-term trajectory of the global economy as the pandemic is still raging.

Fruit drinks and wafer biscuits can no longer be marketed or sold without the certification from the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), according to a government notification.

Residents in Dhaka are quite familiar with informal buyers of obsolete computers, laptops, batteries of Instant Power Supply and other malfunctioned home appliances.