Sohel Parvez

Last fiscal year, Bangladesh’s GDP grew at a record 8.15 percent, so it is natural to assume the real income of all would see some degree of increase with such a high level of economic expansion. And yet, fishermen and construction workers saw their real wages fall.

A bolt from the blue came in 2005 and left Sufia Begum in despair: she lost her husband, the sole breadwinner in her family, in an instant to electrocution, leaving her with no money and three young daughters to raise by herself.

The government has withdrawn restriction on the introduction of new varieties of potato seeds, their production and marketing for three years.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has extended the reduced tax benefit to the manufacturers of motorcycle, air conditioner and compressors to June 2032 although it doubled the rates.

Coal imports are soaring to fuel hundreds of brick kilns that produce the key construction material to feed the growing demand from both public and private sectors.

The National Board of Revenue considers easing rules and procedures for investors in the export processing zones to promote trade and investment, said officials.

Revenue shortfall widened further as sluggish tax collection persisted in the July-October period, stoking concerns of a credit crunch amid a surge in government borrowing from the financial sector and an economic slowdown.

Bangladesh has huge growth potential in dairy and the demand for dairy products is likely to grow double-digit, buoyed by rising income and expanding middle class, said a senior executive of an international dairy company owned by farmers.

Inaccurate estimates of demand and production of onions as well as the failure of the government agencies to understand the gravity of the problem have pushed the price of the key cooking ingredient up to a record high and hurt consumers, said rights activists and analysts yesterday.

Amid the soaring cost of agricultural labour, the government is going to launch a project worth Tk 415 crore to give subsidy to the farmers for buying agricultural machinery so that they can harvest crops at a reduced cost.

Anyone following news reports is aware that various authorities and agencies here are checking food items in markets and destroying those found to be adulterated, substandard or unsafe.

If you visit a food court in Copenhagen, you will notice smiley icons at the entrance of restaurants. You see a paper with a smiley symbol posted on the door on the right top corner. Below the symbol is written the word “Elite”.

Bangladesh has to rely on foreign onions as local farmers do not want to expand its cultivation amid fears of losses due to low prices during the peak harvesting seasons, said farmers, agriculturists and traders.

After soaring prices of onions, consumers now have to deal with rice prices creeping up over the last few weeks.

The prospect of tuna fishing deep in the Bay of Bengal is hanging in the balance owing to a lack of interest of licensee firms in bringing trawlers to catch the commercially important fish, said insiders.

Except on the weekends and public holidays, Mir Arshedul Karim leaves his rented home in Mirpur for Dhaka University every morning, guided by his trusted white cane.

The National Board of Revenue is likely to cut value added tax on the import of coal for power plants to 5 percent from present 15 percent in order to facilitate electricity generation at reduced costs, said a senior official yesterday.

The National Board of Revenue yesterday asked banks to freeze all accounts of Jubo league presidium member Sheikh Fazlur Rahman Maruf and Awami Swechchasebak League President Molla Mohammad Abu Kawser.

An expansion in the cultivation of maize has created a vibrant market worth more than Tk 200 crore for its seed that is captured almost exclusively by foreign firms in the absence of adequate good quality seeds developed locally.

The food ministry plans to set up 200 paddy silos for about Tk 6,000 crore in order to buy increased amounts of grains from growers with a view to protecting them from losses in case of good harvest, said a top official.