The central bank yesterday extended banking hours in line with the easing of coronavirus-linked lockdown rules, giving more time to customers to carry out financial transactions.

Three private banks posted higher earnings for the January-March quarter compared to the same period a year ago with NRB Commercial Bank registering the highest growth in profits.

Special allocation is needed for the cottage, micro, small, and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) in the upcoming budget to recover the losses induced by the Covid-19 pandemic, speakers said at a webinar.

People who took the first Covid-19 jab still has time to take the second dose, as the gap between the two jabs can be as long as 12 weeks, up from eight weeks maintained in Bangladesh, experts said at a webinar today.

Bangladesh-US economic relation has largely remained unutilised although after 50th anniversary of independence of the Asian country as Bangladesh’s bilateral trade with the US is too poor compared to that of its competitive countries, experts said today.

Bangladesh Bank today extended the banking hour by half an hour and decided to keep banks open from 10am to 2.30pm from tomorrow until May 30.

The owner of a container ship that blocked the Suez Canal in March says the canal authority was at fault over its grounding as it disputes the vessel's detention and a compensation claim, a lawyer representing the owner said on Saturday.

Pakistan said on Friday its economy was on course to grow 3.94 per cent in the financial year 2020/2021 that ends in June, almost double the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank’s projections, as it recovers from the worst of the pandemic.

London’s FTSE 100 was flat on Friday, posting a weekly loss, as weakness in mining stocks countered a bigger-than-expected jump in retail sales and business activity.

A federal judge on Friday grilled Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook over whether the iPhone maker’s App Store profits from developers such as “Fortnite” maker Epic Games are justified and whether Apple faces any real competitive pressure to change its ways.

The White House said on Friday it had pared down its infrastructure bill to $1.7 trillion from $2.25 trillion, with cuts to investments in broadband and roads and bridges, but Republicans dismissed the changes as insufficient for a deal.

Euro zone business growth accelerated at its fastest pace in over three years in May, a survey showed on Friday, but European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said an uncertain recovery still needed emergency support from the ECB.

US factory activity gathered speed in early May amid strong domestic demand, but backlogs of uncompleted work are piling up as manufacturers struggle to find raw materials and labor, boosting costs for both businesses and consumers.

Those who grew up watching Bangladesh Television (BTV) during the 1980s and 1990s can recall well the commercials BTV would run, in part because there was only a handful of them. Toiletries, batteries, jewellery, shoes, and garments would dominate the intervals of the TV programmes.

The national budget for fiscal 2021-22 should include measures that will help sustain the rich agriculture industry in the country’s northern districts, according to various economists and businesspeople in the region.

Hatti Ma Tim Team, a four-member team of the Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP), yesterday won a “Business Case Competition 2021” solving a business case challenge on climate change.

The Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) yesterday urged the government not to provide any scope to legalise black money in the next budget, terming the facility discriminatory, unconstitutional and conducive to corruption.

The Bangladesh Restaurant Owners’ Association has urged the government to allow them to reopen the restaurants following health guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The government should implement the current stimulus packages for the cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) and announce another round of support in the upcoming budget to help them survive, said experts and entrepreneurs.

Listed textile and garment makers are still suffering from falling profits, impacted by lower sales of clothing in the markets abroad amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.