Local medicine makers have urged the government to extend cash incentive benefit to the exports of pharmaceutical products to help the sector grow further and capture more overseas markets.

The telecom regulator is on the final stage to offer four telecom tower company licences and a request for proposal (RFP) notice will be published within the next two to three working days.

Unused foreign assistance in the pipeline rose over 12 percent to $40.24 billion in the last eight months to February.

Private banks' net profits slid for the first time in four years in 2017, dragged down by their ballooning non-performing loans.

Bangladesh's insurance sector has long been facing a skills gap at all levels because of a poor pay structure, uncomfortable work environment and a lack of relevant education and awareness, industry people said yesterday.

Dhaka Stock Exchange lost about 5 percent, or Tk 19,626 crore, in market capitalisation so far this month thanks to the banking sector's prolonged liquidity crisis.

Listed ceramic companies saw higher growth in profit last year owing to an increase in demand from the real estate sector and export markets.

Nine banks, which include eight state banks and the trouble-hit Farmers Bank, have failed to meet the minimum regulatory capital needs, in a worrying development for the government.

Bangladesh's current account deficit reached a 15-year high of $5.34 billion in the first seven months of the fiscal year as the country's capacity to export is failing to keep up with the appetite for imports.

The government is planning to raise the development budget for fiscal 2018-19 by about 20 percent, giving emphasis to accelerating the construction works of some flagship infrastructure projects like the Padma bridge, Rooppur power plant, Dhaka metro rail.

Microfinance institutions will have to embrace a technology-based financial system as the existing processes for loan sanction and disbursement will change entirely within the next decade, said Brac Founder Sir Fazle Hasan Abed.

The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) has completed the acquisition of 1,106 acres of land for three special economic zones exclusively for Indian investors.

Hassles over filling up challans or acknowledgement receipts and long waits in queues to deposit associated fees could soon be over as the government yesterday introduced an 'electronic challan management system'.

The Indian authority has initiated an investigation into the import of jute sacking cloth from Bangladesh following allegations that the item was being brought in large quantities to evade the anti-dumping duty (ADD) on jute sacking bags.

IPDC Finance's profit rose 10.7 percent year-on-year to Tk 33.54 crore in 2017 and the local non-bank financial institution announced 20 percent stock dividend for its shareholders.

Local conglomerate Meghna Group of Industries has invested $300 million (about Tk 2,500 crore) to set up eight new factories at its newly-built two economic zones at Meghnaghat in Narayanganj.

A benchmark rate should be put in place in order to evaluate the pricing of various products of the financial market for better management of interest rate risks, analysts said yesterday.

Stock brokers and merchant banks yesterday urged the Bangladesh Bank to reset the banks' capital market exposure and extend the deadline for lowering the loan-deposit ratio with a view to propping up the stockmarket.

A number of Farmers Bank depositors have filed complaints with the Bangladesh Bank after the scam-hit bank failed to repay them Tk 852 crore of deposits citing a liquidity crunch.

Bangladeshi nationals are progressively becoming a target for the tourism board of many countries due to their rise in purchasing power, brought about by the country's solid economic growth for over a decade.