The local currency of Bangladesh fell by Tk 2.05 in the last two days in its value to Tk 91.95 against the US dollar.

Shares on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) opened higher today.

About 85 per cent of the local and Japanese companies with operations in both nations want their respective governments to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) so that they can continue enjoying duty benefits after Bangladesh graduates from the UN’s list of least developed countries in 2026, according to a survey.

Rokeya (pseudonym), a hearing-impaired woman who is facing mental illness, was advised by her doctor to take psychotherapy for six months.

Default loans in the banking sector surged 19.3 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022 to reach one of the highest levels in Bangladesh’s history, driven by the withdrawal of the relaxed loan classification policy.

Policymakers will find it tough to bring some sort of a balance between targets to ensure economic growth while containing inflation in the next fiscal year, economist Zahid Hussain said yesterday.

The trade licence issuance process needs to be simplified and moved online while simplification of the bank loan process is also needed to help boost women owned businesses, according to a report by Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD).

Parking money in banks is no longer attractive as surging inflation is eating away 2.2 per cent of savings in real terms, effectively discouraging depositors, states an analysis of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD). 

Eastern Bank Ltd (EBL) has reappointed Ali Reza Iftekhar as its managing director and chief executive officer for a fifth term until his retirement on April 18, 2026.

Shares on the Dhaka Stock Exchange rose for the seventh consecutive day yesterday amid renewed buying spree among general investors after the volatility in the foreign exchange regime lessened following the government’s move to float the local currency.

Some listed companies do not regularly publish their financial data on their website and so, investors struggle to analyse and take decisions, said Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed, a commissioner of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC).

The overall default loans stood at Tk 113,441 crore as of March this year, up 19.30 per cent year-on-year and 9.84 per cent up from the three months ago period.

Some listed companies do not publish data on their website properly, causing suffering to investors in analysing and taking decisions, said Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed, a commissioner of the stock market regulator.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) closed higher today following a significant recovery by the key index throughout last week.

Exporters in Bangladesh raked in more than $1 billion in the shipment of leather, leather goods and footwear in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year despite a slowdown in May owing to supply chain disruptions and the fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war, official figures showed.

In the wake of surging production costs resulting from high feed prices, the appetite for farming to produce chicken meat is waning among farmers as the demand for chicks declined, poultry industry operators said yesterday.

I became fully aware of the environmental challenges that we face when I visited Boracay Island in the Philippines a few years ago. The amazing picturesque beaches with white sand and blue lagoons were disturbed by the over-interest of tourists like me.

The government has set an inflation target of 5.5 per cent for the next fiscal year although the prices of basic commodities are sitting at elevated levels for higher commodities prices globally amid lingering supply chain disruptions and the Russia-Ukraine war.

The government will reprioritise 1,800 projects currently being implemented in different sectors to reduce pressure on the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves and stymie volatility in the economy, said Planning Minister MA Mannan yesterday. 

Coronavirus infections have declined significantly. But the world is yet to fully recover from the health crisis. Recently, the war in Ukraine has created worries of a global food crisis and fears of a recession in major economies as inflation rages.