Small investments in the cottage and micro sectors are playing an important role in employment generation and sustainable development of the country, said Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir at a conference.

The government is not keeping a separate allocation for vaccines in the next fiscal year’s budget as it pulls back from vaccine procurement given the high inoculation rate and low infection rates.

The government should focus on restoring macroeconomic stability and providing rations to people who are financially insolvent and in the lower-income tier in the upcoming national budget for fiscal year 2022-23, recommended economists yesterday. 

Envoy Textiles and Sheltech (Pvt) have secured first and second positions of a “National Productivity and Quality Excellence Award-2020” recently in “Large Industries: Textile and RMG” and “Large Industries: Steel and Engineering” categories respectively.  

The government should focus on restoring macroeconomic stability and providing rations to people who are financially insolvent and in the lower-income tier in the upcoming national budget for fiscal year 2022-23, recommended economists today.

Bangladesh produced 60,000 tonnes of tea in 2009, which increased to 96,510 tonnes in 2021, he said.

The leaders of the paper importers and the printing and packaging sectors today called for reducing import duty on papers that are not manufactured in Bangladesh.

ICC Bangladesh strongly endorsed the finance ministry’s recent recommendation to avoid hard loans and discourage the import of luxury goods in order to reduce pressure on declining foreign exchange reserves.

The harvesting of Haribhanga, a variety of mango native to north-western districts such as Rangpur, will begin in the once Monga-stricken region on June 20, according to officials of the local administration.

Foreign assistance disbursement jumped 58 per cent in the current fiscal year’s July-April period thanks to spending for vaccination, one-time budget support and implementation of mega projects, including that of the Russia-funded Rooppur nuclear power plant. 

Mercantile Bank Ltd has targeted sustainable long-term business growth as part of its plans to become the top financial institution in Bangladesh in terms of sustainability, said its top executive.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday introduced a Tk 100 crore refinance scheme for “digital nano loan” disbursements with an aim to expand the financial inclusion of marginalised people.

The Bangladesh Bank yesterday provided a fresh waiver to Padma Bank allowing it to maintain a lower amount of mandatory liquid assets in order to enable the crisis-ridden lender to improve its balance sheet and attract foreign investors.

Bangladesh’s trade deficit shot up 53 per cent year-on-year to $27.5 billion in the July-April period of the current fiscal year as the surge in imports continued against lower export receipts, exceeding last year’s total shortfall.

A staggering 5,25,820 counts of malware infections have been identified in the four telecom operators in the country, according to the Horizon Scanning Report for Bangladesh Telecom Operators prepared by the cyber threat intelligence researchers of Bangladesh e-Government CIRT (Computer Incident Response Team).

Macroeconomic stability has been a hallmark of Bangladesh’s development strategy. This has served the country well, especially in terms of providing a solid enabling environment for the private sector.

Export earnings, the largest source of foreign currencies for Bangladesh, slowed in May reflecting the fall in demand in western economies reeling from the crisis caused by higher inflation, the Russian–Ukraine war and supply chain bottlenecks.

In an effort to stabilise the forex market, Bangladesh Bank has decided to allow the exchange rates of the taka to float against the US dollar for the first time in a decade.

China  “firmly” opposes a new trade initiative between Taiwan and the United States, the Commerce Ministry said on Thursday, a plan the government in Taipei says is a recognition of the key position the island plays in global supply chains.

Stocks and turnover rose at Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) yesterday as general investors’ confidence grew with a recent decision of the stock market regulator to prevent stocks from dropping by over 2 per cent in a day.