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A staggering nearly 22% of Bangladesh’s total households are grappling with moderate or severe food insecurity, highlighting a concerning trend where one in five households lacks reliable access to sufficient, affordable, and nutritious food. Rangpur division witnesses 29.98 out of 100 households facing food insecurity, with Sylhet emerging as the …

Per capita income of Bangladesh has increased by $643 to $2,765 in the last five years (2019-2023), according to the latest data of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). It was $2,122 in 2019, the first year of the 11th election, while it was only $91 in 1972, shortly after independence. …

Stakeholders including experts on industries and economists underscored the need for diversifying export products to ease dependency on the garment industry and achieve industrial sustainability while economic challenges persist. They also emphasised enhancing workers’ skills, productivity and handling challenges through collective efforts. The observations came at a seminar titled, “Global …

Interest rate against borrowing from banks has surged to 11.89% as the Bangladesh Bank raised the benchmark rate, known as Six-Month Moving Average Rate of Treasury Bill (SMART) for the month of January. The benchmark interest rate in December-end was raised to 8.14% from the previous month’s 7.72% and the …

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a lawsuit against 24 individuals, including a former managing director of the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) and the chairman and the MD of Universal Financial Solutions Ltd. The case was filed as the accused persons mutually embezzled Tk311 crore from asset manager Universal …

About 21.91 per cent of Bangladeshi households are facing moderate food insecurity while 0.83 per cent are severe during the period from January 2022 to December 2023. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) on Sunday revealed this report, the first in the country titled ‘Food Security Statistics 2023’, based on the …

Shipping giant Maersk said on Sunday it was suspending the passage of vessels through a key Red Sea strait for 48 hours, after Yemeni rebels attacked one of its merchant ships. The Maersk Hangzhou, a Singapore-flagged, Denmark-owned and operated container vessel en route from Singapore to Port Suez in Egypt, …

Bangladesh’s economy was beset by enormous challenges in 2023, including soaring inflation and depleting forex reserves, but optimism is in the air with the beginning of the new year as some key indicators are showing signs of improvement. Bangladeshis faced the double whammy of runaway inflation and skyrocketing prices of …

In a significant move towards aligning domestic fuel prices with international benchmarks, the government is set to introduce an automated dynamic fuel-pricing formula this month. This initiative follows a recommendation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to align domestic fuel tariffs with international market rates. State Minister for Power and …

Production of local medicine raw materials, better known as active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), holds huge forex-earning potential but faces a host of headwinds from within, industry-insiders have said. They say the emerging sector has been facing lack of sufficient investment, including bank finance, at a time when it can spread …