Current News

Bangladesh Bank-appointed administrators yesterday took charge of five shariah-based banks slated for merger as part of a resolution process aimed at restoring governance and strengthening accountability in the troubled lenders. The five banks are First Security Islami Bank PLC (FSIBL), Social Islami Bank PLC (SIBL), EXIM Bank of Bangladesh PLC, …

The transition to green energy is messy, contradictory and too slow. It’s roughly a decade since 195 countries struck the Paris Agreement, opens new tab at the United Nations’s 21st Conference of the Parties (COP) in France, pledging to hold the average global temperature to “well below 2 degrees Celsius …

Bangladesh spent a record Tk 134,430 crore ($15.7 billion) on interest payments in fiscal year (FY) 2024-25, equivalent to one-fifth of total budget expenditure, according to the latest report from the Finance Division. Remarkably, this nearly matches the allocation for development projects under the Annual Development Programme, which stood at …

Shareholders of five shariah-based troubled lenders, which are being merged into a large Islamic bank, lost hundreds of crores as the central bank announced that the shares now carry no value. Their total loss amounts to around Tk 4,500 crore, representing the face value of the stocks — the value …

The country’s steel sector experienced a 65% jump in operational cost in the last one year due to the appreciation of the US dollar and a rise in utility bills, said Mohammad Jahangir Alam, president of Bangladesh Steel Manufacturers Association (BSMA). The US dollar’s appreciation caused the 40% rise in …

State Minister for Labour and Employment Md Nazrul Islam Chowdhury on Tuesday said a decision has been taken to provide the salary for March and festival bonuses to readymade garment (RMG) workers before the holiday of the holy Eid-ul-Fitr. The decision was taken in a meeting of the tripartite consultative …

The government on Wednesday introduced a new scheme named “Prottoy” under the Universal Pension Scheme (UPS) for newly recruited employees of self-governed, autonomous, state-owned, statutory organisations and their subordinate bodies. In a notification on Wednesday, the Ministry of Finance said the scheme will be effective from 1 July. The new …

On the occasion of holy Eid-ul-Fitr, Bangladesh Bank (BB) will start releasing new notes in the market through banks from 31 March. Common people can exchange new notes till 9 April except on weekends and public holidays. According to the central bank, from 31 March, new notes will be exchanged …

The excess liquidity in the country’s banking sector saw a decrease, falling by 5.38 per cent to Tk 1.54 lakh crore at the end of January compared to December 2023, according to Bangladesh Bank data. This decline follows a pattern of fluctuations, with the volume of excess liquidity at Tk …

The government has decided to buy 8,000 tonnes of lentil at Tk 76.64 crore and 10,000 tonnes of sugar at Tk 160 crore for the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh. The lentil will be purchased from Agrigo Trading Pvt Ltd of Chennai in India at a rate of Tk 100.8 a …