Regional & International Economy

Bangladesh Bank (BB) today relaxed foreign exchange regulations to facilitate trade transactions in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.

The government plans to transfer Tk 150 billion from the surplus money of the state-owned enterprises or SoEs to the government exchequer during fiscal year 2019-20, finance ministry officials say.

Earlier this year, India restricted palm oil import from Malaysia, world’s second-biggest producer and exporter

The IMF on Friday approved a $520 million loan for Jamaica to help the island nation deal with urgent needs raised by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oil prices crept up on Thursday, supported by a surprise decline of US crude inventories, but gains were capped by worries that a potential second wave of the coronavirus pandemic might trigger fresh lockdowns and slam fuel demand once again.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that the government would provide 20 trillion rupees ($266 billion) in fiscal and monetary measures to support an economy battered by a sweeping weeks-long lockdown to fight the novel coronavirus.

They also proposed increasing budget allocations for health sector to 20% of the budget, social security to 20% and 10-20% for agriculture sector

The assistance package is expected to benefit over 15 million poor and vulnerable people in Bangladesh

US President Donald Trump ordered meat processing plants to stay open to protect the nation’s food supply even as workers got sick and died. Yet the plants have increasingly been exporting to China while US consumers face shortages, a Reuters analysis of government data showed.

Gulf countries United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar have showed interest to import various Bangladeshi products, including food and key essential items, according to a commerce ministry document.