State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has urged the officials of the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) to introduce a smart management system in their power grid as part of the government’s goal to build a Smart Bangladesh. “Developing human resource and technology-friendly people can …
Read More »RMG workers get half of minimum living wage: study
Bangladesh’s readymade garment workers are receiving monthly wages on average 50 per cent lower than the minimum living wages, according to a study conducted by South Asian Network on Economic Modeling and the Microfinance Opportunities. The report released on Sunday said that workers had been increasingly relying on overtime and …
Read More »BB rolls out Tk 10,000cr export facilitation fund
Bangladesh Bank yesterday rolled out an export facilitation fund of Tk 10,000 crore in order to help exporters gear up their businesses. An exporter will be allowed to take a loan of a maximum of Tk 200 crore from the fund, which is a pre-finance scheme by nature. Under the …
Read More »Pvt sector foreign debt sees first fall since 2020
For the first time since December 2020, private sector borrowing from external sources declined as the appetite among firms eroded for increased borrowing costs. Firms’ total external debt dropped 2 per cent to $25.4 billion at the end of September 2022 from 25.95 billion in June. At the same time, …
Read More »Remittance flat at $22b despite record worker outflow
Bangladesh received $22.07 billion in remittance in 2022, almost unchanged from a year earlier, although a record number of workers went abroad for jobs in the just-concluding year, Bangladesh Bank data showed yesterday. It was 3.67 per cent higher than the $21.29 billion flown to the country in 2021. It …
Read More »Pay at least production cost to get smooth supply of power, gas
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday asked businesspeople and industrialists in Bangladesh to at least pay the cost of generating and procuring electricity and gas if they want to avail an uninterrupted supply of energy. “If you want uninterrupted electricity and gas, then you have to at least pay the production …
Read More »Reduced VAT on edible oil to continue for a while
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) may retain a VAT reduction of 5 per cent on edible oil for four more months to April 30 so that consumers do not feel the burden of the indirect tax on prices, said a senior official yesterday. “We are working to keep the …
Read More »Mung bean cultivation expanding in Patuakhali
Idris Ali, a farmer of Kartikpasha village in Patuakhali’s Dumki upazila, has been cultivating mung beans after harvesting Aman paddy for about 20 years now. At first, he would grow mung beans, known as moong daal in Bangladesh, simply to meet the needs of his own family. But after seeing …
Read More »Exports hit single month historic high in December
The earning from merchandise export in December grew by 9.33 per cent year-on-year to $5.37 billion, a single month historic high of Bangladesh. The previous earning record was $5.09 billion in November last year. However, the December earning is 1.03 per cent below the target of $5.42 billion, according to …
Read More »Bangladesh’s economy continues to grow in 2022 despite challenges
The year 2022 saw the economy recover and rise again. We showed our fortitude and turned around in spite of all the difficulties brought on by the largest crisis of the century, Covid-19. Due to the advanced economies’ looming recession and the fact that our economy hasn’t yet fully recovered …
Read More »