News

The securities regulator has decided to keep unchanged the banks’ ‘full discretion’ regarding cancellation of distributions or payments – to facilitate their capital formation through issuing perpetual bonds. In a letter, sent to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Wednesday, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) said it would waive …

Europeans have been living with euro banknotes and coins for 20 years now, but many still point the finger at the single currency for covertly driving up consumer prices — despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. “The euro is a catastrophe, it’s catastrophic,” says Maria Napolitano, a 65-year-old Italian …

The Bangladesh Bank on Wednesday relaxed the loan classification and provision-related rules for banks against the credit facility issued to the cottage, micro, small and medium entrepreneurs for the outgoing year 2021. The central bank issued two separate notices in this regard on the day, allowing banks to keep CMSME …

Vietnam reported economic growth for 2021 of just 2.58 per cent on Wednesday, beating a 30-year low set last year as the pandemic continues to take a toll. The communist state has long been a success story among Asian economies, posting growth of seven percent in 2019. But shutdowns caused …

A breakthrough has apparently come about in the discord between Bangladesh Bank and the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), with both reaching common grounds over perpetual bonds. The stock market regulator decided to honour a central bank request to lift a condition stipulating that banks cannot stop paying interests …

The purchasing power of a vast majority of the population fell substantially in 2021 as their cost of living far outstripped the income that also grew, but marginally. People, particularly from low- and lower-middle-income groups, have rued that their spending on key essentials and utility and other services increased at …

High level of default loans, failure to implement banking regulations, and limited autonomy for the Bangladesh Bank are the major challenges facing the banking sector today. This prompted a number of former central bank governors and a top businessman yesterday to call for extending greater autonomy to the central bank …

Stocks of Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd (BSCCL) jumped yesterday after the state-run enterprise announced that it is going to issue shares to the government against its investment at a market price instead of face value. BSCCL shares rose 8.81 per cent to Tk 207 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange …

The government is going to build a 660-megawatt gas or liquified natural gas-based power plant in Mirsarai of Chattogram. The cabinet committee on purchase yesterday approved the plant, which will be implemented by the Bangladesh Power Development Board. A consortium of Confidence Power Holdings Ltd, GE Capital US Holding Inc, …

Jewellers have cut the prices of gold by Tk 1,166 per bhori after the prices went up several times this year. Bangladesh Jewellers Samity (Bajus) in a media statement on Tuesday also said the per bhori price of silver will remain unchanged. It said the new rates will be effective …