Value Added Tax (VAT) has been introduced in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for the first time. The 5% levy is being applied to the majority of goods and services. Gulf states have long attracted foreign workers with…
Category: Finance
Millennials to enjoy ‘inheritance boom’
Millennials will enjoy the biggest “inheritance boom” of any post-war generation, but it will be too late to solve housing struggles and wealth inequality, a UK report says. Those who have parents and grandparents in the “baby boomer” generation will…
Remittance income marks fall in 2017
Although the country witnessed the highest number of labour migration in Bangladesh’s history in 2017, its remittance inflow has marked a 0.89 percent fall compared to previous year, says a report. The report, prepared by the Refugee and Migratory Movements…
Lafarge to buy Holcim for Taka 5 billion
Lafarge Surma Cement announced Sunday that it has approved a plan for the acquisition of Holcim Bangladesh at a price previously set by Bangladesh Bank. Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) was informed by Lafarge about this approval on Sunday, said the…
One million BD migrant workers get jobs abroad in ’17
Dhaka – Bangladeshi workers going on jobs abroad are expected to exceed one million (10 lakh) this year and it would the highest ever number in a year in the expatriate sector in the country, said minister for expatriates’ welfare…
Money talks at One Planet Summit in Paris
By Paris Correspondent Paris, Dec 14 (IPS) – As funding to combat climate change has lagged behind lofty words, the One Planet Summit in France this week invited governments and business leaders to put money on the table.
Riyadh unveils $19.2bn stimulus package for pvt sector
Saudi Arabia has unveiled a SAR72bn ($19.2bn) stimulus package to boost the private sector in 2018. The plans form part of a four-year stimulus programme announced last year. They include 17 different initiatives the government hopes will create direct and…
WTO Ministerial Confce-11 collapses as US blocks outcomes
Buenos Aires, 14 Dec (D. Ravi Kanth) – The World Trade Organization’s eleventh ministerial conference (MC11) collapsed here on Wednesday like a house of cards, after the United States single-handedly blocked outcomes on mandated decisions and the draft ministerial declaration,…
Fungi-resistant potato to save farmers Tk. 100 cr. a year
Dhaka, Dec 13 – Each year farmers in Bangladesh grow close to 10 million tonnes of potato, well surpassing the domestic demand of the tuber crop and export the surplus to 20 countries. But to save the prime vegetable from…
Non-State Actors reaffirm 13 priority proposals on climate finance
On the eve of the One Planet Summit, non-state actors on climate reaffirm their 13 priority proposals on access to climate finance.
PM leaves for Paris to attend ‘One Planet Summit
Dhaka, Dec 11 – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka for Paris on Monday morning on a three-day official visit to attend ‘One Planet Summit’.
Obaidul says corruption of Zia family already proved
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Saturday said the corruption of Zia family, including Khaleda Zia and Tareque Rahman, has already been proved and there is no need to prove it again. At a press conference at party president…
BNP wants PM say sorry for ‘fabricted’ stance on Khaleda
Dhaka, Dec 8 – The BNP on Friday accused Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of providing ‘false and fabricated’ information about party chairperson Khaleda Zia and her family members’ assets in Saudi Arabia and threatened to take a legal step against…
From global poverty to exclusion and despair
By Prof Michel Chossudovsky “The Sociology of Justice”, which is the timely theme of The Philippine Sociological Society’s 2017 National conference at UP Cebu must be understood in relation to an unfolding New World Order which destroys sovereign countries through…
World food import bill set to rise this year, says FAO
Geneva (Kanaga Raja) – The cost of importing food globally is set to reach USD 1.413 trillion in 2017, representing a 6 percent or USD 86 billion rise from last year, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United…
Khaleda gets bail, finishes self-defence in graft case
Dhaka Dec, 5 – After securing bail from the lower court in two graft cases, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Tuesday concluded her self-defence statements in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.
Unicef tackling ‘disconnect’ with evidence tool
Unicef has been testing an evidence-mapping tool to bridge a “big disconnect” between its activities and the evidence behind them, according to Kerry Albright, chief of Research Facilitation and Knowledge Management at the UN agency’s Office of Research-Innocenti.
One-third of $434m fund for Rohingyas raised so far
Dhaka, Dec 4 – Only 34 percent of the $434 million needed to provide assistance to 1.2 million people, including host communities in Cox’s Bazar district, has been raised when Rohingyas are still suffering from various problems, says a new…
Climate finance: Waiting for the first EU $ from committed 100b
Listening to Europe speak in Bonn, Germany during the recent conference on how to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change, it is possible to be get carried away thinking, nay believing, that the global response is well underway. But…
‘Illegal mobile banking transactions create risks’
Former Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor Ibrahim Khaled agrees with former Governor Mohammed Farashuddin’s view that mobile banking is giving rise to corruption, bdnews24.com reported on Monday.
UK ministers to launch post-Brexit economy plan
The government’s plan to boost UK industry ahead of the country leaving the EU is due to be launched later. The industrial strategy is aimed at lifting growth, which official forecasts suggest will slow due to the UK’s poor productivity…
Wrangling on addressing ex-ante information on public finance
Penang, 23 Nov (TWN) — Developed countries’ reluctance to address the modalities for the ex-ante information on public financial resources to be provided to developing countries referred to in Article 9.5 of the Paris Agreement (PA) delayed the closing of…
Developing nations welcome COP23 decisions, worry over finance
Kuala Lumpur, 21 Nov (Jade Chiang and Meena Raman) – Despite the delayed ending of the climate talks at Bonn by nearly a day, developing countries, in welcoming some key decisions adopted at COP 23, also emphatically registered their unhappiness…
Cash transfers in Benin: A response to child trafficking
Za-Kpota, November ‒ The commune of Za-Kpota, in central Benin, has long had the unfortunate reputation of serving as the support base for child trafficking to Nigeria, where the children are exploited for cheap labour in the Abeokuta stone quarries…
$82 million for Pak Poverty Graduation Program: IFAD
Rome, 14 Nov – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of Pakistan have signed an agreement today to improve livelihoods, living conditions and income-generating capacity for 320,000 poor rural households in Pakistan. The programme will be…
Neoliberalism and the New World Order. IMF-World Bank “Reforms”
By Prof Michel Chossudovsky Global financial warfare as outlined in professor Chossudovsky’s writings. Wall Street Behind Brazil Coup d Etat; The role played by the IMF and World Bank in the economies of debtor nations, The Real Plan in Brazil,…
84 families get ‘Kar Bahadur Paribar’ award
National Board of Revenue (NBR) gave ‘Kar Bahadur Paribar’ award to 84 families and ‘Tax Card’ to 141 individuals and organizations to encourage people to pay tax. Finance minister AMA Muhith and state minister for finance and planning MA Mannan…
Asia is leading a recovery in world trade
Asia and the Pacific is leading a recovery in world trade amid the continued uncertainty surrounding the global trade policy environment. This year’s Asian Economic Integration Report introduces a new composite index to gauge the progress of regional cooperation and…
Dhaka to mobilise fund for fighting climate change
Bangladesh will raise its voice at the Conference of the Parties (COP-23) to mount pressure on the global communities to make them extend financial and technical supports to the developing countries for coping with the negative impacts of global climate…
Mounting illicit financial outflows from South
By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Zera Zuryana Idris Kuala Lumpur, Oct 31 (IPS) – Although quite selective, targeted, edited and carefully managed, last year’s Panama Papers highlighted some problems associated with illicit financial flows, such as tax evasion and avoidance.…