The Rohingya refugee crisis is growing quickly and support is needed to help cope with the influx, the World Bank said. World Bank South Asia Region Vice President Annette Dixon praised the Bangladesh government for sheltering and caring for the…
Category: Economy
US govt approaching federal shutdown
The US government is approaching a federal shutdown after the Senate failed to agree on a new budget. It was unclear which way the vote would go as the midnight deadline approached, with Republicans and Democrats split on key issues.…
US shutdown looms: Move to agree stopgap funding
Last-ditch efforts are being made in Washington to prevent a shutdown of the US government. With a Senate vote due shortly before the Friday midnight deadline, Republicans leaders are struggling to gather support to pass a budget bill.
The secret sauce for making the New Urban Agenda a success
Submitted by Luis Triveno , co-authors: Elkin Velasquez Monsalv Modernity’s most common story spanning national, cultural and religious borders is about people moving from rural areas to the cities. By 2030, 80% of the world’s population will be living in…
US Student extends support to accident victim BD student
Rajshahi, 19 Jan – At the benevolence of an American student, a Bangladeshi student Mesbaul Haque gets back his life from his critical condition.
Literacy rate in Bangladesh now 71 pc: Minister
Dhaka, Jan 18 – The country’s literacy rate has risen to 71 percent from 46 percent in 2009, according to statistics placed by Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in Parliament on Thursday.
PPPs likely to undermine public health commitments
By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram Sydney and Kuala Lumpur, Jan 17 (IPS) – The United Nations Agenda 2030 for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is being touted in financial circles as offering huge investment opportunities requiring trillions of…
BDF meet for holistic development of urban services
Speakers at a working session of the two-day Bangladesh Development Forum underscored the need for a holistic and inclusive approach with the coordination of all concerned agencies and stakeholders to improve urban service delivery to help ensure sustainable development. “Coordination…
In defense of economic populism
Populists abhor restraints on the political executive. Since they claim to represent “the people” writ large, they regard limits on their exercise of power as necessarily undermining the popular will. Such constraints can only serve the “enemies of the people”…
BB plans tripartite meeting to strengthen ADR
Bangladesh Bank (BB) is planning to hold a tripartite meeting to find out ways to strengthen the Alternative Dispute Regulation (ADR) system to settle the huge number of cases in the banking sector.
How to rewrite the rules of globalisation
by Joseph Stiglitz How did globalization create such discontent in developed and developing countries alike? Nobel laureate and INET grantee Joseph Stiglitz explains. Stiglitz says that a corporate-driven policy agenda and the distorted economic views bolstering them have deepened inequality…
EU steps up support to address the Rohingya crisis in BD
Dhaka, 17 Jan – The European Union has adopted a new €5 million programme to support the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, aimed at supporting their identification and registration, facilitating the provision of humanitarian support, and ensuring the better protection of…
US to withhold $65m in aid for Palestinian refugees
The United States will give a UN agency $60m in aid for Palestinian refugees but withhold a further $65m for now, the state department said on Tuesday, as the Trump administration carried out a threat it made two weeks ago…
Why Turkey-EU need new partnership
As a new year gets under way in a troubled world, it is timely to fix the ailing EU-Turkey relationship with a new Strategic Partnership. Much lip-service has been paid to Turkey’s “eventual full membership”, but neither Brussels nor Ankara…
Speakers dub SME “root foundation” of country’s economy
Terming the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) as root foundation of country’s economy, speakers at a seminar here stressed the need for more investment to this sector taking the region forward.
PM Hasina opens BD dev forum: Asks for SDGs funding
Dhaka, Jan 17 – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday urged the developed countries to come forward with financial and technical assistance to implement the development goals for achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Hong Kong to host Ocean Summit
A range of speakers will showcase innovative solutions to the global crisis of plastics in our oceans at a landmark Ocean Summit in Hong Kong later this month. As part of the territory’s first ever involvement with the Volvo Ocean…
Instability – not productivity – is the economic problem
by Gerald Holtham There is currently a big debate about productivity growth. Is it as slow as it has been measured or have changes in the economy led to growing measurement errors? If slow growth is real, what causes it?
Bumper potato production likely in Jamalpur
Agriculture Department officials are expecting a bumper production of potatoes in the district during this Robi season.
Import expansion leads to higher trade deficit in BD
Continued expansion of import spending has led to expansion of the trade deficit of Bangladesh in the first five months of the current fiscal year to $7.6 billion.
Economic austerity and outward migration
Since independence in 1991 the Baltic states have implemented neoliberal economic policies with weak social systems and income and wealth distribution that is among the most unequal in the European Union. Among the consequences is large-scale outward migration. At independence…
GDP can witness 10pc growth exploring blue economy: experts
Experts have called for accelerated moves for exploring blue economy saying it could reach the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to a staggering 10 percent growth in one decade with Bangladesh’s now expanded maritime boundary. “If we can properly tap the…
Making migration work for all
The Special Representative to the Secretary General (SRSG) for International Migration, Louise Arbour, has shared her report, Making Migration Work for All.
The psychology of inequality
Researchers find that much of the damage done by being poor comes from feeling poor. By Elizabeth Kolbert In 2016, the highest-paid employee of the State of California was Jim Mora, the head coach of U.C.L.A.’s football team. (He has…
RMG workers get new wage board
The government has formed a new wage board to review the existing wages of the garment industry workers.State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu came up with the information at a press conference at the secretariat on Sunday.Earlier,…
4G tele-netwrok by March this year, says BTRC Chairman
Mentioning that five mobile phone operators have applied for having licences for the 4G mobile phone services, BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood on Sunday hoped that it will be able to roll out the fourth general network by March next.…
Stocks witness sluggish trent
Stocks maintained sluggish trading activities on the both bourses-Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE)-due to selling pressure on Sunday, first day of the week. DSEX, the prime index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), lost 61.42 points or…
Cold spell about to hit agriculture sector hard
The ongoing cold spell has not only hit the people hard, especially the inhabitants of the northern districts, but now it is threatening to damage the crops of the country also. During all past winter seasons the severe cold weather…
US inflation modest in 2017, despite rising retail sales
Healthy retail sales in 2017 are another sign of the growing strength of the US economy, but inflation was slower than expected, according to the latest government data released Friday.
Japan to provide $3 million to Myanmar for Rohingya repatriation
Japanese’s foreign minister on Friday urged Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to guarantee the safe and voluntary return of Rohingya Muslims who have fled violence in troubled Rakhine state. While Foreign Minister Taro Kono is visiting Myanmar, the…