Japanese investors pressed on with their buying on Wednesday, pushing the Nikkei towards a 17th straight gain following another record close on Wall Street, while other Asian markets edged up. A fresh round of strong earnings in New York reinforced…
Category: Economy
Dhaka-Ashulia expressway gets Govt. nod
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) today approved a Taka 16,901.32 crore project for constructing a ‘Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway’. The 24-kilometer Elevated Expressway is aimed to ease traffic congestion in and around capital Dhaka. The approval was…
ADB approves $1.2b for upgrade Dhaka-Northwest Int’l trade corridor
The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Board of Directors has approved $1.2 billion in finance for the second phase upgrade of the Dhaka-Northwest international trade corridor in Bangladesh. “Bangladesh has good prospects of becoming a regional trade hub, if the country’s…
Int’l community pledges $340mn more for Rohingyas in BD
Dhaka, Oct 23 – In addition to the $116 million raised since the beginning of the Rohingya crisis, the international community has now pledged an additional US$340 million to meet the needs of Rohingyas living in Bangladesh. Following the conclusion…
BD finds 700 bcf gas reserve against fast depleting fields
Amid the growing energy crisis, Bapex has discovered a new gas reserve of around 700 billion cubic feet near Shahbazpur in Bhola, raising the overall gas reserve of the area to around one trillion cubic feet. “There’s good news for…
Price fall in large-caps drives stocks down
Stock markets closed the second session of the week on Monday with downward trends due mainly to price fall in large-cap securities. The falling major sectors were food and allied, engineering and textile. A total of 177 securities of the…
EU co-hosting fundraising confce on Rohingya in Geneva
Dhaka – The European Union will co-host the upcoming Pledging Conference on the Rohingya Refugee Crisis, with Kuwait, in Geneva on Monday, in partnership with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the International Organisation for…
US former presidents gather for hurricanes fundraiser
The five living former US presidents have gathered for a concert in aid of victims of the hurricanes which ravaged the US this year. Barack Obama, George W Bush, Bill Clinton, George HW Bush and Jimmy Carter appeared in Texas…
New GE chief vows turnaround after ‘unacceptable’ results
General Electric’s newly-installed chief executive vowed Friday to do whatever it takes to turn around the industrial giant after weak quarterly results initially sent shares plunging. “It’s clear we need to make some major changes,” John Flannery said. “Our results…
Hong Kong stocks bounce in early trade
Hong Kong stocks on Friday recovered some of the previous day’s losses in the first few minutes of trade but Shanghai extended losses that came after data showing a slight easing in Chinese economic growth. The Hang Seng Index rose…
In-bound PayPal service launched
Dhaka – The PM’s ICT adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy said he hoped there would be no more need for hundi or corruption in bringing money into Bangladesh from abroad with the official launch of PayPal’s Xoom services. The son of…
Khaleda complains of ‘harassment in name of trial’
Dhaka, Oct 19 – Terming the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case totally a ‘false, baseless and motivated one’, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Thursday said she has long been subjected to harassment and sufferings in the name of the trial…
Warning for China as US hails India ‘partnership’
The United States vowed Wednesday to work with India in preference to China over the next century to promote a “free and open” Asia-Pacific region led by prosperous democracies. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivered his unexpectedly sharp message to…
‘Co-living’ project takes on London housing crisis
10-storey building may look like a hotel, but it is thought to be the world’s biggest large-scale house-share, offering modest rooms and upscale services for hundreds of young adults caught in London’s housing crisis. The Old Oak building, situated on…
Ending poverty in 13 years means boosting resilience now
UN, Oct 17 (IPS) – This month the world marks two key International Days: for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October and for Disaster Reduction, four days earlier. It is no coincidence that they are profoundly connected. Reducing risks…
Stock record uptrend on Tuesday
Stocks saw upward trend on Tuesday with the major indices of both Dhaka and Chittagong Stock exchanges finishing upward amid higher transactions of some large-cap securities. The rising major sectors were tannery industries, textile and IT sector. A total of…
$500m Green Climate Fund for REDD-plus results-based pay
Delhi, 17 October (Indrajit Bose) — The Board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) has decided to allocate up to USD 500 million for a request for proposals (RFP) for the pilot programme for ‘reducing emissions from deforestation and forest…
S.Korea’s ICT exports hit new record high in September
South Korea’s exports of information and communications technology (ICT) products hit a new record high in September thanks to strong demand for semiconductors, a government report showed Monday. The ICT exports reached 19.26 billion U.S. dollars in September, topping the…
Dhaka rejects Chinese firm’s expressway proposal
Finance Minister Muhith says ‘it’s not necessary at this moment’ Dhaka, Oct 16 – Finance Minister AMA Muhith has rejected the proposal of a Chinese company for implementing the ‘Dhaka Chittagong Expressway Project’, aiming to build a four-lane elevated expressway…
Finding a permanent trustee of Green Climate Fund
Delhi, 16 October (Indrajit Bose) — The Board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) faced a conundrum over the selection process for the permanent trustee of the Fund at its most recent 18th meeting, held in Cairo, Egypt, from 30…
US-world divide spills out at IMF-World Bank meetings
The growing split between the United States and the rest of the world spilled into the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington this week. The US administration showed a diminished view of the Bretton…
Stocks end week down
Stocks ended the week on Thursday downward trend with falling of major indices at Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges. The broader DSEX of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) closed the week with 137.90 points down at 6,064.41. The blue-chip DS30 and…
IMF: ‘Fluid’ situation for banks after Catalan declaration
The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday that the situation for banks in Spain remains unsettled after Catalonia’s declaration of independence from the country. With banks and companies in the economically rich northeastern region hedging their bets over the future of…
Indian traders choking on Modi’s economic medicine
Tax overhauls and black market clampdowns have been touted as radical medicine to modernise India’s economy, but for small traders like Swarn Singh Darera, “Modinomics” has been a bitter pill to swallow. At his factory in the northern Punjab city…
More Swiss efforts must ‘to curb illicit financial flows’
Geneva (Kanaga Raja) – While the Swiss Federal Government has undertaken several efforts and achieved progress in curbing illicit financial flows in recent years, there are several areas in which there is room for improvement in the fields of accountability,…
Global Green Growth Week 2017 to kick off in Addis Ababa
By IPS World Desk Addis Ababa, Oct 9 (IPS) – The Global Green Growth Week 2017 (#GGGWeek2017), in its second year, will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from October 17 – 20 to discuss ways to scale up green…
Hong Kong stocks open slightly higher
Hong Kong shares opened slightly higher on Tuesday after the previous day’s losses but gains were muted following a weak lead from Wall Street. The Hang Seng Index added 0.15 percent, or 41.88 points, to 28,368.47. But the benchmark Shanghai…
Opportunities, costs and risks in digital economy
Geneva (Kanaga Raja) – While the digitalization of economic activities and transactions can help to overcome barriers to more inclusive development, significant divides in the readiness of countries to engage in and benefit from the digital economy enhance the risk…
Nobel for Richard Thaler who made economics human again
Washington, Oct 10 (AP/UNB) — People make poor economic choices. They don’t save enough for retirement. They refuse to cut their losses on plummeting investments because they won’t own up to mistakes. They buy houses and stocks when prices are…
Pay Pal operation in BD from 19 October
Online payment system PayPal will launch operations in Bangladesh on Oct 19, ending a long wait of the country’s freelancers and ICT entrepreneurs. Prime Minister’s ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy will inaugurate the PayPal services at a ceremony at…