Ahsan Habib

Bangladesh’s approach to budgeting for health and education has come under sharp scrutiny, as decades of allocations have primarily gone towards construction. Meanwhile, the core of these sectors, service delivery, has been historically neglected.

Bangladesh’s upcoming national budget, set to be unveiled by the interim government in June, could mark a rare departure from past fiscal cycles.

Listing of Grameenphone on the stock exchange in 2009 had a huge impact as thousands of investors flocked to open beneficiary owner accounts to get shares of the high-performing company through the initial public offering (IPO).

In a rapidly evolving South Asian trade landscape, HBL Bangladesh (Habib Bank) is carving out a bold and purposeful role for itself – not as a competitor in traditional banking, but as a connector of economies and an enabler of regional trade.

Led by Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed, the Bangladesh delegation held a series of meetings with IMF representatives in Washington.

The government has increased the monthly salary for outsourced manpower of state-owned and state-run organisations after around six years by Tk 570 to Tk 1,102 in several cities and categories.

Although stubborn inflationary pressures have worsened the situation of poor people in recent years, public food distribution under various social protection schemes fell by more than 7 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, driven by political instability and dysfunctional local governance.

When a country showcases its potential to attract investors, it should not forget to include its equity market

In the memories of those who grew up before the turn of the millennium, the playground was a second home.

The merged outfit will be called the Silq Group and the strategic merger is backed by a $110 million (about Tk 1,300 crore) funding round

Bangladesh received a record $3.29 billion in remittances in March -- the highest monthly figure to date -- marking a 65 percent year-on-year surge.

Stock investors in Bangladesh are apprehensive about the US hiking import tariffs, a move that could hurt the South Asian nation’s exports and the profitability of export-oriented listed firms.

Bangladesh's stock market has been struggling for several years due to the poor performance of listed firms, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

For years, investors believed that Beacon Pharmaceuticals was an export-driven company, contributing to the country’s economy and increasing its profitability. But beneath the surface, the reality was quite different.

Bangladesh’s education system is failing to produce skilled human resources for industries, leading to rising unemployment among educated youth while industries struggle to find qualified workers, according to economist Selim Jahan.

Bangladesh is set to graduate from the least-developed country (LDC) club next year, which will bring several challenges in international trade.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has sent a letter to the government requesting the appointment of 19 officials with degrees in economics, finance, commerce, accounting, statistics, mathematics, law, and information technology.

Mixed reactions came from different quarters

The chaos surrounding certain demands by a section of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) officials and employees in early March was aimed at protecting stock looters and manipulators exposed in an ongoing investigation, according to initial BSEC findings.

It is a positive sign for investors that directors of several well-known listed firms are purchasing their own shares, believing them to be undervalued amid a lack of buyers.