Rejaul Karim Byron

After the sudden drop in Bangladesh’s official foreign exchange reserves on July 13, another rude shock awaits: as per IMF conditions, the banking sector’s distressed assets will be published, in what would make for a grim reading about the industry’s health.

The private sector’s shrinking appetite for foreign loans is likely to put further pressure on the country’s strained dollar stockpile, according to bankers and experts.

The government is going to undertake a project under which modern urban facilities will reach 15 villages under 15 upazilas of as many districts.

CAG audit finds

The BSCIC suffered a loss of Tk 25.32 crore in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 as it did not realise dues related to service charges and lease money from a number of plot owners in several industrial estates, according to an audit report.

Most of the projects in the power sector are not completed on time, with some seeing as much as 300 percent cost overruns, said a recent report of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED).

The finance ministry has prepared a draft rule for the Universal Pension Scheme (UPS) delineating four separate schemes for both local and non-resident Bangladeshis.

Says IMED in a report on the power sector

In 2012, the government took on a Tk 541 crore project to convert 8,500 post offices in rural areas to e-centres for the communities.

The government has formed a two-member National Pension Authority (NPA) to execute the Universal Pension Scheme formulated to provide pension services for the common people.

Average inflation in Bangladesh surpassed the government’s target for the just-concluded fiscal year by a large margin as higher prices of goods and services continue to linger for the economic crisis at home and abroad.  

The private sector’s external debt declined by about $2 billion in the first three months of the year, in a sign of the shrinking appetite for foreign loans in the face of unfavourable terms.

State-owned Janata Bank indulged in 31 counts of “serious financial irregularities” from 2015 to 2020 involving Tk 13,110.8 crore, which is 22.85 percent of the lender’s liabilities, found a recent audit.

On June 26, 2013, the state-owned Essential Drugs Company (EDCL) acquired a drug production machine. Let alone use it, the state-owned company did not even unbox it for the next seven years.

The government has suffered losses amounting to Tk 459 crore thanks to irregularities at different public healthcare institutions, found four different compliance audit reports.

For the first time, no one took the opportunity to whiten black money to avail the government’s tax amnesty in the outgoing fiscal year.

Funds deposited by Bangladeshi citizens and banks with Swiss banks dropped 93.7 percent to 55.3 million Swiss francs (CHF) last year on the back of the pressure on the country’s foreign currency reserves.

The government is set to distribute 10 kilograms of rice to each of the 1.25 crore ultra-poor and destitute families ahead of Eid-ul-Azha to soften the blow of a spiralling inflation.

Amid a cost of living crisis, providing cash support to the poor and endeavouring to tame inflation would be the logical actions. But the government is not toeing that line.

The government’s bid to pay off Russia’s dues -- of about $330 million -- for the Rooppur power plant using the Chinese yuan has run into fresh complications after the last round of sanctions by the US on Russia.