Rejaul Karim Byron

When war in the Middle East sent fuel prices climbing, Bangladesh looked like an obvious casualty. An import-dependent economy with a thin reserve cushion and a recent history of dollar shortages had every reason to buckle. It has not.

After approving a long-term deal to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a US-based firm, the government yesterday decided to import at least 18 LNG cargoes from France’s TotalEnergies over the next nine months under a direct purchase arrangement.

The MRT-5 southern route is finally getting a move on, with the project set to be placed before the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) next week for approval.

Sharmin Begum, who lives in Barguna’s Patharghata upazila, may have done little to contribute to global warming, but she is suffering severely from its adverse impacts.

The escalating conflict in the Middle East threatens to nearly triple Bangladesh’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) subsidy bill to Tk 40,000 crore ($3.3 billion) this fiscal year, forcing the government to turn to multilateral lenders for additional assistance.

Bangladesh is paying its highest spot price for liquefied natural gas (LNG) since the onset of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, approving a cargo at over $28 per unit as geopolitical supply shocks and domestic infrastructure failures converge to create a severe energy crisis.

The government yesterday approved the largest pay hike for civil service since independence, doubling the basic salary of top officials and raising the lowest pay by a record 142 percent.

US war on Iran could cause a 30% price hike this year