Rejaul Karim Byron

Most operators are back behind the machines, so are the small traders, private service holders, vendors and domestic helps.

Bangladesh is gunning to become a half-a-trillion-dollar economy next fiscal year buoyed by a successful vaccination campaign and a steady growth in agriculture and industry.

Consumers in Bangladesh were squeezed further in November as inflation kept rising, driven mainly by non-food inflation as the impacts of last month’s hike of diesel and kerosene prices are taking a hold.

Consumers in Bangladesh were squeezed further in November as inflation kept rising, driven mainly by non-food inflation as the impacts of last month’s hike of diesel and kerosene prices are taking a hold.

The budget for the current fiscal year is set to be slashed by 1.6 per cent in the revised one because of lower development expenditure, with the cut being marginal for healthy revenue collection and higher subsidy spending.

The government plans to raise its economic growth target to 7.5 per cent for the next fiscal year, banking on the recovery of business activities and rising export earnings.

The government is procuring around 20 million Covid-19 vaccine doses from China, using funds given by the Asian Development Bank, under bilateral arrangements.

Bangladesh’s immediate challenge is accelerating the Covid-19 vaccination programme to cover the targeted 80 percent of the population, said a World Bank official.

The finance ministry has warned relevant government bodies that new projects will not be included in the revised annual development programme (RADP) for the current fiscal year if their details are not sent to the Planning Commission by January 2022.

With the much-talked about Padma bridge project nearing completion as only 11 per cent of the construction work remains, the authorities concerned hope to complete the project within the deadline by June next year.

Just 1 percent of Bangladesh’s population holds 16.3 percent of the total national income in 2021 and the bottom half 17.1 percent, according to a report -- making it a quintessence of poor and unequal country.

The government yesterday gave a big push to its renewable energy and waste-based power generation drive as it approved five projects with a combined electricity production capacity of 223.5 megawatts.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) yesterday approved 10 development projects, half of which were revisions.

The government is set to extend the duration and budget for constructing 560 model mosques-cum-Islamic cultural centres all over the country for the second time by another three years.

The government is undertaking a mega project worth Tk 2,541 crore to create an enabling environment for the digital economy as it gears up for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The government is set to introduce an innovative financing model under a new law to enable small businesses and startups to show their moveable assets as collateral with a view to nurturing entrepreneurs and helping them secure loans.

Inflation jumped to a 12-month high in October as elevated levels of commodity costs in the international markets translated into higher consumer prices in Bangladesh, official figures showed yesterday.

Tourism’s contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated at 3.02 per cent by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

The government is set to undertake a nearly Tk 3,500-crore project to construct an 11-kilometre elevated road over haors in Kishoreganj to connect the northeastern backwater to the mainland.

The outlay for Matarbari coal-fired power plant, one of the mega-projects of the government, is set to increase by 44.1 percent to Tk 51,854.9 crore following the decision to expand the channel to bring in coal.