Rejaul Karim Byron

Amid the soaring cost of agricultural labour, the government is going to launch a project worth Tk 415 crore to give subsidy to the farmers for buying agricultural machinery so that they can harvest crops at a reduced cost.

Dhaka and Delhi signed seven MoUs during the prime minister’s visit to India early last month. Some of those raised questions in the public mind. Rejaul Karim Byron and Porimol Palma have recently sat with Dr Mashiur Rahman, prime minister’s adviser on economic affairs, to learn the details.

India has been working strategically to connect its north-eastern region with the rest of the country through Bangladesh since Dhaka agreed to give New Delhi the privilege nine years back.

The Bangladesh-China joint working group will sit for its first meeting next week, incorporating a new agenda centring Beijing’s interest in investment and trade, to devise ways for expediting implementation of China-funded projects.

Japan has come up with more than two dozen proposals, including tax benefits and a cut in motorcycle registration fee, as it looks to boost its investment in Bangladesh.

Japan has sought competitive incentives and long-term policies to ensure the viability of businesses of its investors who are eyeing expansion in Bangladesh.

A $19 million taka-denominated bond is set to make its debut on the London Stock Exchange today, in a landmark moment for the country.

The estimated cost of constructing a third terminal at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport has been increased by 40 percent. It is now a Tk-20,598 crore project.

The government is set to take up another project involving Tk 3,449 crore to enhance the security of the country’s first nuclear power plant in Rooppur.

As recently as five years ago, Sobhan Ali Howlader, a native of Kalapara upazila of Patuakhali district, would barely make ends meet by catching fish at the nearby Andharmanik river.

People’s wait for the Padma bridge is going to get longer as the authorities now seek to extend the deadline for one and a half years.

A $1 billion taka-linked bond is set to be floated on the London Stock Exchange on November 11 as the government looks to mobilise the hordes of expatriate Bangladeshis the world over towards nation building and also draw in foreign investors.

As many as 59.57 percent of the businesses in a recent government survey complained of market imperfection as the prime obstacle for them to thrive.

A project by the health ministry to establish a national institute for laboratory medicine, that was approved in 2010 with a three-year deadline, will be up for approval for a fifth time extension at today’s meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec).

With much pomp and circumstances, Xi Jinping in October 2016 arrived in Bangladesh, the first visit by a Chinese president in 30 years.

Most of the poor people in urban areas remain deprived of the government’s social protection benefits. Only 17.84 percent of the poor people living in towns and cities receive support from social safety schemes, whereas 35.77 percent of the poor people in rural areas get the benefits, according to a World Bank report.

Construction work on two more metro rail lines will begin soon as the government aims to reduce traffic congestion and pollution in the capital.

For nearly two years, Raushan Mahmud has been working as a cashier at a firm that produces garment accessories in Gazipur.

The finance ministry has released Tk 1,530 crore in cash subsidies for remitters for the first two quarters of the current fiscal year as part of a government move to encourage remittance through official channels.

The government has decided to consider foreign loans as hard-term ones if the grant element is less than 25 percent, down from the 35 percent it currently takes into account, in a reflection of the country’s growing economic power.