Sukanta Halder

Bangladesh relies heavily on imports of essential food items such as edible oils, lentils, onions, sugar, and spices, which have seen a 5 percent year-on-year price increase.

Despite a decision by the interim government to hike soybean oil prices nearly three weeks back, many kitchen markets across Bangladesh, including the capital Dhaka, are missing an adequate supply of the key cooking ingredient.

As inflation greets Bangladeshis at breakfast time, even the humble paratha becomes a symbol of struggle. Once hearty and filling, it now arrives thinner and lighter -- a daily reminder of the unending calculations between hunger and affordability.

Broiler chicken prices have increased in the capital’s kitchen markets amidst an alleged supply shortage, which traders attributed to a rise in consumption at different events and festivities marking the winter season.

Seventy-year-old Shamsul Haque remembers how clean the Balutikar canal was when he moved to Kallagram village in Sylhet 20 years ago.

In the 1990s, Dhanmondi was just another quiet neighborhood in Dhaka, with the occasional tinny tinkle of rickshaws on Satmasjid Road. If you craved something to renew your taste buds, Bailey Road, Gulshan, or Banani were the places to go.

The Beximco Group has laid off nearly 40,000 workers across its 15 apparel units, citing a lack of work orders for its export-oriented garment and textile factories in Dhaka’s outskirts of Gazipur.

Bangladesh has been exporting agro-processed foods for over three decades, but the sector has not grown much and still remains highly concentrated within a few countries where Bangladeshi diasporas are the primary buyers. 

Non-life insurance companies in Bangladesh have settled just 10 percent of claims in the first nine months of this year, as per data of the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA).

Many consumers said they are still not getting bottled soybean oil in kitchen markets in various parts of the country including Dhaka despite the government allowing refiners to hike prices of the essential cooking ingredient two days ago.

Retailers of branded apparel, shoes and cosmetics in Bangladesh got a fairly good response from customers upon offering discounts and cashback on Black Friday amid high inflationary pressure and political uncertainty in the country.

The interim government has reduced taxes and duties on soybean and palm oil to lower prices amid high inflation but this has not helped raise imports. Instead, there is a shortage of bottled edible oil in the markets.

Life insurers in Bangladesh saw some 3.47 lakh policies discontinued in the January-September period this year amid worsening financial health of clients, political changeover and repeated flooding devastating lives and livelihoods in vast areas of the country.

Potato cultivation has increased across Bangladesh as farmers have been getting higher prices year-round amid elevated inflation in the country.

In the bustling area of Mirpur-10 in the capital, over 300 people gathered early Monday morning, hoping to buy subsidised essentialsthat serve as a lifeline for low-income families.

The interim government of Bangladesh has allowed 277 private entities to import 14.81 lakh tonnes of rice as it looks to contain domestic prices of the staple grain by increasing stocks..Of the total, 10.65 lakh tonnes will be boiled rice while the rest will be sunned rice, according to do

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Bangladesh are struggling due to political uncertainty, high inflation and rising interest rates on bank loans, according to entrepreneurs.

When prices of widely consumed staples like potatoes, edible oil, sugar or onions spike and remain inflated for extended periods, it understandably hits the poor and low-income people where it hurts the most: in their wallet.

Bangladesh’s tea exports have hit the highest mark in the last seven years as competitive pricing provided an edge over major exporters like India and Sri Lanka.

One-fourth of the life insurance firms in the country are plagued with financial irregularities and mismanagement that have put the entire industry in danger.