The government should take immediate steps to protect the poor and low-income groups as it is set to impose fresh lockdowns to curb the spread of coronavirus infections, economists said yesterday.

If banks remain open during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the stockmarket will also remain open then for the sake of the investors, said Shafiqur Rahman, deputy general manager of the Dhaka Stock Exchange.

Arif Khan has recently joined Shanta Asset Management Ltd as vice chairman.

Some Bangladeshi organisations running Microsoft Exchange mail servers have been compromised by cyberattacks, says the e-Government Computer Incident Response Team (BGD e-GOV CIRT) in an advisory.

The blockage of the Suez Canal is likely to lead to large reinsurance claims, adding to upward pressure on marine reinsurance rates, James Vickers, chair of reinsurance broker Willis Re International, told Reuters.

Major Japanese manufacturers are feeling optimistic for the first time since the pandemic began, a key survey showed Thursday, marking a further improvement after business confidence plunged last year.

Boeing Co urged the United States on Wednesday to keep human rights and other disputes separate from trade relations with Beijing, and warned European rival Airbus would gain if the US planemaker were locked out of China.

Pakistan’s cabinet on Thursday put on hold a decision made by the country’s top economic decision-making body to allow imports of cotton and sugar from neighbouring India until Delhi reviews its 2019 move to revoke the Kashmir region’s special status, the foreign minister said.

Joe Biden will almost certainly be the last US president born as a member of the “silent generation” demographic group who were children during World War Two, came of age in an economic boom that built middle class wealth, and cemented the role of the United States as the world’s leading industrial power.

After a year of getting hammered by the pandemic, a semiconductor shortage and storms that snarled Dana Inc’s global supply chain, the auto parts maker is reaching for a new playbook.

Remittances sent by migrant workers and non-resident Bangladeshis rose 35 per cent year-on-year in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, hitting $18.60 billion in total.

Sunflower cultivation in Sylhet’s haor areas has helped thousands of farmers secure financial solvency as they successfully made good use of the abandoned lands.

The lower price of apparel items shipped from Bangladesh and the lower volume of orders due to the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic are two major challenges for the garment industry, said ABM Shamsuddin, the panel leader of the Forum.

Securing liquidity support from the banking system is important for the survival of the garment industry as exporters have been facing a cash crunch for more than a year after Covid-19 caused shipments to crash, said Faruque Hassan, the panel leader of Sammilita Parishad.

Economist Binayak Sen yesterday became the director general at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co said on Tuesday it plans to temporarily suspend production at its Ulsan No.1 plant in South Korea due to chip and component supply issues from April 7-14. “We are closely monitoring the situation to take prompt and necessary measures and optimize production in line with the supply conditions,” Hyundai said in a statement.

The banking watchdog has ordered lenders to immediately introduce alternate-day duty rosters for their workforce in order to cope with the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Share offerings in fossil fuel producing and related companies lost $123 billion in the last decade, underperforming a baseline world equities index by 52 per cent, according to analysis released Wednesday.

Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) seeking better returns than those of banks can invest in specialised bonds offered by the government and initial public offerings (IPO) of the stock market.

Md Anisur Rahman yesterday joined state-owned BASIC Bank as managing director and CEO for a three-year term.