The central bank governor projects cooling the red-hot inflation, which has hovered above 9 percent since March last year, to 7 percent by June next year.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has become the first among multilateral and bilateral lenders to respond to the interim government's call for budgetary support, approving $600 million aimed at easing pressure on foreign exchange reserves and accelerating economic recovery.
Bangladesh’s national budget for fiscal year 2024-25 is likely to be reduced by more than Tk 50,000 crore, with the entire cut expected to be made in funds meant for the annual development programme (ADP).
Bangladesh, mired in data fog, has “sleepwalked” into the middle-income trap according to the white paper on the state of the country’s economy.
Distressed assets in the banking sector have reached a whooping Tk 6,75,030 crore, an amount bigger than the cost of building 22 bridges across the Padma or 13.5 metro rail systems in Dhaka, according to a White Paper released yesterday.
Despite rising interest rates on deposits and various efforts by the central bank, Bangladesh’s banking sector continues to face a liquidity crisis that has hamstrung some lenders.
Moody’s has downgraded Bangladesh’s banking sector to “very weak” from “weak”, citing worsening client confidence, limited transparency and inadequate financial safeguards over the past year.
When most non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) in Bangladesh are in hot water with high ratios of non-performing loan (NPL), a handful have been successfully able to keep the rate low.
S Alam Group and its associate companies took out Tk 95,331 crore between 2017 and June this year from six banks, with 79 percent of the sum coming from Islami Bank.
As much as 90 percent of the loans disbursed by a branch of state-run Janata Bank was for S Alam Group, in yet another instance of how the Chattogram-based business giant exerted its influence on the country’s banking sector.
The interim government should prepare a white paper on the economy and identify sectors that require immediate attention, according to Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, an eminent economist and public policy analyst.
Loans amounting to nearly $600 million, or Tk 7,000 crore, disbursed from the Export Development Fund (EDF), which was formed based on the country’s foreign exchange reserves, have been defaulted, according to a Bangladesh Bank (BB) document.
Businesses in Bangladesh, especially those that mostly deal with cash transactions, yesterday said they are contending with a liquidity crunch as the country’s central bank has placed a limit on daily cash withdrawals from banks.
People’s sufferings due to cash shortages have intensified as most ATM booths started running dry nearly a week ago in Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh Bank has incurred a loss of Tk 55 crore from its foreign exchange deal with Islami Bank centring the introduction of the crawling peg exchange rate system.
Nasir Hossain, a resident of the capital’s Dhanmondi area, had to urgently buy daily necessities as he had not gone to the market for the past few days in the wake of the deadly protests that forced Sheikh Hasina to resign from her post as prime minister.
Although banks reopened yesterday, a day after prime minister Sheikh Hasina handed in her resignation, overall activities including financial transactions were affected due to security concerns among lenders and clients.
“Brother, please take at least four bananas. If not, my family will have to go without food. They are already starving,” said Shukkur Ali while pleading with this reporter to make a purchase.
