AM Jahid
Staff Reporter at The Daily Star, Bangladesh #10 years of experience #Expertise: digital and multimedia content production, fact checking, data analysis, social media management, search engine optimization.
Staff Reporter at The Daily Star, Bangladesh #10 years of experience #Expertise: digital and multimedia content production, fact checking, data analysis, social media management, search engine optimization.
Distressed loans at banks totalled over Tk 4.75 lakh crore at the end of 2023 – a revelation that makes for a sobering read of the actual health of this vital sector of the economy.
Referring to the legal provision requiring a 2 percent shareholding in a commercial bank to become a director, Abdul Mannan, chairman of First Security Islami Bank (FSIB), said this has driven away seasoned banking leadership from boardrooms and allowed infamous individuals like S Alam into banking leadership roles.
Beximco has sought support from the government to extend the repayment period of its liabilities to Janata Bank over the next 10 years, including a two-year moratorium.
After a prolonged period of crisis, the foreign exchange market in Bangladesh, especially the interbank forex market, is showing signs of recovery, driven by a rebound in remittance receipts and key policy interventions by the central bank.
The Bangladesh Bank yesterday constituted a new board of directors at IFIC Bank after dissolving the previous board, effectively bringing an end to Salman F Rahman’s grip on the private commercial bank.
The country’s Islamic banking sector registered growth in deposits in June although several Shariah-based lenders are facing widespread scams and irregularities.
Remittances sent by Bangladeshis living abroad soared nearly 39 percent year-on-year to $2.2 billion in August, which is likely to ease pressure on the foreign exchange reserves to some extent.
Orion Pharma Ltd, a pharmaceutical company of Orion Group, has been provided a rescheduling facility on a forced/demand loan by state-run Agrani Bank with special approval from the Bangladesh Bank.
Bangladesh’s macroeconomic performance has significantly improved since the country entered the IMF’s $4.7 billion loan programme in January last year, but the bleeding of foreign currency reserves continues, putting the taka under pressure, the global lender said yesterday.
Exim Bank's profit declined 9.4 percent year-on-year to Tk 337 crore in 2023, according to a disclosure on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) website yesterday.
Only 28.3 percent had an account with a bank or NBFI last year, it showed, increasing from 26.2 percent the year prior.
As middle and low-income segments of society struggle against the backdrop of a severe cost-of-living crisis, the surge in aggregate demand ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr poses a further hurdle for many striving to celebrate the festival.
As the darkness of night made way for the first light of day, a rhythmic hum echoed through the tranquil dawn in Jamalpur like a heartbeat.
BRAC Bank PLC registered a 35 percent increase in profit to Tk 827.50 crore last year thanks to its focus on small and medium enterprises (SME) and technology-based customer services, which added over 3.60 lakh new customers.
The rising price level in Bangladesh has left the middle and low-income segments in a severe cost of living crunch, with inflation hovering above 9 percent since March last year.
The number of shoppers has been increasing since Friday, said brands and retailers. But with about 18 days left until Eid, consumers are yet to start buying clothing items in large quantities, they said.
The gap broadened to 16.06 percentage points in December last year from 3.25 percentage points in the same month in 2019, according to the data.
Shrimps, popularly referred to as “white gold” due to being one of Bangladesh’s most valuable export items, may face significant pressure from competitor nations after the country graduates from Least Developed Country (LDC) status in 2026.