The pricing issues caused by new trade restrictions are raising growing concern across Bangladesh’s export sector. And this concern comes not from problems within the country, but from sudden changes in the international trade system.
The stability of Bangladesh’s banking sector is under serious threat, and it’s no longer an abstract issue confined to industry insiders or economists.
Due to my long association with the tea industry, friends often ask me: if tea gardens are not profitable, why do so many people want to own them? More importantly, who skims the milk in our tea value chain?
Despite having spent more than three decades in the financial sector, I faced the real test as a credit officer when I was appointed head of restructuring and recovery at Standard Chartered Bank. This was particularly so during audit, portfolio review and due diligence assignments following the Asian financial meltdown in 1997, in East Africa, Greater China and Europe.
The future of healthcare in Bangladesh depends on whether we can move beyond words and take real action.
The interim government has presented its first national budget, possibly the last under this setup.
Bangladesh is at a traction point in its technology transformation journey, having started later than many global counterparts.
Bangladesh’s stock market had a lackluster year in 2022 after posting double-digit returns for the previous two years. Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSEX), the broad market index of the country, fell 8.1 per cent in 2022, while daily average turnover fell by 35 per cent.
Trade-based money laundering (TBML) is a silent killer that is undermining the very foundations of Bangladesh’s economic growth. As an emerging economy and, more so, an expanding trading nation that is going through LDC graduation, Bangladesh is particularly vulnerable to TBML. This illicit activity is weakening financial institutions, eroding foreign currency reserves, and undermining international trade, leaving the country’s economy in shambles and stakeholders in despair.
2023 is already here and no doubt, the last three years have been rough for Bangladesh. It is almost as though a ship at sea navigating and making its way through rough waters during a storm.
I am grateful to each of the seniors at ANZ, Standard Chartered, Citibank, and for the last eight years at PwC, for trusting me as an important client interface and solution-building person. Almost 35 years of client interface experience is all about what I am today.
In the post-pandemic, Bangladesh recovered reasonably quickly and was seeing encouraging signs that the economy was well poised to return to the pre-Covid growth path.
We have seen the year 2022 to be a year of many experiments for regulators, and more importantly, the local and international private sector.
The beginning of 2022 saw Bangladesh’s economy poised to make a strong recovery from Covid-19 with demand across the world rebounding, supply chain backlogs easing and improving domestic consumption.
As Bangladesh steps into its 51st year of Independence, one cannot help but applaud its inspiring story of growth. Bangladesh has transformed itself from an economic “basket case” into one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
The Bangladeshi startup ecosystem has seen remarkable growth in the past few years with approximately 1,200 active startups across sectors, including fintech, logistics, healthcare, tourism, agriculture and education. In fact, startups like ShopUp, bKash, Pathao, Chaldal, Maya, Shajgoj, and iFarmer have innovated new products and processes to transform the market and have attracted millions of dollars in foreign investments for Bangladesh along with creating thousands of new jobs.
Our professor for reputation and crisis management at Kellogg School of Management told us: “Nothing seems to work during a crisis. People are either confused or panicked all along.”
