Sukanta Halder
Sukanta Halder is a staff reporter of The Daily Star, covering insurance, commodity markets, private sector and consumers.
Sukanta Halder is a staff reporter of The Daily Star, covering insurance, commodity markets, private sector and consumers.
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.
Consumers in Bangladesh have been paying more for potatoes over the past week, with supplies of the tuber harvested in the previous season running low as the new season approaches..Additionally, the high profiteering tendency among a section of people in the supply chain is dealing a furth
Textile makers in Bangladesh are witnessing slow sales ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr due to factors including a drop in demand for women's salwar-kameez amidst a high living cost and a lack of interest among the affluent class to donate clothes as Zakat to avoid hassle.
Some think that the existing supply order (SO) system is one of the reasons for the spike in the prices of essential goods such as sugar and edible oil simply because prices increase each time the document changes hands.
The narrow streets of Old Dhaka’s Moulvibazar hum with activity: commodity trading. On mobile phones, wholesalers fervently follow prices on trading floors in Chicago and London to bet on the local prices of sugar and edible oil. In and around tea stalls in this gloomy corner of Dhaka, even idle chats are centred around the price movement on the London Commodity Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade, and the Bursa Malaysia.
Endowment is the most popular life insurance plan in Bangladesh as it offers a life cover and fixed returns
Traders have urged the government to put an end to extortion during the transportation and sales of essential goods for the greater interest of consumers during Ramadan.
More than 26 lakh insurance policies have lapsed in Bangladesh in the last 14 years owing to a raft of factors including the worsening of financial health of clients, a lack of awareness among them, and agents’ tendency not to explain product features properly while selling them.
Sugar prices have gone up at both the wholesale and retail levels amid hoarding by traders on speculation of reduced supply after the fire incident at S Alam Refinery, one of the largest raw sugar importers and refiners in Bangladesh.
The Mughal Empire restaurant in Mohammadpur of Dhaka wore a quiet look at 7:30pm Monday, normally a peak time. With only four people at one corner eating biryani, it is a stark contrast to the usual gathering of 25-30 people.
The claim settlement rate in the insurance sector of Bangladesh has risen by more than four percentage points within the span of a single year although the ratio has remained far below the global average.
Insurance premium growth decelerated in 2023 as people’s purchasing power eroded amid higher inflationary pressure, despite the sector’s immense potential in a country that has one of the lowest penetration rates in the world.