Where are we heading?
By bringing down a despotic leviathan, the anti-discrimination student movement has earned the moral authority to be spokespersons for the whole nation
3m ago
Rebooting the economy
The crackdown on the nonviolent uprise of the students and the subsequent one thing leading to another chain of events locked down the economy, only figuratively reminiscent of the pandemic in 2020
3m ago
Not much beyond lip service
In their Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) for the first half of FY25, Bangladesh Bank (BB) has stuck to the policy stance already in place.
4m ago
Not much beyond lip service
Let’s begin with the central question to gauge what more this MPS could have done to increase the potency of monetary policy in restoring macro-financial stability.
4m ago
Export data correction was long overdue
Bangladesh Bank’s latest data on the balance of payments has remarkably altered the narrative on the drivers of external stress without changing the signal on the overall stress.
4m ago
Making sense of revisions in balance of payments
Bangladesh Bank's latest data on the balance of payments has remarkably altered the narrative on the drivers of external stress without changing the signal on the overall stress. The bottom line on persistent external imbalance remains pretty much the same but the composition is palpably different
4m ago
A post-election defining moment
The economy has been in a rough patch since 2022 like never before in the past decade and a half
5m ago
Fifty years of learning from rises and slips in the Bangladesh economy
We are hubristically living through our ecological implosion.
7m ago
May 15, 2022
Pressure on foreign exchange market likely to continue
The current inflationary pressures are attributable largely to the rise in international commodity prices and the exchange rate depreciation, albeit to a relatively smaller extent. The latest data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics show there was a spike in domestic consumption demand as well.
May 11, 2022
Prosperity without clarity
The growth estimate for fiscal 2021-22 appears directionally consistent with the high-frequency growth indicators such as exports, imports, private credit and revenue collections.
May 1, 2022
Tribute to Muhith: Epitome of optimism
Over the last 50 years of Bangladesh’s existence, we have seen many finance ministers. AMA Muhith was among those few who this nation will remember for making the job appear joyful and free from the pains of balancing difficult trade-offs amid resource constraints.
March 22, 2022
Inflation: more to come
Inflation is rising in Bangladesh as it is in several advanced and emerging economies. Increased headline inflation in February was driven by a spike in food inflation. The 12-month moving average inflation has been on an upward trend since the November 2019 to October 2020 period.
March 3, 2022
No one immune from the impact of Russia-Ukraine conflict
The economic damage from supply disruptions triggered by the confluence of events around the Russian invasion of Ukraine would be severe in some countries and industries and less so in others depending on the depth and breadth of economic ties,
February 9, 2022
Spike in GDP growth: hard to fathom
There was no doubt that the growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in FY21 was better than the growth in FY20 even though the pandemic was present with all its ferocity in both years.
January 9, 2022
No growth in real wages
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data provides a somewhat mixed picture on how labour is benefitting from the ongoing economic recovery in Bangladesh.
December 27, 2021
Rising inflation creates a trilemma
Consumer price growth has spiked, driven by non-food inflation which is approaching 7 per cent. Inflation in Bangladesh is catching up with global trends. As in the case of the rest of the world, cost-push has been the most important driver which in turn came from increases in energy prices.
November 2, 2021
Gain some, lose some
Timely revisions to data on GDP and its components determine the accuracy of national accounts estimates and their comparability across countries.
October 24, 2021
Harnessing potential gains from outward FDI
Corporate Bangladesh is increasingly demanding the easing of draconian restrictions on outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) as they seek to diversify earnings. Indeed, OFDI can yield financial, intangible capability, and tangible capacity returns, thus complementing the development benefits realised through trade, migration and inward FDI.
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