Economics
Silent role of MFS to keep the economy going
With the advancement of the pandemic, the citizens of Bangladesh are leaning more and more towards adopting Mobile Financial Service (MFS) as their method of money transfer, buying products and services, buying mobile balance and making bill payments.
Navigating the socioeconomic perils of Covid-19 in Bangladesh
Despite the depressing state of major indicators such as negative export-import growth; large revenue deficit; falling private sector investment; rising non-performing loans recorded in the last quarter of 2019
Stimulus for Bangladesh’s export-oriented enterprises
On March 25, 2020, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced, in her address to the nation, that the government would provide an incentive package of Taka 5,000 crore for export-oriented industries.
Financial mobility in an immobile world
The recent outbreak of Covid-19 is an unprecedented global issue, leading many to contemplate difficult questions that are plaguing all of humanity.
COVID-19 has exposed the fragility of our economies
The human dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic reach far beyond the critical health response. All aspects of our future will be affected—economic, social and developmental. Our response must be urgent, coordinated and on a global scale, and should immediately deliver help to those most in need.
Economic threats in the time of corona
What will the impact of Covid-19 be on the Bangladesh economy? Overall, it seems inevitable that the GDP gains that were expected to be realised in the current fiscal year are likely to be wiped out.
COVID-19 and Bangladesh’s macroeconomic challenges
The world economy is now on lockdown because of the global coronavirus pandemic. Governments and their central banks around the world are wasting no time in dealing with the health and economic implications of this crisis.
Implementing SDG 6: Watering the seeds of development
Nothing is more useful than water. Ironically, hardly anything can be obtained in exchange for water.
Why the third world should be worried about technological revolution
2017 was a year of spectacle for technology enthusiasts. Robotics, Big Data, and social media have enjoyed the limelight while Elon Musk, Nick Bostrom and Stephen Hawking have raised concerns about developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Paying a high price
Living costs in Dhaka have soared so high that it's not just low-income groups struggling to make ends meet—the middle class is feeling the squeeze too.
Buoyant but not resilient
With the year 2017 drawing to a close, we are left with both positive and not-so-positive observations from the country's stock market. We all know that after the crash in 2010, the market has been in the doldrums for several years.
Bringing multinationals to the stock market
Bringing multinationals to the stock market is one of those long-standing policy challenges regulators have been grappling with for many years now. On the surface, it appears to be an issue of designing the right incentive structure.
Bangladesh's offensive and defensive interests
The 11th Ministerial Conference of the WTO (WTO MC11) is going to take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina between December 10-13.
China's shift to high-tech: Can Bangladesh keep up?
China remains the undisputed global giant in the textile and apparel industry. Its share of global apparel export is about 37 percent while the share of Bangladesh, the second largest readymade garment exporter in the world, is only about 6 percent.
Why tax cuts don't always boost GDP
At a recent event in Dhaka, Dr Mirza Azizul Islam, the former finance adviser to caretaker government, identified a key dilemma that policymakers often face.
Emerging markets at risk again
Emerging market governments often draw lessons from previous financial crises—or at least claim to do so—to prevent their recurrence. However, such preventive measures are typically designed to address the causes of the last crisis, not the next one.
World economic outlook for 2017 and beyond
The year 2017 can be chalked down as a prosperous one for the world economy. Wherever we live, as we celebrate the end of a good year, we also welcome the incoming year, which, by all indications, we hope, will be a better one.
Bearing the economic cost of the Rohingya crisis
Bangladesh has been taking in Rohingya refugees from Myanmar since the 70s, right after independence, and the rate accelerated in the 1990s. Currently, we are sheltering, feeding, and providing various assistance to well over a million refugees and it is possible that the situation might get worse before it gets better.