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.
The untold miseries of 25 Bangladeshis in Afghanistan
Foreign remittance is definitely contributing to the country's rising development in many areas. Today, every year around eight million Bangladeshis across the globe are remitting about USD 15 billion, which has gradually been boosting the country's economy.
Airing the IMF's dirty laundry
Following the International Monetary Fund's controversial actions in the Asian financial crisis of 1998, when it conditioned liquidity assistance to...
Globalisation and its new discontents
The failure of globalisation to deliver on the promises of mainstream politicians has surely undermined trust and confidence in the “establishment.” And governments' offers of generous bailouts for the banks that had brought on the 2008 financial crisis, while leaving ordinary citizens largely to fend for themselves, reinforced the view that this failure was not merely a matter of economic misjudgments.
How slow will China go?
China's economic performance over the last few decades has been outstanding. Despite possessing very different institutions than those seen in the advanced economies, no doubt a result of its communist system, China managed to achieve 8.7 percent average annual per capita GDP growth from 1980 to 2015.
Global cooperation as a life-and-death issue
Just two years ago, the topic of drug-resistant infections would usually be met with questions like "What is AMR?" or, "Why would a finance minister take charge of a health crisis?" Few understood the scale and multifaceted nature of the challenge, and thus the need for a comprehensive approach.
The tyranny of cost-benefit analysis
When economists hand over their findings from a cost-benifit analysis to politicians, it is important to be upfront about the “ifs and buts” of the analysis, and to caution the user of the dangers of making sweeping statements about the superiority of alternative technologies or policy options.
Whose fault is it anyway?
One would assume that a job entails its holder to carry out his responsibilities ethically and with sincerity, especially when it comes to
Brexit: Rise of neo-nationalism and protectionism?
While European leaders dreamt of an intertwined economy across Europe 43 years ago, the British people desired something else.
Learning from Namibia
That is not surprising. Namibia is one of the most beautiful places in the world, and its people cultivate its environment and protect its animals.
Private money, public good
Countries with a successful PPP programme have built it on a solid framework. The Government of Bangladesh passed the PPP law last year. Before that, in 2011, it formed the Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund Limited (BIFFL), a government-owned non-banking financial institution with a mandate to invest in large infrastructure projects, including power and energy, ports, connectivity, tourism and economic zones.