An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission team led by Mr. Chris Papageorgiou visited Dhaka during April 24 – May 8, 2024 to discuss economic and financial policies in the context of the second review of the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF), Extended Fund Facility (EFF), and Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
At the end of the mission, Mr. Papageorgiou issued the following statement:
“The IMF team reached a staff-level agreement with the Bangladesh authorities on the policies needed to complete the second review under the ECF/EFF/RSF arrangements. The staff-level agreement is subject to approval by the Executive Board, which is expected in the coming weeks. Completion of the second review will make available SDR704.70 million (about US$932 million, equivalent of 6...
A day-long skill development training program for agricultural entrepreneurs hailing from 8 upazilas of Patuakhali district was held at Shishu Academy Auditorium (Patuakhali) on May 06, 2024. The training program was organized under the agricultural support scheme of United Commercial Bank (UCB) PLC, titled ‘Bhoroshar Notun Janala’.
ATM Tahmiduzzaman, Additional Managing Director and Company Secretary of United Commercial Bank (UCB) PLC, was present at the 
event as Chief Guest, along with Special Guest R...
The government is extending all-out support to the agri-entrepreneurs and providing with all sorts of stimulus packages, Minister of State for Women and Children Affairs Simeen Hussain (Rimi) MP said in a day-long training program organized for agricultural entrepreneurs at Barun High School located in Kapasia of Gazipur district. She added that young people should take this opportunity to be the agents of change in the transformation of agriculture.
United Commercial Bank PLC (UCB) has held this training under the agricultural support scheme, titled ‘Bhoroshar Notun Janala’, which is being implemented as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) project in accordance with the directive of the Banglad...
Bangladesh is discussing free trade agreements with 11 countries, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in an exclusive interview, as the South Asian country seeks new means to promote exports once preferential tariff exemptions expire in three years.
The prime minister spoke with Nikkei Asia at her official residence in Dhaka ahead of a visit to Japan -- her first in four years -- that starts next Tuesday. During the trip, Hasina and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are expected to agree to upgrade bilateral ties to a "strategic comprehensive partnership." This comes as Japan ramps up infrastructure investment in the strategically situated country on the shores of the Indian Ocean, countering China's Belt and Road Initiative.
The world is facing an “inequality crisis”. Fourteen per cent of the global population living in 46 countries are facing serious impediments which are directly hampering their ability to progress economically and graduate from the least developed country category. This was observed by the World leaders at the fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries held in Doha on 6 March. The double shock of the COVID-19 pandemic in consecutive two years( 2020, 2021) followed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been accompanied by an uptick in income and social inequalities, according to the Editorial of the ICC Bangladesh quarterly News Bulletin (Jan-Mar’23) published today.
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These two sectors bred some new elite classes who didn’t carry any meaningful social base earlier. A section of uncivilised social parasites, locally known as Jamir Dalal (Land Broker) and Adam Bepari (Manpower Dealer), emerged as the determining factors in the economy. With huge kickbacks, they began to occupy the political spaces also. Thus an immoral process of the economy began to rise, which Dr Akbar Ali Khan defined as ‘Shuyorer Bacchader Orthonity (Economy of Bastards)’. I would rather dare to dub it a ‘criminal economy’.
-- writes A. R. Farrukh Ahamed
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