Sohel Parvez

Until early September this year, Mahfuza Begum’s Surzu Handicrafts was making eco-friendly, lightweight and reusable net shopping bags out of jute and cotton for a handful of buyers.

Businesses said, however, most of the jute goods makers were focused on making fabrics suitable for the export market and were unprepared to meet the sudden spike in demand for fabrics used for low-cost shopping bags.

The government's net borrowing from the banking system rose in the first two and half months of the current fiscal year in the face of falling tax collection and surging foreign debt servicing costs, raising concerns of a crowding out effect on private credit.

Five of the six operators of Nationwide Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN) have not gone public despite being mandated to float shares on the stock market several years ago.

The Awami League government favoured the super-rich who controlled capital and laundered the funds aboard, dampening the country’s economy.

Against the backdrop of rising prices, the government has geared up efforts to buy rice from the international market to replenish stocks and ensure distributions under social safety net schemes to arrest market volatility.

Widespread graft was the norm, not exception.Economist Selim Jahan discusses how the AL govt bypassed inclusivity in its biased policies .Sohel Parvez and Feda Al Hossain.The Awami League regime’s economic strategy was not always based on equity. Rather, its policies and measur

Without proper institutions, it’s not possible to prevent abuse of power, prevent corruption, and improve public life, says business leader Abdul Awal Mintoo

Bangladesh is losing $355 million in tax annually because of outward profit shifting by the corporates, particularly multinational firms, and abuses by individuals who have wealth, especially in tax havens.

The sooner the country returns to a democratic process, the better it is for the economy, said top industrialist Ahsan Khan Chowdhury.