The death of Begum Khaleda Zia yesterday, December 30, is an irreparable loss to the nation at a moment when it is at a critical juncture. In fact, this is no eulogy to her memory to say that Khaleda Zia was the first elected female prime minister of the country or that she was elected prime minist
That the commonly used cooking mediums like soybean oil, dalda (a popular brand of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil), dairy butter and margarine (a plant-based substitute for dairy butter made from refined vegetable oils) in Bangladesh pose health risks is common knowledge. Physicians often adv
The decision of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to phase out tax holidays has been a long time coming. For years, these incentives were promoted as tools to stimulate investment and industrial growth. However, their overall impact has been mixed at best. The NBR's latest move signals a clear sh
The Partnership and Cooperation Agreement signed between Bangladesh and the European Union (EU) on Monday last has been hailed as a comprehensive strategic partnership. It is going to replace the earlier EU-Bangladesh Cooperation Agreement 2001 known for its emphasis on development and trade. So fa
The low- and fixed-income people of the country have been struggling to make ends meet in the face of ever-rising cost of living since many years. Late last February, they woke up to a fresh shock of global energy price hike as the fallout from Middle East war. Being citizens of a country that meet
Groundwork, according to a report carried in this newspaper, is on for putting in place an integrated statistical data warehouse (ISDW). With the integration, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) is set to undergo a transformation unlike any in the past. Most likely, the infamy the BBS gained
Some recent initiatives by the incumbent government, in line with its vision for the future, suggest that revitalising the country's ailing health sector is a top priority. An initiative has been taken to set up 170 city health centres across Dhaka and Chattogram to ensure affordable healthcare in
The intent behind the proposed property tax is easy to support and harder to argue against. Expanding the tax base to include property held by wealthy individuals who contribute far less to the exchequer than their assets would warrant is, by any reasonable measure, a step in the right direction. T
To save both time and money in unloading crude and refined petroleum products from deep-sea oil tankers at the outer anchorage to an onshore storage facility, the then-autocratic regime in 2015 took up the Single-Point Mooring (SPM) project at an estimated cost of about Tk 50 billion. A Chine
The emerging fiscal picture suggests a growing strain on public finances, one that reflects both structural vulnerabilities and the weight of immediate economic pressures. The sharp rise in allocations for interest payments, subsidies, incentives and cash loans signals not only a government attempt
