China has sketched a hull that sails the world's oceans for years at a time without taking on a single drop of it. The ship that never stops for gas. And the ship that never refuels is a ship that can never be cut off at a choke point.
The government should call the situation what it is: An economic emergency. That calls for urgency, transparency about the losses in the banking system, and a public discourse around austerity.
Migrant worker families are paid in taka while banks hold the dollars, and weak or captured institutions let dollars slip out through trade misinvoicing and hundi.
Bangladesh has inherited a tax system that leans hardest on those least able to bear it. That was decades in the making, and it will not be undone in a single budget. But change it must.
The shift from nearly 36% in September to 30.60% in December, then rising to 32.78% by June, serves as a crucial reminder. While a decrease in the reported NPL ratio may seem positive, it is only meaningful if it reflects real improvement in credit quality.
The Monetary Policy Statement was announced in the last week of June, and was almost immediately hemmed in by the circular announcing the spread cap -- a sequencing that signals incoherence. And that incoherence matters more than the actual policy. Macroeconomic policy cannot be effective in supporting growth or curbing inflation unless it is credible.
Bangladesh Bank’s circular issued on June 11 represents a timely, strategic, and forward-looking shift toward the development and facilitation of alternative trade finance mechanisms.
This piece talks about how bad loans, political patronage, and cosmetic accounting turned Bangladesh’s banks into a public crisis.
This first article in a three-part series argues that Bangladesh’s celebrated growth story was always more fragile than it looked. Now that growth is slowing and investment is yielding less, the hidden costs of that model are becoming harder to ignore.
This third article in a three-part series argues how wealth leaves the country, why the gains of growth narrow at the top, and what a fairer settlement would actually require.
An extended war would not only upset the oil market, but could also disrupt development projects. Our workers, mainly in construction, cleaning and other blue-collar professions, are thus at high risk of mass layoffs.
The war shut down every long-term supplier in a week. But the permanent damage may not be Bangladesh’s problem.
The transition from cash to digital is not merely a technological shift; it is an institutional reform. It requires aligning incentives, building trust, and modernizing infrastructure. But the alternative -- continuing cycles of raids, fines, allegations of harassment, and persistent opacity -- offers little hope for sustainable market discipline.
A prolonged conflict in the Middle East would likely trigger a slump in consumer demand in Western markets, leaving the RMG sector vulnerable to the dual blow of dwindling orders and the logistical nightmare of disrupted maritime routes.
Irrespective of whether LDC graduation is delayed or not, we must face the music sooner or later. It is time to bite the bullet and focus on productivity. Understanding how firms increase productivity must be at the top of our agenda.
