The golden rule of crony capitalism, in which profits are private but losses are social, has led to blatant injustice, as is generally recognised. The extra-market connections of crony capitalists facilitated transactional benefits while leading to entrenched market power, distorted competition, and depressed productivity growth, all contributing to growing inequalities. Yet, attempts to change the crony business model are facing their own dilemmas.
International Day of Happiness in Bangladesh: A cruel joke? Few find joy amidst daily struggles.
Bangladesh inflation soared (5.86 percent to 11.38 percent in 2022-2024), driven by global shocks and food prices.
What started as a moment of hope—a chance to break free from the chains of authoritarian rule—has increasingly turned into a struggle for meaningful reform.
The Bangladesh economy saw its lowest quarterly growth in three-and-a-half years in the first quarter of the fiscal year on the back of political upheaval and severe flood in August.
Arrival of winter vegetables contributes to the decline
The central bank governor made this remark while inaugurating the Golden Jubilee Celebration of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) in the city.
Our data shows economic pressures and polycrisis have been growing especially since Covid.
"The imposition of higher tariffs on Chinese goods by the Trump administration could prompt international businesses and investors to turn to Bangladesh," Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, chairman of Pran-RFL Group, said today
While the micro and messo levels of losses are immediate and short term, macro level losses would be medium to long term.
Resulting damage could have severe long-term impacts
It is important to recognise that trade has been the handmaiden of Bangladesh’s development.
It is important to encourage all development players to invest money and energy to maximise their contributions towards the GDP growth.
Reforms need to be brought about over revenue generation, currency exchange rate, banking and public expenditure, the four areas vital to the country’s economic performance, through the upcoming national budget, suggested an economist yesterday.
Traffic congestion inflicted by unplanned urbanisation and expansion reduces the country's overall GDP by 2.9 percent.
The vicious cycle of taking loans to pay bills and then taking another loan to pay off the first loan may continue throughout their lives, with little or no real improvement in their living standards.
The use of the document verification system (DVS) has increased in Bangladesh in the last couple of years, plugging the scope for unruly firms to submit forged audit reports. The number of audit reports signed by accountants by securing codes from the DVS rose by nearly 2 percent year-on-year to 38,316 in 2021-22 compared to a year prior, data from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) showed.
Bangladesh's economy heavily depends on garment exports and remittances for its foreign exchange reserves, with limited diversification in agricultural products. Despite being an agrarian society, it imports key agriculture-related products, straining reserves.
Both the China and India factors in Bangladesh’s foreign policy decisions, as identified in Li Jianjun and Deb Mukharji’s chapters, will be continuously evolving and contributing factors that would perhaps influence Bangladesh’s policies with other countries as well.
