Ahsan Habib

Bangladesh’s upcoming national budget, set to be unveiled by the interim government in June, could mark a rare departure from past fiscal cycles.

Bangladesh’s approach to budgeting for health and education has come under sharp scrutiny, as decades of allocations have primarily gone towards construction. Meanwhile, the core of these sectors, service delivery, has been historically neglected.

Listing of Grameenphone on the stock exchange in 2009 had a huge impact as thousands of investors flocked to open beneficiary owner accounts to get shares of the high-performing company through the initial public offering (IPO).

Led by Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed, the Bangladesh delegation held a series of meetings with IMF representatives in Washington.

In a rapidly evolving South Asian trade landscape, HBL Bangladesh (Habib Bank) is carving out a bold and purposeful role for itself – not as a competitor in traditional banking, but as a connector of economies and an enabler of regional trade.

The government has increased the monthly salary for outsourced manpower of state-owned and state-run organisations after around six years by Tk 570 to Tk 1,102 in several cities and categories.

Although stubborn inflationary pressures have worsened the situation of poor people in recent years, public food distribution under various social protection schemes fell by more than 7 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, driven by political instability and dysfunctional local governance.

When a country showcases its potential to attract investors, it should not forget to include its equity market