Asifur Rahman

The government has reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund for the fourth and fifth tranche of the $4.7 billion loan programme, putting to bed months of uncertainty over their disbursement.

The government is set to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund over the exchange rate issue that has been holding up the release of the fourth and fifth tranches of the $4.7 billion loan programme soon.

The next budget may be slightly smaller than the current fiscal year’s, but non-development spending is expected to rise by over 5 percent due to higher debt servicing costs, food subsidies, and a special allocation for bank reforms.

The government and the International Monetary Fund are set to meet again today for another round of negotiations over the release of the fourth and fifth tranches of a $4.7 billion loan programme.

Based on private electricity producers’ request, the Power Development Board (PDB) asked Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to nearly triple its import of furnace oil to around 500,000 tonnes a month so that the electricity demand in the summer can be met.

The fourth tranche of the instalment was deferred due to disagreements and now talks are going on to release two tranches at once.

Government officials will face death penalty or minimum life sentence if found guilty of causing the death of enforced disappearance victims, according to a draft ordinance unveiled yesterday.

As much as $900 million has been on hold since 2022 in the central bank's escrow account

The interim government may backtrack from its initial plan to set an ambitious GDP growth target of 6 percent for the next fiscal year amid the new economic reality and settle for 5.5 percent.

The government has set new gas tariffs for the industrial sector, hiking the price by 33 percent for new units, despite objections from businesses and consumer rights organisations.

Bangladesh’s power sector is burdened by overcapacity and systemic inefficiencies, hindering its ability to deliver reliable and cost-effective electricity, says Prof Dr Saifur Rahman, a Bangladeshi expert based in the US.

Protesting students began reaching out to Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus as early as August 1, 2024, through his colleagues, at the peak of the mass uprising against the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The interim government is planning to prepare a small budget with a 6 percent GDP growth target for the next fiscal year considering the sluggish economy and low revenue collection.

Professor Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser of the interim government, yesterday instructed his cabinet colleagues to prepare for Bangladesh’s status graduation from a least developed country (LDC) to a developing nation in November 2026, effectively doing away with all speculation.

Revenue collection fell significantly short of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) target in the first six months of the current fiscal year, with the floor for the fourth instalment of an ongoing $4.7 billion loan programme proving too ambitious.

Industrial users are counting 30 to 50 percent production losses for the last couple of months thanks to a gas shortage.

The Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) has projected the highest electricity demand during the summer months would be 18,000 megawatts (MW), while the highest production target is 17,260MW.

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, has long been a vibrant cultural and economic hub. As one of the world’s largest megacities, it never sleeps, embracing millions from diverse backgrounds.

The interim government must suspend the inefficient and costly power plants and renegotiate the capacity payment terms with the private power producers as the structure incentivises inefficiency, according to the report of the task force.

Protesters block roads, railways, leaving thousands stranded