Md Abu Talha Sarker

If you ever paid a visit to the General Post Office (GPO) in Dhaka’s Gulistan area, you may have noticed a queue of people waiting to avail services inside the main hall.

Most look forward to the monsoon season every year, but that is not the case for residents of the Pagar Alerteg area adjacent to the Tongi Industrial Zone of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC).

Shafiqul Islam Ratan has been running a sweet shop with his siblings near a residential area on Kalshi road in the capital’s Mirpur for the last six-seven years.

Iqbal Hossain Shaon works at a multinational company in Dhaka. He has to go out of the capital frequently for official purposes.

Repeated lockdowns in Bangladesh have pushed shops, particularly small and medium ones, to the verge of closure for good as their income crashed and debt mounted.

Saidur Rahman Shamim has been working in the garment industry for more than 25 years. Yet, despite working for such a long time, he literally lives from hand to mouth.

Faria Binte Zaman Momo ordered a dress online in 2015 and this was first time she bought anything from digital shops.

Finances play a significant role throughout a person’s life. But money management skills are rarely taught at schools and colleges. As a result, most people struggle in making informed financial decisions.

Sheikh Mehedi Hassan and his wife recently moved into their flat from a rented one in Mirpur-6.

From airlines, tourism and manufacturing to export, import and event management -- all businesses have witnessed the devastating and far-reaching effects of the novel coronavirus.

The national budget for 2021-22 is being proposed today all the while the country’s economy faces some tough realities stemming from the pandemic’s second wave.

The price of computers and IT accessories has shot up 20 per cent in the last 14 months as pandemic-induced restrictions prompted educational institutions and businesses to heighten focus on home-based schooling and work.

Mobile phone subscribers are still being flooded with promotional and commercial messages even a month after they opted to block them, which highlighted that the regulator’s directive to the carriers to stop the nuisance is not working.

Three private banks posted higher earnings for the January-March quarter compared to the same period a year ago with NRB Commercial Bank registering the highest growth in profits.

The number of internet users in the country registered moderate growth in March as people started to rely on various online platforms once again amid a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Brisk business during the just concluded Eid shopping season helped traders breathe a sigh of relief amid the ongoing nationwide lockdown and other measures in place to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The finance ministry has asked ministries and divisions to take more austerity measures and ensure transparency during public procurement as the government has placed utmost priority in health, social safety net and economic management to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

Private and commercial banks are trying to lure home-confined people with attractive offers and discounts ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, the largest religious festival of the Muslims.Since Covid-19 hit the country, lenders have been engaged in e-commerce or related online activities.

Seasonal date traders in Dhaka have moderate sales of the most popular iftar item ahead of and during Ramadan as many city-dwellers left the capital because of the reinstatement of the strict coronavirus restrictions.