Syed Mansur Hashim

Bangladesh lags behind its peers in the region when it comes to foreign direct investment (FDI). That hardly comes as a surprise given the amount of bureaucratic red-tape hurdles a prospective investor has to surmount before launching a business operation. As pointed out in a front-page report of this paper on June 3, “an investor needs up to a year and a half to get approvals from 42 desks of different government offices for starting a business, which according to the businesses is depriving Bangladesh of the much-needed foreign direct and domestic investments.”

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) had formed an eight-member committee on May 2, 2017 to submit recommendations for bringing city buses providing the so-called “seating service” under a legal framework.

Non-profit organisations (NGOs) in Bangladesh are facing a general downturn in funding according to government data.

With the death toll mounting to 58 last Monday thanks largely to a trigger-happy Israeli military and smiles all around Tel Aviv and Washington the two-state solution is all but dead and buried. When President Trump decided to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, all pretence of a negotiated settlement was effectively thrown out the window and what is happening in Gaza today points to a mindset that

Despite interest shown by foreign investors in country-specific Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) taking steps to acquire and allot land to that effect, it appears preparatory work on most of these zones is lagging far behind schedule.

It is a common enough sight on Dhaka roads to see policemen hailing cars and motorcycles to stop and check their papers. It is within their rights to do so. What is equally common on the roads is that while the dutiful policeman is doing his job, a dilapidated jalopy resembling a monstrosity straight out of a “Mad Max” movie gushing out big, black plumes of smoke chugging along the road pretending to be a bus

Every year we are promised by the relevant ministry that prices of essentials will be kept within reach during the holy month of Ramadan. Since, that promise is hardly ever kept people have stopped expecting anything in this regard. The ministry of commerce had a meeting of traders, law enforcement and officials from the various government agencies and departments along with importers and traders on April 1 to better gauge what stocks should be

According to the latest data, Dhaka's traffic has ground to a snail's pace. 12 years ago, the average speed per hour (on Dhaka roads) for motorised vehicles was 21 kmph (kilometres per hour). Today it is 5 kmph (it has reduced 76 percent).

The government has just announced a fresh bailout package to the tune of Tk 20 billion (approximately USD 250 million) so that they may meet some of their capital shortfalls.

Highways are the major arteries of our economic backbone. Since the railway network was never really developed to transport bulk goods, we are inordinately dependent on highways to connect the capital city with the rest of the country to get goods transported.

Things are not looking very rosy for one of the largest infrastructure projects undertaken by the government under the public-private partnership (PPP) model in 2011.

It's that time of year again when we talk about the rationality of power tariff hike. According to media reports, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has forwarded a proposal to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) that there is need to hike the prices of petroleum products.

We can understand our position in the index when we take into account how we performed against other nations.

What we must remember is that the path to transforming the production workplace will differ from nation to nation.

President Trump is re-engaging in Afghanistan in a manner that basically reverses former President Obama's policies.

The Islamic State (IS) and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (an al-Qaeda affiliate, known earlier as the Nusra Front) have effectively been ejected from Lebanese territory by the army there. The latest twist in Middle East politics is the recent Lebanese experience.

That was basically the message realtors had given Rajuk in early November in a views-sharing meeting. Realtors believe it is ludicrous for Rajuk to try and reclaim what has already been grabbed.

The United Nations unveiled its World Economic Situation and Prospects 2018 report on December 14.

Energy efficiency is all the rage these days. A much less talked about issue is water efficiency and sustainability at industrial level.

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) is the body the government depends on for data on the various sectors of the economy to make policy decisions.