The Bangladesh Restaurant Owners’ Association has urged the government to allow them to reopen the restaurants following health guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The government should implement the current stimulus packages for the cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) and announce another round of support in the upcoming budget to help them survive, said experts and entrepreneurs.

Listed textile and garment makers are still suffering from falling profits, impacted by lower sales of clothing in the markets abroad amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The use of both credit and debit cards went up heavily in March as people purchased more products and services through digital means amid the recent resurgence of Covid-19.

Japanese companies doing business in Bangladesh are facing challenges during the coronavirus pandemic, including a lack of information and support from authorities, which may dent the flow of investment, according to investors and a recent survey.

While the pandemic waves on, the budget should focus on crisis management, prioritising spending on health, targeting fiscal support to distressed families and enterprises, restoring the functionality of education, and building on the resilience demonstrated by agriculture while keeping an eye on revenues. A business-as-usual budget like last year will miss the boat again.

The central bank yesterday ordered banks to permit branches, liaison and representative offices of foreign companies promptly if they want to move their accounts to another lender.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday instructed lenders to continue their limited banking operations until May 23.

Banks cannot appoint their former managing directors as independent directors at their respective board as per the provisions of the Banking Companies Act 1991, Bangladesh Bank (BB) said last week.

Despite giving special focus on the health sector, the government could implement only 26 per cent of the sector’s Annual Development Programme in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year.

The benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) went past 5,800 yesterday after around four months thanks to increased participation of investors.

Most banks are announcing higher dividends for 2020 than a year ago although they were plagued by the coronavirus pandemic for most of the year and had to do with a lower interest rate regime.

The industrial estate of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) in Nilphamari has become a hub for small businesses as it gives them easy access to key markets in the northern part of the country.

Every leader has his time in the sun, and it is all about reinventing the sunlight when it is gloomy. Eclipse comes from complacency, and people suffer from inertia if there is no challenge in life.

South Bangla Agriculture & Commerce (SBAC) Bank is set to go public in order to raise Tk 100 crore from the stock market.

PHP Float Glass Industries, a concern of PHP Family, has started manufacturing reflective glass for the first time with plans to export it on meeting local demand.

Md Jashim Uddin, a representative of the Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association, has been elected president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) for 2021-23.

Singer Bangladesh has commenced manufacturing washing machines at its Savar plant that has a capacity to produce 420,000 units per year.

The government may allocate Tk 225,324 crore to implement development projects in the next fiscal year, which is 14 per cent higher than that in the revised budget.

In Bangladesh, despite the gradual rise in the investment-GDP ratio over the past three decades, private sector investment, in proportion to GDP, had remained stagnant for years even before the onset of Covid-19. The Covid-19 crisis intensified the problem.