ON September 25, world leaders will gather in New York to adopt the new Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs, comprising 17 goals and 169 related targets, are the result of extensive political negotiations, and will set the benchmarks over the next 15 years for achieving the international community's overarching objective: to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere.”

When I joined the first private bank of Bangladesh some 27 years ago, the definition of a good banker remained as before: a star performer who returns home at night walking with an unsteady gait almost like a drunkard. Unfortunately, the definition still applies.

The Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 signed by US President Barack Obama on June 29, 2015, brings afresh the concerns and frustrations of Bangladesh.

The conference on Financing for Development of the United Nations held in Addis Ababa from July 13-16 received much less importance from global leaders than expected.

During the 1992 presidential campaign in the USA, candidate Bill Clinton's campaign adopted a very powerful short message to convey to the party faithfuls and voters that the poor performance of the US economy should be the centerpiece of any conversation to unseat the incumbent President George Bush.

Bangladeshi women are increasingly getting into high value professions.

A more relevant concern about social businesses is to do with the informational problem that may arise from their not being able to take full advantage of market signals in making decisions about prices and products.

Whenever initiatives to tax these services are taken, the burden invariably falls on the consumers. How does one track the real income when all transactions are done through cash? Cash transactions can be dodgy on both sides. The payee of tuition fees could very well be a tax evader as well.

In a historical referendum on July 5, 2015, the Greek voters overwhelmingly sided with the current government in its debt negotiations with its European partners.

For Bangladesh, moving ahead also means that it has to diversify its exports and move towards high value products.

Looking at the trend in the investment-GDP ratio since 1979-80, we can suggest four different investment regimes in Bangladesh.

Dearth of human capital is a huge problem in this populous country. Of course, the job market is very competitive and getting a job is difficult for a university graduate.

The absence of a rule of law for debt restructuring delays fresh starts and can lead to chaos. That is why no government leaves it to market forces to restructure domestic debts.

WHO does not like a pay increase? The new pay scale - the proposed increase in the salary of government employees - is likely to be implemented in the upcoming fiscal year beginning from next July.

By September, the world's 193 governments will meet in New York and agree on a set of ambitious, global targets for 2030.

In this backdrop attention has been shifted towards the emerging economies in the global South which have shown promises through strong economic growth during the last two decades.

Though there are many views on 'inclusive growth', the key consensus is that inclusive growth is a growth process which reduces poverty, inequality and social exclusion and promotes 'decent' jobs and economic and social cohesion.

One of the key determinants behind this growth rate has been the accumulation of capital (i.e., investment). The regulatory environment for business in a country can have a direct impact on this...

The concern of egotistical professionals is confined to criticism and cynicism, instead of attempting to improve the image of their country.

Shinzo Abe much heralded economic policy, dubbed as “Abenomics” by his enthusiastic supporters, had been able to lift the Nikkei to an all-time high in the last one-and-half decades. However, purses of the majority of the Japanese people still remain very tight.