The time for action is now.

Consumer confidence in Bangladesh is at a low level, while investor confidence is negative both domestically and internationally, said a former president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) yesterday.

Elections can be held after the national government tackles the critical problems that confront the country.

The need for objectively assessing the country’s current economic realities cannot be overstated.

The budget for FY2025-26 will be challenging.

It is crucial for the interim government to focus on setting a strong foundation for future changes.

Returning to the previous economic model will inevitably bring back the same economic challenges.

However, the findings raised questions among economists, who were puzzled by the growth at a time when the economy had been facing a slowdown due to high inflation, a downtrend in export growth, and falling imports.

Persistent high inflation, high debt burden and slow economic growth are the three challenges facing the economy, noted economist Debapriya Bhattacharya said yesterday.

Persistent inflation, a snowballing debt burden and slow economic growth are the three challenges to Bangladesh, according to Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)

The reason for continued high consumer prices in the country despite prices dropping in the international market is a combination of policy and institutional failure.

For the first time, there will be an Economic Partnership Agreement with a country with a major economy.

Bangladesh’s economy has been passing through a challenging time for the past two years amidst growing pressure on foreign exchange reserves, the sharp depreciation of the taka and an elevated level of inflation

Central bank should read the market, revise rules accordingly to ensure stability

Madaripur case shows how haphazardly these programmes are being run

Of course. Despite challenges around, we have many reasons to be optimistic about Bangladesh.

The lack of coherence between the fiscal and monetary policy stances will make the monetary policy less effective in controlling inflation.

Unfortunately, the budget will do nothing to ease the hardship and the budgetary crunch felt by the common man.

The recent downgrade by Moody's of the credit ratings of Bangladesh’s economy and some private banks is not the only indicator that confidence is declining.

It is not clear how the money needed to implement this ambitious budget will be sourced.