The debate over wage increase has risen at a time when the majority of people in the country are suffering due to skyrocketing commodity prices

The Consumer Price Index rose 9.94 per cent in May this year, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

When a year passes, those who had a good time look forward to continuing the momentum while those who had struggled to keep their head above water might breathe a sigh of relief.

Traders at the Bangabazar Shopping Complex, one of the largest clothing retail and wholesale hubs in Bangladesh, are typically busy buying and selling products ahead of Eid-ul-Azha each year.

While the government’s latest monetary policy for the first half of fiscal year 2023-24 shows an attempt to be rational for the market, it lacks vigour to solve inflation and the dollar crisis.

Like in the outgoing financial year, the common people in Bangladesh will continue to suffer from higher consumer prices in 2023-24 as the factors behind the elevated level of inflation are unlikely to change dramatically.

The shipment of electrical and electronics goods from Bangladesh displayed an impressive growth of 48 per cent in July-May of the outgoing financial year on the back of improving product quality and government support, official figures showed.

The Bangladesh Elevator Escalators and Lift Importers Association (BEELIA) yesterday demanded the withdrawal of the proposed duty on imports of elevators and escalators in the national budget for fiscal year (FY) 2023-24.

The government should target reducing demand through ensuring market-based interest and exchange rates as well as cutting allocation for infrastructure projects to rein in inflation and protect the foreign currency reserves, said economists yesterday.

If there is one indicator that epitomises the government’s mismanagement of the economy in recent times, it is inflation -- which raced to an 11-year high of 9.94 percent in May.

Food inflation rose 40 basis points to 9.24 per cent in May. It was 8.84 per cent in April.

Bangladesh’s exports bounced back in May after declining in the preceding two months riding on increased shipment of garments, the main export earning sector, according to data released by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) yesterday.

In his budget speech for FY2023-24 at the national parliament today, Kamal said inflation would be largely controlled from here on.

In 2019, when AHM Mustafa Kamal took charge as the finance minister, the Bangladesh economy was taxing for take-off for its long-haul flight to the developed country club.

Just a year ago, Aminur Rahman, a private sector employee living in Dhaka, could buy a moderate amount of essential goods, including rice, soybean oil, onions, salt and eggs, at Tk 553 from stores in Dhaka city

In June last year when Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal placed the budget in parliament, inflation had already been creeping up and the foreign currency reserves were on the decline. These two had derailed the full economic recovery from a two-year crisis wrought by the Covid pandemic.

Small wooden furniture businesses in Bangladesh are facing a deep financial crisis as the demand for their products has fallen drastically, according to market players.

There are few, if any, central bankers who are currently not taking some public criticism for raising rates. 

Sustaining the development that has taken place in Bangladesh in the past 14 years and curbing inequality are key major challenges facing the economy owing to the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, said Planning Minister MA Mannan.

Banks in Bangladesh witnessed an accumulation of default loans by Tk 10,964 crore in the first three months of 2023, highlighting the worsening financial health of the banking sector, official figures showed.