Rain of Love, Rain of Sorrow

Rain of Love, Rain of Sorrow Kalidas’s Meghdoot and Bangladesh’s monsoon reality We cannot imagine monsoon without waterlogging, especially in Dhaka, despite ongoing promises from local authorities to resolve the issue.     It is not unusual for us to experience an intense sense of nostalgia and longing for our loved ones as the monsoon […]

Why are we shy of signing FTAs?

Why are we shy of signing FTAs? Free trade agreements (FTA) are made between countries to lower trade barriers through little to zero government tariffs or subsidies and other means. Most countries sign multilateral FTAs to increase regional trade such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), the world’s largest free trade bloc, where […]

Will there be any uptick in investment after PM’s China visit?

Will there be any uptick in investment after PM’s China visit? There was an expectation that investment inflows from China to Bangladesh would increase substantially following the Covid-19 pandemic as investors in China were looking for an alternative manufacturing hub. But that has not happened in reality. Instead, over the past six years, investment inflow […]

Govt short of taka, USD due to financial distress

Govt short of taka, USD due to financial distress Says economist Ahsan H Mansur The government does not have adequate taka and US dollars to implement the budget because of financial distress and its failure to raise enough revenues, said Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, yesterday. “Due to […]