Business

The benchmark index of the stock markets plunged into losing territory last week as investors became anxious about the market’s momentum. The jittery investors continued to offload their shares amid repeated regulatory actions against stock manipulations. Market analysts attribute the recent decline in stock market activity to a combination of factors, including waning investor confidence and heightened uncertainty. This sentiment ...

The UK economy shrank for the second month in a row in October as concerns about the Budget continued to weigh on confidence. Official figures showed a 0.1% drop, despite expectations that the economy would return to growth after a fall in September. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that activity had stalled or declined with pubs, restaurants and ...

Oil supply is set to outpace global demand next year even as OPEC+ members extended cuts in efforts to prop up prices, the International Energy Agency said Thursday. Eight members of the alliance, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed earlier this month to maintain supply cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) for three more months through March. But ...

The interim government has signed a $100 million loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support the Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund Limited Project. The project will be implemented by Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund Limited (BIFFL) by 2029 at the initiative of the government’s Finance Division, says a press release from the Economic Relations Division. It said ADB will ...

Japan-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JBCCI) on Wednesday laid emphasis on relaxing financial regulations to promote ease of doing business for establishing a favourable trade and investment ecosystem. The chamber made the observation at a meeting between the Board of Directors of the JBCCI and Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin at his office in the city, said a press ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a $600 million policy-based loan (PBL) to the government of Bangladesh, with a package of structural reforms supporting the mobilization of domestic resources. The PBL would also help Bangladesh in improving its efficiency of public investment projects, developing the private sector, reforming state-owned enterprises, and promoting transparency and good governance. “ADB’s PBL promptly ...

Iran is working to attract a share of the Asia-Europe goods transit by developing a free zone in its northwest, not least by completing a key rail route, an Iranian official said on Tuesday. Hossein Garousi, head of the Maku Free Zone Organization, outlined the plan ahead of an international conference on economic development of the free zone, AFP reports. ...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Bangladesh Bank are looking for a more dynamic approach to managing the dollar exchange rate during the ongoing midterm review meeting in Dhaka, reports UNB. Bangladesh Bank spokesperson and Executive Director Hosne Ara Shikha said their Tuesday’s discussions aimed to tackle the stagnation observed in recent months. Despite relative stability in the exchange rate, ...

The price of bottled soybean oil and loose oil has been raised by Tk 8 per litre. The price of bottled soybean oil has jumped to Tk 175 from Tk 167 per litre and the price of loose oil to Tk 157 per litre from Tk149. Commerce adviser Sheikh Bashir Uddin announced the new prices after a meeting with traders ...

The fourth economic census of the country will begin on Tuesday and will continue until December 26. It was informed at a press briefing regarding the Economic Census 2024 project at the conference room of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in Agargaon, Dhaka on Monday. Mizanur Rahman, Deputy Project Director of the Economic Census Project, provided an overview of ...