The government is set to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund over the exchange rate issue that has been holding up the release of the fourth and fifth tranches of the $4.7 billion loan programme soon.
The next budget may be slightly smaller than the current fiscal year’s, but non-development spending is expected to rise by over 5 percent due to higher debt servicing costs, food subsidies, and a special allocation for bank reforms.
The government and the International Monetary Fund are set to meet again today for another round of negotiations over the release of the fourth and fifth tranches of a $4.7 billion loan programme.
Based on private electricity producers’ request, the Power Development Board (PDB) asked Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to nearly triple its import of furnace oil to around 500,000 tonnes a month so that the electricity demand in the summer can be met.
The fourth tranche of the instalment was deferred due to disagreements and now talks are going on to release two tranches at once.
Government officials will face death penalty or minimum life sentence if found guilty of causing the death of enforced disappearance victims, according to a draft ordinance unveiled yesterday.
As much as $900 million has been on hold since 2022 in the central bank's escrow account
The interim government may backtrack from its initial plan to set an ambitious GDP growth target of 6 percent for the next fiscal year amid the new economic reality and settle for 5.5 percent.
Seven purchased tender documents, but none submitted papers finally
Captive power, which the industrial sector in Bangladesh leans on heavily, has been weakening the financial health of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) by costing it customers that pay the highest tariffs.
Summit has run into a payment dispute with Petrobangla over a $22 million bill for the four months its floating LNG terminal was out of commission as a result of damages from cyclone Remal.
A total of $234 billion was siphoned off from Bangladesh between 2009 and 2023, according to the white paper on the state of the economy.
It was a clear moonlit night. There was a slight breeze. An eerie quiet blanketed the streets.
Bangladesh has lost around $14 billion a year on average to capital flight during the Awami League’s 15-year tenure, according to the draft report of the committee preparing a white paper on the economy.
Jatiya Nagorik Committee has included a former top leader of Islami Chhatra Shibir in its extended central committee, ignoring objections from a section of committee members.
The interim government is struggling to pay the power bill arrears that were caused largely by “unfair” contracts signed between the previous administration and power producers, and rising international fuel prices.
Coal-fired power plants are dialling down production or even shutting down due to financial, legal or technical issues, leading to power cuts across the country, especially the rural areas.
India’s Adani Power Jharkhand Limited has halved its power supply to Bangladesh, saying it has yet to receive outstanding bills.
