Rights activists warn that this rollback threatens to reverse progress and stall efforts toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
If you're planning to import cheap lipstick into Bangladesh anytime soon, think again. The country's interim government, in its latest budget, has quietly declared war on undervalued imports with a series of oddly specific tweaks to customs rules. Among the victims: chocolate bars, lipsticks, eye shadow, and -- wait for it -- inflatable toys.
The liquidity crisis in the sector worsened significantly in 2024, with only 57 percent of insurance claims being settled,
The budget for FY26 has drawn strong criticism from business leaders who say it lacks a clear roadmap for improving the investment climate, bolstering industrial competitiveness, and implementing overdue reforms in the banking sector.
Around a dozen banks are currently struggling to repay depositors, eroding public trust
The positive objectives laid out in the proposed national budget for fiscal 2025–26 are not backed by measures, said the Centre for Policy Dialogue.
Here’s to hoping that the interim government initiates targeted and critical reforms in FY2026 to improve budget implementation
Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed has offered both empathy and arithmetic in his budget speech, laying out a vision that puts people, not just projects, at the heart of economic policy.
The Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has raised significant concerns over several provisions in the proposed Finance Ordinance 2025, warning that certain measures may hinder business growth and unfairly burden compliant taxpayers.
Birupaksha Paul, professor of economics at the State University of New York, described the proposed national budget as “brief and restrained,” marking a departure from the verbose and often overly ambitious budgets of previous years.
The interim government has proposed a 5 percent advance tax on the turnover of cigarette producers, which was 3 percent previously.
The vice chairman of Newage Group of Industries says in his budget reaction
Taskeen Ahmed, president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), acknowledged the government’s intent to ensure macroeconomic stability in the proposed budget.
Says Ashikur Rahman, principal economist of the PRI
The move is aimed at reducing poverty and social inequality, while improving the living standards of the poor, marginalised, and vulnerable groups, Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed said during his budget speech today.
In his televised address to the nation, the adviser also proposed changes to duties on different products, which will result in increase and decrease in their prices
Previously, these requirements were mandatory for as many as 43 services.
The proposed national budget for fiscal year 2025-26 does not offer a conducive environment for investment and lacks the direction needed to drive industrial growth, said Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI).
