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137751. Banking system needs world-class cyber securityPublished: March 30, 2016 19:47:38

Bangladesh has some US$28 billion in foreign currency reserves. A comical typo saved Bangladesh's central bank from losing as much as US$1.0 billion to hackers. But of the US$101 million...


137752. Outwitting dirty players in stocksPublished: March 30, 2016 19:45:56

Investors, by and large, want a burgeoning stock market, but such a market also brings in more risks than a normal or submerged bourse. In a surging stock market, everyone,...


137753. Towards co-management of forestsPublished: March 29, 2016 20:28:28

There is a proverbial story that once a woodcutter went to the forest with an axe when a tree told him, “the handle of your axe is one of us”....


137754. Making cities liveablePublished: March 29, 2016 20:07:31

According to Mercer's18th annual quality of living survey (2016), European cities continue to offer the world's highest quality of living. The vast region of Asia has considerable variation in this....


137755. Competition Commission: The task aheadPublished: March 29, 2016 20:05:27

Finally, there is something on the proposed Competition Commission. News reports say that the Bangladesh Competition Commission (BCC), the newly designated entity to look after various kinds of market scheming...


137756. Translating awareness into action for women empowermentPublished: March 29, 2016 17:11:34

It is often seen as the responsibility of the government or large non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to address societal issues that negatively affect women. After all, it is the government that...


137757. Time to introduce technology-neutral spectrumPublished: March 29, 2016 17:04:52

Technology Neutrality is a policy approach that allows the use of any technology in any spectrum band. That means, with technology neutrality in place, the mobile operators can offer services...


137758. In quest of a sound electoral systemPublished: March 29, 2016 17:03:15

Writing about elections in Bangladesh is an experience one should avoid as far as possible, because of the repulsion besieging the mind. It is a nation which has never been...


137759. The traffic circusPublished: March 28, 2016 22:06:36

Before crossing a city road one would pause for a while. He or she ought to check on the approaching traffic and become sure about not being hit by a...


137760. Determinants of hungerPublished: March 28, 2016 22:05:28

Famine, hunger, malnutrition, etc. are often used interchangeably which should not be the case. According to international institutions dealing with food security such as the International Food Policy Research Institute...


137761. Terms of trade and current a/c balance in BDPublished: March 28, 2016 21:50:43

The concept of terms of trade is important for an open economy. This is so because it can be seen as an indicator of the health for an open economy....


137762. Bangladesh\'s real exchange rate appreciation: A source of competitiveness erosion?Published: March 28, 2016 21:49:05

For a small open economy, exchange rate stability is vital for promoting trade and welfare. In Bangladesh, sustained stability of its exchange rate has been a cornerstone of the government's...


137763. Turning waste tires into energyPublished: March 27, 2016 22:07:43

Bangladesh is producing around 18,144,000 litres of industrial fuel per year, worth US$ 9,072,000 to substitute furnace oil or industrial diesel by adopting pyrolysis technology to recycle around 50,400 tons...


137764. Desire and reality mismatchPublished: March 27, 2016 22:06:39

The headline of the lead story of yesterday's issue of a leading Bengali contemporary screamed, "Tk.300 billion embezzled in seven years".  In fact, the amount mentioned in the story was...


137765. Erin Callan puts nail in Lehman coffinPublished: March 26, 2016 13:55:16

A legion of reasons, guesses and conspiracy theories keep circulating about why Lehman Brothers failed in 2008. This week, previously unreported incidents emerged that should forever keep the blame squarely...


137766. The social costs of financial returnsPublished: March 25, 2016 11:46:52

Two business plans are on the table for the $491 million leveraged buyout of Landmark Luggage by KMM Capital. One promises to make about 3.2 times its money, the other...


137767. Women\'s day celebration should start from homePublished: March 24, 2016 22:37:40

The World Economic Forum envisaged that  global gender parity would be achieved by the year 2014. They also projected in the following year that a slowdown in the frosty pace...


137768. How costly should Dhaka City be?Published: March 24, 2016 22:33:30

In a year marked by volatility of commodity prices, Dhaka City has ranked joint 71st with Canadian city Montrea. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU's) 2016 Worldwide Cost of...


137769. Jihadists gain nothing but outragePublished: March 23, 2016 22:02:11

The Brussels carnage of 34 innocent civilians committed apparently by the jihadists has triggered global outrage. Millions of people belonging to different religious faiths have joined hands in condemning the...


137770. Central bank\'s limits to containing of inflationPublished: March 23, 2016 22:00:45

There was no bank in the old past nor was there any money as we see them today. But there were transactions among the people; transactions were carried through exchange...


137771. In need of water securityPublished: March 22, 2016 22:31:49

The World Water Day this year has brought into sharp focus the need for treating water issue with the high priority it deserves. This is more so because meeting the...


137772. Dedicated industrial zone for light engineeringPublished: March 22, 2016 22:30:42

The decision to set up a specialised industrial zone for light engineering and electrical goods manufacturing units is a long awaited one. Materialising the project is expected to exploit the...


137773. The new geopolynomics of AIIBPublished: March 21, 2016 00:04:01

For the first time Bangladesh is a founding member of a multilateral development bank (MDB), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), whose majority shareholders are developing countries. AIIB, which was launched...


137774. Money hacked from Federal Reserve: BB should move carefullyPublished: March 13, 2016 23:29:29

No sooner had our banking industry tackled ATM fraud than the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the guardian of the country's banking sector, itself received a big blow of hacking money from...


137775. AN-26 crashes in Bay of BengalPublished: March 12, 2016 23:13:18

On the morning of March 09 a cargo flight of True Aviation took off from Cox's Bazar airport R/W 35 for Jessore with shrimps. The set of crew were all...


137776. Mourning the untimely deathsPublished: March 12, 2016 23:09:57

The recent death of artist and award-winning filmmaker Khalid Mahmood Mithu in a tree fall on a road in Dhaka has stunned the city's cultural world. His untimely death shocked...


137777. No more bliss of childhoodPublished: March 11, 2016 22:22:27

A recent report quoted a doctor with Beijing's Chaoyang Hospital as saying that the reason for primary and middle school children committing suicide is that they are so worried about...


137778. Savar still far away from HazaribaghPublished: March 11, 2016 22:11:40

Too long time has been given to tanners to shift out of Hazaribagh, the heart of the capital city of Dhaka, to suburban Savar with their factories blamed for environmental...


137779. The constitutional status of village courtsPublished: March 10, 2016 21:57:56

In Bangladesh, the court system is mostly urban-centric. To address the serious need of protecting the majority of rural population through law, a separate court system was introduced in 2006....


137780. When growth drives poverty downPublished: March 10, 2016 21:57:03

Bangladesh has a solid history of poverty reduction which it can boast of. Admittedly this has largely been induced by income growth. From a feeble 4.0 per cent or less...


137781. Regional connectivity on a wider canvasPublished: March 10, 2016 00:43:42

Regional connectivity has to be based on a wider canvas linking Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar by road, rail, water and air, if it is to deliver desired outcomes, following a...


137782. Open optionsPublished: March 10, 2016 00:39:17

The news that Janata Bank, too must be probed for inappropriateness in loans sanctions close to Tk 7.42 billion (742 crore) has had more impact than the now usual, if...


137783. Barriers to development of researchPublished: March 09, 2016 22:14:54

Research is a part and parcel of economic and technological development of a country in order to ensure better living standard for the people and sustainable development. Developing countries like...


137784. The surging economyPublished: March 09, 2016 22:13:49

The other day this writer was asking one of his ex-students, who is now a teacher at the Dhaka University, what the size of the Bangladesh economy is. He replied,...


137785. Hassles and fundingPublished: March 09, 2016 00:31:05

The story about the hassles a public servant has to encounter to get his/her retirement benefit file cleared is an old one. The situation in this area has not changed...


137786. The importance of being poor!Published: March 08, 2016 22:30:50

The title may raise a few eyebrows. But the title justifies itself if we look at what is happening around us. Urban demand for consumer products continues to be sluggish...


137787. Bangladesh as a business destination — Japanese perspectivePublished: March 08, 2016 22:29:34

Bangladesh has been found to be an attractive business destination in a recently released survey report of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO). Although there are some ifs and buts,...


137788. For renaissance of the golden fibrePublished: March 08, 2016 00:51:31

Once upon a time, jute bags produced in this land used to make their way across the oceans. Dubbed 'the golden fibre', it carved the most distinctive agro-industry here stipulating...


137789. Equal opportunity to women benefits allPublished: March 08, 2016 00:49:17

As we today mark UN Women's Day, it is worth considering what the inequality between men and women costs South Asian countries and what can be done about it.   One...


137790. \"From the Glass Ceiling to a Carpet of Shards\"Published: March 07, 2016 22:49:26

As a boy growing up in post-war Korea, I remember asking about a tradition I observed: women going into labour would leave their shoes at the threshold and then look...


137791. Whither social safety net programmes?Published: March 07, 2016 22:20:27

Bangladesh is no longer a "basket case" as the country was derisively described by Henry Kissinger at its independence. It has attained lower middle-income status. Today none dies of starvation;...


137792. Cropping pattern and cropping intensityPublished: March 07, 2016 22:15:05

Cropping pattern is influenced by a host of factors. It is not only the size of the owned land but other important factors such as subsistence pressure, infrastructural facilities, information...


137793. A cat with sixth sense!Published: March 06, 2016 22:53:49

Rags-to-riches stories are no monopoly to fairy tales. Almost two-thirds of the world's 946 billionaires have indeed relied on their financial acumen, perseverance and sense of purpose to acquire wealth...


137794. The PPP inertiaPublished: March 06, 2016 22:53:12

The government has been trying hard to sell Private-Public Partnership (PPP) concept since 2009 to help implement large projects that would benefit the people. But the response from the private...


137795. Ramna Park dons a new garbPublished: March 05, 2016 22:11:39

Signs of the ravages of time are everywhere. Yet one can make out the lost beauty of the sprawling park. Arrays of tall trees stand still; dust-laden bushes remind one...


137796. PPP initiatives need to gather pacePublished: March 05, 2016 22:09:59

Response to undertaking projects on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiative is not that much encouraging.  Final agreements on only six projects have been signed so far while the feasibility studies of...


137797. Connecting to global value chainPublished: March 04, 2016 23:32:45

Evidence has shown that in certain sectors, developing countries are actually more integrated into global value chains than developed countries. The garments and textile industry in Asia provides an unparalleled...


137798. Closing Asia\'s infrastructure gapPublished: March 04, 2016 23:25:42

With the world looking to Asia to drive economic growth, it's time to remove a major roadblock to the region's prosperity-subpar infrastructure. We need to close the infrastructure gap, and...


137799. Tax collection: The dilemmaPublished: March 04, 2016 00:28:38

The Finance Minister will soon commence his annual ritual of consulting the high and mighty of the populace to prepare the draft of the next budget. This is a good...


137800. The politics of financial volatilityPublished: March 04, 2016 00:19:54

Twenty-four years ago, in the midst of an ugly US presidential campaign, Bill Clinton's campaign manager neatly summed up his candidate's message: "It's the economy, stupid." Today, as investors struggle...