Search results for: EC

US banks deploy AI to monitor customers, workers

REUTERS 2021-04-19 17:31:56

Several U.S. banks have started deploying camera software that can analyze customer preferences, monitor workers and spot people sleeping near ATMs, even as they remain wary about possible backlash ov...

Structural reforms unlikely, says Kamal blaming pandemic resurgence

FE REPORT 2021-04-19 09:16:06

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Sunday said the budget for upcoming fiscal year will strike a balance between the government's revenue collection and the profit earning of the businesses. The...

Mars helicopter flight test promises Wright Brothers moment for NASA

-- 2021-04-18 21:05:14

NASA hopes to score a 21st-century Wright Brothers moment on Monday as it attempts to send a miniature helicopter buzzing over the surface of Mars in what would be the first powered, controlled flight...

e-fund transfer system resumes at Bangladesh Bank after five days

-- 2021-04-18 15:10:38

Inter-bank cheque settlement and electronic fund transfer system of Bangladesh Bank resumed on Sunday morning after five days of suspension. The system was suspended on Tuesday last due to a technica...

Bangladesh sees 17m 'new poor', loses 3pc jobs during pandemic

FE REPORT 2021-04-18 10:01:59

The Covid-19 pandemic has rendered about 3.0 per cent of the country's labour force jobless and created an estimated 16.38 million 'new poor', a study report has revealed. Day-labourers, numbering ab...

Experts for more growth-friendly, transparent tax system

-- 2021-04-17 22:58:40

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) should reduce tax deduction at source (TDS) following global practices and need to modernise and simplify the country's tax system. The regulator should offer ince...

Business leaders emphasise tax reform for attracting FDI, expanding exports for recovery

FE ONLINE REPORT 2021-04-17 21:45:04

A panel of business leaders and experts on Saturday suggested removing regulatory, fiscal and legal barriers to investment so that both local and foreign investors can invest and do business smoothly...

Google Earth's timelapse feature puts a spotlight on climate change

REUTERS 2021-04-17 21:14:44

Google Earth has added a timelapse feature to the popular platform, providing a glimpse into how climate change, urbanization and deforestation have altered the planet over the last four decades. Cre...

Youth unemployment, growth of informal sector may hinder SDG 8 achievement, experts say

FE Online Report 2021-04-17 17:35:01

Country’s youth unemployment, rising employment in the informal sector and child labour, which are worsening in the pandemic, may restrain the achievement of SDG 8 and economic growth by 2030....

Three astronauts return to Earth after months in space

Reuters 2021-04-17 14:51:43

Three members of the International Space Station's crew returned safely to Earth on Saturday on a Russian Soyuz craft, Russia's Roscosmos space agency reported. The Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft carrying NA...

Livelihoods, recovery to be in focus in next budget

SYFUL ISLAM 2021-04-17 10:00:17

The national budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 will focus on measures to face Covid-19 challenges, save lives and livelihoods of people and recover the economy. Officials said the budget would be...

Bangladesh's 2020 debt rises to almost 40pc of GDP

JASIM UDDIN HAROON 2021-04-17 09:22:58

The government debt of Bangladesh surged to a new high in 2020 than in 2019. However, the country's other sectoral debts declined during the period under review. The picture came up in an analysis on...

India's 'Solar Man' lights path out of poverty with clean power

REUTERS 2021-04-16 20:29:01

Since he was a child, Santipada Gon Chaudhuri had sought ways to help India's rural poor, so when the electrical engineer was invited to visit a co-worker's home in the Himalayan village of Herma in t...

China’s economy grows at record pace in first quarter

Reuters 2021-04-16 14:43:40

China’s economic recovery quickened sharply in the first quarter from last year’s deep coronavirus slump, propelled by stronger demand at home and abroad and continued government support f...

India to spend $200m in next 5-7 years to promote hydrogen use

Reuters 2021-04-16 10:02:13

India will spend $200 million over the next five to seven years to promote the use of hydrogen, Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi, the top bureaucrat at India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, said at a v...

Inflation rises to 5.47pc in March

FE REPORT 2021-04-16 09:36:37

The point-to-point inflation increased to 5.47 per cent in March last as the prices of some essential items went up mainly in the rural areas, according to official data released on Thursday. The B...

Bangladesh's development budget execution lowest in 11 years

FHM HUMAYAN KABIR 2021-04-16 09:16:44

The government agencies implemented only about 42 per cent of the revised development projects in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year (FY) which is the lowest in more than a decade, of...

Countermeasures against the upsurge of Covid-19 crisis

Shafiun N. Shimul 2021-04-15 21:30:29

The pandemic situation in the country is breaking its record every day. The newly found South African variant, though not necessarily virulent as evident in other countries, is more infectious. Howeve...

Planning beyond lockdown for a balance between life and livelihood

Nazneen Ahmed 2021-04-15 21:20:07

As a new surge of the Covid-19 had struck Bangladesh recently, the government announced a seven-day nationwide lockdown for one week (5-11 April). The target of this lockdown was to limit the transmis...

UAE partners with Japan to send rover to the moon in 2022

-- 2021-04-15 10:48:59

Lunar exploration company ispace will transport a United Arab Emirates rover to the moon in 2022, the company said on Wednesday, as the UAE pushes for rapid expansion in the space exploration business...

Pace of US recovery accelerates

-- 2021-04-15 10:19:31

The US economy picked up speed going into the spring on the back of growing confidence among consumers, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell said it is on track for stron...

UN finds hundreds of millions of women living lives ‘governed by others’

FE ONLINE DESK 2021-04-14 19:58:32

Nearly half of all women are denied their bodily autonomy, according to data from 57 countries, UNFPA’s flagship report announced on Wednesday. The 2021 State of World Population report, titled...

EU to borrow around 150 billion euros every year for recovery fund

REUTERS 2021-04-14 17:23:13

The European Commission plans to borrow around 150 billion euros annually until 2026 to finance the bloc’s unprecedented plan to make its economy greener and more digitalised, making it the bigg...

Bangladesh receives more than $1.0b World Bank financing for vaccination, meeting Covid-19 challenges

FE Online Desk 2021-04-14 13:13:30

The government of Bangladesh has signed three financing agreements worth over $1.04 billion with the World Bank to respond to the pandemic and to build resilience to future crises, including vaccinati...

Facebook oversight board widens scope to rule on content

-- 2021-04-14 10:42:44

Facebook users will now be able to ask the company’s independent oversight board to rule on content that has been left up on the platform, not just content that has been taken down, in a key exp...

Covid pandemic and economic crisis: Why does the impact on labour markets vary?

Rizwanul Islam 2021-04-13 20:02:32

Although the adverse effects of economic crises get transmitted to labour markets quickly, the results vary from country to country. While such variations have their roots in the systems and structure...

WHO, agencies urge countries to suspend sale of live wild mammals at markets

-- 2021-04-13 18:25:21

International agencies including the World Health Organization urged countries on Tuesday to suspend the sale of live wild mammals in food markets, warning they may be the source of more than 70 per c...

Japan not keen on joint FTA study

MUNIMA SULTANA AND SYFUL ISLAM 2021-04-13 13:13:52

Japan has shown its reluctance to take forward a proposal by Bangladesh for conducting a joint feasibility study on the possibility to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries. The...

Bangladesh's poverty rate rises to 30pc amid pandemic

FE Report 2021-04-13 11:18:11

As the country is set to embrace a 'hard' lockdown from tomorrow (Wednesday), the World Bank (WB) on Monday released the Bangladesh Development Update (BDU) highlighting the impact of the Covid-19 on...

Bangladesh recovery beckons: WB

FE ONLINE DESK 2021-04-12 12:50:22

Bangladesh’s economy is showing nascent signs of recovery backed by a rebound in exports, strong remittance inflows, and the ongoing vaccination programme. This has been reflected in a new Worl...