Search results for: EC

Jeff Bezos will seek to shift space venture Blue Origin into hyperdrive

REUTERS 2021-02-09 10:53:01

Freed from his daily obligations at Amazon.com Inc, Jeff Bezos is expected to turn up the heat on his space venture, Blue Origin, as it faces a pivotal year and fierce competition from Elon Musk&rsquo...

Emerging market central bank rate cuts fade further

Reuters 2021-02-09 10:02:04

Emerging market central banks delivered just one interest rate cut in December, signalling the fading out of an easing cycle that had started in 2019 and had exceeded the cuts during the 2008 financia...

Facebook will take down 'false' vaccine claims

Reuters 2021-02-09 10:01:30

Facebook said on Monday it will expand a list of false health claims it bans from the platform to include debunked claims about vaccines in general, such as that they are toxic or cause autism. The s...

Twitter seeking talks with India after order to remove accounts

Reuters 2021-02-09 09:39:47

Twitter said on Monday it was seeking talks with India’s technology minister, days after the country asked the US social media giant to take down 1,178 accounts it says are spreading misinformat...

Vietnamese firm to charge Tk 140m for continuing support to automated VAT admin

DOULOT AKTER MALA 2021-02-09 08:24:26

The government will have to pay Tk 140 million to the Vietnamese firm FPT from its own coffer as per contract with the company to avail its support for continuing automated VAT administration after Ju...

SDG attainment would be tough without effective bureaucracy

FE REPORT 2021-02-09 08:11:08

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Iqbal Mahmood on Monday said the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) would be tough without effective and efficient bureaucratic practices. "...

Project aid in pipeline soars to $48b as state agencies fail to utilise funds

FHM Humayan Kabir 2021-02-09 08:04:30

The volume of undisbursed project aid (PA) ballooned to more than US$48 billion until December last, as many public agencies failed to utilise the same, officials said on Monday. The amount is more...

Cyclone Amphan, COVID-19 pandemic push shrimp farmers into poverty

-- 2021-02-08 19:46:36

This time last year the west coast of Bangladesh was a thriving place for shrimp farmers. It was a decent enough living and there was a healthy export market. Majnu Sardar, who lives in Koyra upazila...

Chip designer Dialog confirms $6.0b Renesas offer talks

-- 2021-02-08 11:01:01

Japan’s Renesas Electronics Corp has said it is in talks to buy British-based Dialog Semiconductor in a deal that would bolster its automotive chip business and value the Apple Inc supplier at a...

Interest rate spread widens as small savers hit hard

SIDDIQUE ISLAM 2021-02-08 08:54:31

The interest rate spread widened further in December last as the banks cut the deposit rates deeper than that of the lending rates, bankers have said. The weighted average spread between the lendin...

Customs delay bites Bangladesh businesses

DOULOT AKTER MALA 2021-02-08 08:51:01

Businesses are facing delay and counting higher costs while complying with customs documentation at the ports, although the authorities have made significant improvements in recent times. In 50 per c...

Banks can give a maximum of 30pc dividend for 2020

FE REPORT 2021-02-08 08:45:35

The banking companies would be able to declare maximum 30 per cent dividend, including 15 per cent cash, for the year ended on December 31, 2020. The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has set the limit for the ba...

World Bank okays $40m for Bangladesh to expand e-GP coverage

-- 2021-02-07 17:14:03

The World Bank has approved $40 million to help Bangladesh increase the coverage of electronic government procurement (e-GP) with new features to respond to the COVID 19 challenges. This additio...

Apparel exports to US drop about 12pc in 2020

MONIRA MUNNI 2021-02-07 09:51:51

The country's apparel exports to the United States fell by 11.73 per cent to US$ 5.22 billion in 2020 year on year mainly due to the adverse impact of Covid-19 pandemic. Bangladesh fetched $ 5.92 bil...

LDC graduation’s gains to outweigh any losses, says Kamal

-- 2021-02-06 21:23:26

Finance Minister A H M Mustafa Kamal on Saturday said graduation from the Least Developed Country (LDC) status would be a matter of great honour and pride for the country. "Such pride and prestige ca...

LDC graduation to bring new opportunities, FBCCI president hopes

FE ONLINE DESK 2021-02-06 19:25:52

FBCCI President Sheikh Fazle Fahim has said Bangladesh would get new facilities in commerce graduating out of the least developed country (LDC). Describing LDC graduation as a big achievement for the...

China's garment industry sees lower revenues in 2020

-- 2021-02-06 14:46:47

China's garment industry registered lower profits and revenue in 2020, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has shown. Profits of the country's major garment enterprises came...

Nigerian woman set to become WTO’s first female leader

-- 2021-02-06 13:49:40

Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was poised to become the first African and first woman to lead the embattled World Trade Organization (WTO) after a South Korean rival withdrew on Friday and the Un...

Google opens paid-for Australia news platform

-- 2021-02-06 11:22:54

Tech giant Google on Friday launched a platform in Australia offering news it has paid for, striking its own content deals with publishers in a drive to show legislation proposed by Canberra to enforc...

'Many corporations doctor financial statements'

FE REPORT 2021-02-06 10:40:47

Many corporations are learned to manipulate their financial statements through supplying 'false information', which often misleads investors and causes monetary loss to them. Adoption of informatio...

Fast-track projects to undergo review as half of mega schemes go off-track

FHM Humayan Kabir 2021-02-06 09:46:32

A high-level review of the implementation of government's 'fast-track' projects will take place soon, officials said on Friday. The first-track project monitoring taskforce, headed by principal sec...

Investment decline in productive assets spells trouble for poorer nations

UNB 2021-02-05 22:56:53

Although developing countries attracted a record share of global foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2020, finance for infrastructure and productive sectors fell significantly, weakening their COVID-19...

India says restructuring export basket a must for growth similar to Bangladesh

-- 2021-02-05 18:31:53

India needs to restructure its export basket on lines of Bangladesh for achieving achieve high growth in exports, says Economic Survey, an annual document of India's Ministry of Finance. It adds that...

Scientists discover tiny chameleon that can fit on fingertip

Reuters 2021-02-05 16:46:37

Scientists say they discovered a sunflower seed-sized subspecies of chameleon that may well be the smallest reptile on Earth. Two of the miniature lizards, one male and one female, were discovered by...

Google phone cameras to read heart, breathing rates

-- 2021-02-05 14:05:04

Cameras on Google Pixel smartphones will be able to measure heart and breathing rates starting next month, in one of the first applications of Alphabet Inc’s artificial intelligence technology t...

Vaccine passports: Towards normality or problem?

-- 2021-02-05 13:24:57

Governments and developers around the world are exploring the potential use of “vaccine passports” as a way of reopening the economy by identifying those protected against the coronavirus....

Instagram disables hundreds of accounts tied to hacking

-- 2021-02-05 12:25:54

Facebook Inc on Thursday took down hundreds of Instagram accounts that were hacked and sold for their high-value usernames, including the accounts of people behind this activity. A Facebook spokeswom...

Regulator suspends commission for non-life insurance agents

JASIM UDDIN HAROON 2021-02-05 10:31:00

Insurance regulator on Thursday suspended providing all types of commission for the country’s non-life insurance companies. The Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority issued a circular...

Bangladesh government reduces target to borrow from banks

SIDDIQUE ISLAM 2021-02-05 08:34:00

The government has slashed its bank borrowing target by more than 3.0 per cent to Tk 820 billion for the current fiscal year, compelled by lower implementation of the annual development programme (ADP...

Spotify outlook weakens as uncertainty persists

-- 2021-02-04 11:20:09

Spotify on Wednesday forecast that revenue and paid subscribers would miss Wall Street estimates this quarter due to uncertainty over how long the coronavirus crisis would last and with it a surge in...