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1 month ago | 
thedailystar.net | Rejaul Karim Byron |Asifur Rahman
The interim government is planning to prepare a small budget with a 6 percent GDP growth target for the next fiscal year considering the sluggish economy and low revenue collection. Officials said the finance ministry has already started working to this end after receiving directives from the chief adviser, with Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed set to begin pre-budgetary meetings with different stakeholders from next week.
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1 month ago | 
thedailystar.net | Rejaul Karim Byron |Asifur Rahman
Revenue collection fell significantly short of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) target in the first six months of the current fiscal year, with the floor for the fourth instalment of an ongoing $4.7 billion loan programme proving too ambitious. The government raised Tk 162,892 crore in total revenue, including from both National Board of Revenue (NBR) and non-NBR sources, according to finance ministry data, missing the IMF's target to collect Tk 215,120 crore by Tk 52,228 crore.
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2 months ago | 
thedailystar.net | Rejaul Karim Byron |Asifur Rahman
Proposes task force on power sector The interim government must suspend the inefficient and costly power plants and renegotiate the capacity payment terms with the private power producers as the structure incentivises inefficiency, according to the report of the task force.
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2 months ago | 
thedailystar.net | Rejaul Karim Byron |Asifur Rahman
Subsidies for the power sector are likely to balloon 83 percent this fiscal year as the interim government is planning to clear all arrears owed to private power producers. An additional Tk 25,000- Tk 30,000 crore may be kept in the revised budget to pay off arrears, which will be added to the allocation for subsidies, according to the finance ministry's initial plans.
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Jan 9, 2025 | 
thedailystar.net | Rejaul Karim Byron |Asifur Rahman
Government debt increased 13.3 percent last fiscal year to a record Tk 18.3 lakh crore, raising concerns about repayment amid the low revenue mobilisation. Domestic debt accounted for 55.7 percent of the total debt stock and foreign debt the rest, according to the quarterly debt-bulletin report of the finance division, which was released yesterday. This takes the debt-GDP ratio to 36.3 percent, still in the safe territory as per the International Monetary Fund's calculations.
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Jan 8, 2025 | 
thedailystar.net | Asifur Rahman
The Bangladesh Independent Power Producers Association (BIPPA) has urged the government to clear half of its overdue payments, amounting to Tk 9,000 crore, within the next 10 days or contend with disruptions to the electricity supply during Ramadan. In a letter signed by BIPPA President David Hasanat, the association said the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) is obligated under power purchase agreements (PPA) to clear payments within 45 days.
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Jan 7, 2025 | 
thedailystar.net | Asifur Rahman |Shaheen Mollah
Gas crisis has been forcing Farzana Akter and Rabiul Islam to eat at restaurants for two weeks. The gas stove at their home near 60-Feet Road in the capital's Agargaon only works for around two hours after 4:00pm, and Farzana, a nurse at a government hospital, tries to cook within that period. For a few hours after midnight, the gas supply becomes normal, and the couple often stay awake to cook their dinner at those hours.
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Jan 6, 2025 | 
thedailystar.net | Asifur Rahman
BERC now assessing new pricing formula Industrial and captive power connections would soon have to pay a much higher tariff for gas usage after the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources decided in principle to implement a new pricing structure to reflect the fluctuating global market. Instead of a fixed rate, the new pricing structure will be based on the actual cost of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG).
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Dec 9, 2024 | 
thedailystar.net | Asifur Rahman
Seven purchased tender documents, but ultimately none showed up Seven global oil and gas companies purchased tender documents for gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal, but none submitted the papers within the deadline, which ended yesterday. The deadline was initially set for September 9 before being extended by a month. Yet, no company turned up with the documents. Petrobangla Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker confirmed the matter to The Daily Star.
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Dec 9, 2024 | 
thedailystar.net | Asifur Rahman
Seven purchased tender documents, but none submitted papers finally Seven global oil and gas companies purchased tender documents for gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal, but none submitted the papers within the deadline that ended today. The document submission deadline was September 9, and with a three months' extension it finally ended on December 9, but none came up with the documents within that schedule.
