Bangladesh News

Poverty ups despite bumper Boro output

Monday, September 22nd, 2008 Bangladesh's undernourished population has increased by 7.3 million -- from 39.6 million to 46.9 million -- largely because of the impact of higher food prices and the damage of Aman rice last year, says a report of FAO and WFP. The report says that as a result of rising food prices and general inflation, more than half of the country's 145 million population is now food insecure and nearly one-third is understood as severely food insecure. The special report prepared by FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission to Bangladesh was released on August 28. "Of particular concern is the finding that ... (read more)

Dhaka should ask for compensation, not aid

Sunday, September 7th, 2008 Bangladesh should not ask for charity or aid from industrially developed countries to combat climate change but demand compensation from them, speakers at a dialogue in the city said yesterday. The reason for this, they said, is that the industrially developed countries are themselves causing the change in climate. The comments came at a dialogue arranged by BBC Bangla Sanglap (Dialogue) at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre on “Bangladesh Sanglap on Climate Change” yesterday. Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, convener of Equity-BD and a panel member at the dialogue, said, "We should not be seeking help from developed countries. It is a question of ... (read more)

Climate change to spoil poverty feat

Thursday, July 17th, 2008 Chief Adviser (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday said poverty alleviation is a must for lasting peace and sustainable development, but climate change is a major factor in Bangladesh that casts adverse impacts on poverty. The head of the caretaker government made the remark when visiting Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Ole Danbolt Mjos made a courtesy call on him at his office in the afternoon. The CA said developing countries, particularly Bangladesh, are least responsible for climate change but worst sufferers from adversities stemming from climate change. He mentioned the back- to-back floods and cyclone 'Sidr' that wrought havoc on the ... (read more)

Sidr Victims : House rebuilding still a long wait

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 Eight months into losing their homes to Cyclone Sidr, nearly 23,000 families may not see their houses rebuilt before this winter, as the countries that promised assistance in the reconstruction are yet to complete their formalities. Saudi Arabia promised to construct 21,200 houses in Bagerhat, Borguna and Patuakhali -- the three districts affected heavily by the cyclone, while India promised 1,600 houses in 11 villages in Bagerhat, said officials at Ministry of Food and Disaster Management. Saudi Arabia has already completed the financing formalities for the assistance and India is still in the middle of the process, added the officials. It is taking ... (read more)

Sidr Victims: Waiting through the rain for succour

Sunday, July 13th, 2008 It was raining for two days. The weather was not so bearable for fifty-seven-year old Lalmeher Begum of Southkhali who is an asthmatic patient. On the first day, all stuffs she had in her torn tent got soaked. The next day the floor submerged. Lalmeher was taking preparations to move elsewhere, may be to the nearby school building when she heard someone from Dhaka was talking with people and writing their names. With high hopes, she rushed to that tea stall. "Are you writing names?" Lalmeher, the skinny, old woman, wearing a wet torn saree, asked breathlessly. "Please jot my name on ... (read more)

CA for Saarc pressure on rich nations to cut emissions

Friday, July 4th, 2008 Chief Adviser (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday called for putting collective pressure by Saarc on the developed nations for making a unilateral and unconditional commitment to reduce their greenhouse gas emission levels to save the vulnerable regions of the world from the perils of climate change. “The world cannot, perhaps, go back to the pre-industrial age of carbon emission but it can surely contain a further surge in global warming. We can at least freeze the emission of greenhouse gases at an acceptable level. But this will require urgent collective actions. And it'll require the large industrialised economies--the historical polluters--to cut ... (read more)

S Asia braces for climate change fallout

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 Imagine the baby born today in Dhaka. The likelihood is that she will see her birthplace sloshing under water by the time she is at the end of her lifespan. Bangladesh itself will then reduce to 20 percent of its present size, leaving only the highlands of Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sylhet peeking out of water. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts 35 million could flee Bangladesh 's flooded delta by 2050. Maldives , Sri Lanka , India , Pakistan or Nepal will not be much better off than Bangladesh, if not worse. For example, Maldives is expected not ... (read more)

Per capita income leaps to $599

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 Per capita income in Bangladesh has shot up to $ 599 this fiscal year from the previous year's $523, demonstrating that the country's overall income has significantly gone up despite many odds. The odds include fall in growth by one to three percentage points in agriculture, manufacturing, construction and service sectors. According to the latest national accounts data of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the increase in per capita income is very significant because it (per capita income) used to be $440 in fiscal 2003-4, $463 in 04-5 and $476 in 05-6. "Per capita income marked a rise by nearly ... (read more)

Tk 99,962cr budget banks on high borrowing

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 The government yesterday proposed an expansionary budget of Tk 99,962 crore for the next fiscal year (FY09), which is 26 percent bigger than that of FY08 with big outlays for social safety nets, subsidies, interest payments and block allocation. In the proposed budget, non-development expenditure has received a 38 percent boost while in a rare move the government has cut development expenditure by 3.39 percent. To pay for the big spending spree, the government has pushed up revenue target to Tk 69,362 crore, which is 21 percent higher than the target in the original budget of FY2007-08. But, a large deficit of Tk ... (read more)

Perils of bad times

Monday, June 9th, 2008 It is going to be an unusual year for any finance minister and a perilous one as well. The pressures on the economy are rising from too many fronts and so the stakes of tackling them are also going up. Along with the economic factors, the non-economic issues are becoming ever larger and may invade into the economic playing field. It is an unusual year because this is the second year the country is without an elected government that has put reforms -- institutional and political -- above everything. And as the election promised by December is approaching, people are ... (read more)