At least 11 of mushrooming private commercial banks (PCBs) in Bangladesh faced with financial vulnerability mainly for a lack of proper liquidity management, bankers said, warranting government intervention. Weak corporate governance has also encouraged aggressive lending that has also pushed up the volume of classified loans significantly at these banks, they explained. The banks, whose boards have already been reconstituted following regime change in state power, are Islami Bank Bangladesh, Social Islami Bank, Global Islami Bank, Union Bank, National Bank, First Security Islami Bank, Bangladesh Commerce Bank, Al Arafah Islami Bank, United Commercial Bank, Exim Bank and IFIC Bank.

ঘনবসতিপূর্ণ পুরান ঢাকাকে গুরুত্ব দিয়ে মেট্রোরেলের রুট পুনর্বিন্যাস করছে পরিকল্পনা কমিশন। এক্ষেত্রে এমআরটি লাইন-৫ সাউদার্ন রুটের পবিবর্তে এমআরটি লাইন-২ রুটকে বিকল্প ভাবছে কমিশন। অনুমোদনের অপেক্ষায় থাকা এমআরটি-৫-এর সাউদার্ন রুট হবে গাবতলী থেকে দশেরকান্দি পর্যন্ত। আর এমআরটি লাইন-২ গাবতলী থেকে নারায়ণগঞ্জ পর্যন্ত যাবে; এর মধ্যে একটি শাখা পুরান ঢাকার মধ্য দিয়ে সদরঘাট পর্যন্ত যাবে। নতুন রুটটি শহরের আরও অনেক বেশিসংখ্যক মানুষকে সেবা দেওয়ার পাশাপাশি নগরীর গুরুত্বপূর্ণ এলাকাগুলোর ট্রানজিট চাহিদা মেটাতে সহায়ক হবে বলে আশা করা হচ্ছে।

জাতীয় গ্রিডে প্রতিদিন গ্যাস যুক্ত হচ্ছে ২ হাজার ৫৯০ মিলিয়ন ঘনফুট। এর মধ্যে মার্কিন কোম্পানি শেভরন পরিচালিত বিবিয়ানা গ্যাস ক্ষেত্র থেকে আসছে ১ হাজার ২ মিলিয়ন ঘনফুট বা ৩৯ শতাংশ। যদিও জাতীয় গ্রিডে গ্যাসের বৃহত্তম এ উৎসের মজুদ এরই মধ্যে নিঃশেষ হয়ে পড়ার কথা। বিশেষজ্ঞরা বলছেন, বিবিয়ানা থেকে গ্যাসের সরবরাহ বন্ধ হয়ে গেলে তা দেশের জ্বালানি ও অর্থনৈতিক নিরাপত্তাকে মারাত্মক বিপর্যয়ে ফেলতে পারে। হয়ে উঠতে পারে অন্তর্বর্তী সরকারের জন্য বড় ঝুঁকির কারণ।

The Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) has struggled to achieve profitability although it has invested approximately Tk14,000 crore in the capital market as of March this year, marking a substantial 460% increase since 2010. In 2010, according to ICB's financial report, the company recorded an operating income of Tk563 crore and a net profit of Tk436 crore with capital market investments totalling Tk2,480 crore. However, by the end of March this year, ICB reported an operating loss of Tk35.30 crore and a net loss of Tk267 crore, despite its capital market investments growing to Tk13,800 crore.

After a predictable setback in the country's export earnings in the last fiscal year, the interim government has set a fresh target for the current fiscal year (FY25). The new total export target is set at US$57.50 billion, a figure that carries significant weight as it is 13.30 per cent higher than the actual receipt of FY24. Of this, $50 billion is targeted as earnings from exports of goods and the rest from services. It is to be noted that the country fetched $44.48 billion in exports of goods in the last fiscal year, which was 4.34 per cent lower than the earnings of exports in FY23. Again, the actual receipt in the previous fiscal year missed the original target of $62 billion by 39 per cent

The interim government has initiated a radical shift in annual development plan (ADP) implementation. The current five-year plan that forms the basis of ADPs has been suspended and the new focus is now on skill development of country's human resources, which is a major shift from several previous ADPs that had prioritised infrastructure development. To term the plans radical would be an understatement. For instance, with a view to quicker decision-making and implementation, the current administration has empowered individual ministries to approve projects. It has become abundantly clear that the top-down decision-making approach whereby projects were undertaken whimsically, while wholly or partially disregarding a need-based approach had resulted in very poor ADP implementation. This had been a major bone of contention with bilateral and multilateral foreign development partners who committed billions of dollars in grants and loans only to see partial implementation. Since there was hardly any need felt at the top for either transparency or accountability, it is interesting to note that a taskforce has been set up to deliver direction of the economy and submit a report within the next three months so as to give current policymakers a bird's eye view about the state of the economy.

Bangladesh Development Bank (BDBL) PLC is unwilling to merge with the state-run Sonali Bank PLC with an eye to bring back confidence in customers, sources said.The BDBL has sought one-year exemption from maintaining the stipulated statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) in line with the existing Banking Companies Act 1991.Then BDBL Managing Director Md Habibur Rahman Gazi sent a letter to the Bangladesh Bank (BB), seeking a waiver from merging with Sonali Bank.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has recently rejected the initial public offering (IPO) application of Zenith Islami Life Insurance, which sought to raise Tk15 crore from the capital market to meet regulatory requirements and expand its business. The insurance company had planned to issue 1.5 crore ordinary shares at a face value of Tk10 each. According to a BSEC official who preferred not to be named, the application was rejected due to several deficiencies. "The company is now required to address these issues and resubmit the necessary documents. Once these requirements are fulfilled, they may reapply for the IPO with a new set of documents."

When OpenAI introduced ChatGPT, a virtual assistant chatbot, it left people intrigued and surprised. Over time, it became a popular tool for seeking help with projects, asking questions, or even just having a conversation. While users typically have to initiate interactions, recently, a post that has gone viral on social media shows ChatGPT starting an exchange itself. Redditor "SentuBill" shared about the incident with a snapshot of their chat with the AI model.