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What the papers say

Trade Fair Kicks Off

A weekly round up of articles about employment, the labor market, skills training and workforce development. This week’s round up is drawn from The Daily Star. Here is the news for the week ending 4th January, 2018.

This week in the Bangladesh English Press…

…we hear about the opening of the month-long Dhaka International trade fair. Women’s empowerment is seen in sports. Differently abled people get opportunities during the recent Information and Communications Technology job fair. And the government wants businesses to expand their markets to increase export earnings.

Business, Investments, Trade and Growth

The official Development Bank of Austria has provided City Bank of Dhaka with a fund of $15 million. The aim is to support the increasing needs of the city’s small and medium enterprises, garments and offshore banking portfolios. The financial deal took place at a closure ceremony in Vienna recently. Officials from City Bank and Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank (OeEW) participated.

The month-long mega-event Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) started in the capital on Monday. Manufacturers showcase Bangladeshi products to boost exports. This time companies from both home and abroad will display their products in around 600 stalls.

The Prime Minister advised businessmen to explore new markets and improve the quality of products to boost export earnings. Bangladesh currently exports 750 items to 199 countries across the globe. The export basket could be expanded and improved.

Development spending by the Government of Bangladesh rose 40 percent year-on-year to 330 billion Taka in the first five months of this fiscal year. The government received the funding from Asian Development Bank (ADB) as foreign aid.

 

Education and the Labour Market

According to Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE), 1,242 workers died across the country in 2017 due to a lack of occupational safety in the workplace. The figures are based on news items run by 15 newspapers and information gathered directly by the OSHE.

The Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) has decided to included the women’s football team, and not the men’s team, in its contingent for the upcoming Asian Games. The Games will be held in Indonesia from August 18th to September 2nd.

Around 176 differently abled people got information and communication technology (ICT) jobs at the seventeen companies participating in the daylong ICT job fair.

Silk industry in the hills is prospering. The introduction of the new culture in the region called sericulture: raising silkworms to produce silk thread has helped the industry to produce large quantity of silk. Around 828 families across four upazilas in Khagrachhari are trying their hand at sericulture.

Financial Services

Despite the increased number of people migrating abroad for work , the inflow of remittance has declined in 2017. Remittance inflow fell 0.89 percent compared to the previous year, according to the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU). The information was disclosed at a press conference at the capital’s Jayita Press Club on Thursday.

The decline in remittance since fiscal year 2015-16 as per Bangladesh Bank data has become a matter of concern for the government. The process of sending money through illegal channels by many expatriate Bangladeshis is said to be a major reason behind this decline.

Revenue collection grew 18 percent year-on-year to 753 billion Taka during the period of July-November of the current fiscal year according to official data. The growth was driven by rising imports and increased domestic economic activities. Development activities carried out by the government are one of the major sources of revenue.

And that’s the news for the week ending 4th January, 2018.