As Bangladesh’s interim government prepares economic reforms, a new survey from the Economic Intelligence Bangladesh (EIB) reveals that curbing corruption, controlling inflation, and rebuilding foreign exchange reserves are the nation's most critical priorities. The survey, conducted by The Business Standard in collaboration with DataSense in September 2024, gathered insights from 12 leading economists and academics across Bangladesh. A striking 42% of respondents identified fighting corruption and money laundering as the most urgent challenge, emphasizing its impact on the country’s economic stability. Prominent voices in the survey emphasized the pressing need to address corruption, with Professor Mustafizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), stressing the importance of legal action. "Corruption and money laundering can be checked by proactively making use of legal means to bring the perpetrators to justice," Rahman said. He also urged the government to partner with other nations to recover stolen assets and hire internationally recognized professionals in asset recovery. "Community groups can be organized to act as watchdogs against corruption," he added. With inflation straining household budgets, 25% of the economists identified controlling inflation as a priority. Former World Bank lead economist Zahid Hussain called for immediate intervention in the food supply chain. "The interim government must prioritise controlling essential food inflation, neutralise the syndicates on extortion in the supply chain and deter collusive practices by big players in markets such as rice, flour, lentil, onions, edible oil and such other essential items." Seventeen percent of respondents emphasized the importance of rebuilding Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves, which have been depleted amid global economic challenges. Dr. M A Razzaque, chairman of the Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID), stressed the need for a market-friendly exchange rate system alongside anti-corruption measures. "Money gathered through corrupt practices is often siphoned off abroad, putting additional pressure on our reserves," he warned. Razzaque also advocated for renegotiating loan terms to ease repayment pressures and securing concessional loans with longer grace periods to support export sector development. A diversified export structure, supported by tariff rationalization, will be critical to increasing export earnings, he said. Attracting foreign investment, especially in the export sector, should also be a priority, he added. Economists involved in the survey agree that immediate and decisive action is crucial to stabilize the economy and foster long-term growth. The consensus highlights the need for comprehensive reforms to address corruption, reduce inflation, and restore foreign reserves, setting the stage for sustainable development in Bangladesh.  

A recently published report jointly conducted by The Asia Foundation and BIGD of BRAC University revealed that only 39 percent of the participants agreed that Bangladesh is heading in the right political direction and about 48 percent disagreed. The report is based on a survey titled ‘The State of Bangladesh’s Political Governance, Development and Society’. It sheds light on Bangladeshi citizen’s perception about the political, economic, and social atmosphere of the country. The survey collected data from 10,240 adult men and women, representing all 64 districts, between November 2022 and January 2023. The same survey was also conducted in 2019, 2018, and 2017. The survey respondents were asked whether they thought that the country is heading in the right direction – socially, politically, and economically. IRI Survey: What accounts for Sheikh Hasina’s sustained popularity? While a modest majority, 58 percent, agreed that Bangladesh is heading in the right direction socially, 39 percent disagreed, the report said. This perception was the lowest for economic direction, with only 25 percent saying that the country is heading in the right economic direction and whereas 70 percent disagreeing. These percentages, across all three domains, are significantly lower than what they were in 2019, indicating a considerable deterioration of public perceptions about the country’s future. On the question of democracy, about 54 percent of the respondents in 2022 agreed that one party plays a dominant role in politics and governance, which was reported by an even higher percentage, 72, of the respondents in 2019. Vegetables and egg prices decline a bit, but not enough to calm consumers: UNB market survey However, in 2019, only 11 percent thought that the dominant party’s impact on politics was negative. This year this percentage is notably higher – 34 percent, said the report. Regarding the Rohingya crisis, 34 percent of respondents said they would welcome them in their community in 2018, which was reduced to 15 percent in 2019 and to 13 percent in 2022. About 44 percent feel that the government is doing a lot and 44 percent were of the opinion that the government is doing enough to support the refugees, it said. About Padma Bridge, 72 percent said that it is the most important success in Bangladesh; 47 percent credit the bridge’s construction to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, while 28 percent credit the Bangladesh government. Unemployed population increased by 2.70 lakh in 1st quarter of 2023: BBS survey The report also identified that the lower income group’s positive response regarding the country’s economic direction, in particular, decreased considerably compared to the higher income group. “In 2019, about 84 percent of respondents with a monthly income of Tk 5,000 or less said the country is heading in the right economic direction; only 32 percent said so in 2022,” it said. “As the major problems facing Bangladesh, price hike came out as the top problem, mentioned by 44 percent of the study respondents. And when specifically asked about the impact of price hike, about 84 percent of all respondents in 2022 said that it has severely impacted their lives. Other significant problems mentioned by the respondents included business downturn, unemployment, corruption, and political instability,” the report added. CPD survey reveals Tk 1500cr social safety funds spent on ineligible beneficiaries

The average life expectancy in Bangladesh dropped by six months to 72.3 years in 2021, from 72.8 in 2020, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) shared today. According to the BBS, life expectancy for males was 70.6 years, down from 71.2 in 2020. For females, it was 74.1 years in 2021, down from 74.5 years in 2020. This means women live an average of 3.5 years longer than men. The BBS officially released the result of Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics 2021 at a function held at its auditorium in Dhaka’s Agargaon. Planning Minister MA Mannan was the chief guest at the function. Statistics and Information Management Department Secretary Shahnaz Arefin spoke at the function while BBS Director General Motiar Rahman presided over the event. Project Director Alamgir Hossain presented the results of the report on Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics Survey. He said the decrease in average life expectancy is quite insignificant. He commented that this might have happened due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the survey, the estimate for 2021, the population of the country is 16.17 crore. Out of this, 8.14 crore are male and 8.13 crore 13 are female. The annual population growth rate is 1.37 percent as before.

The average loan amount of each family in Bangladesh was Tk 70,506 in 2022, up from Tk 37,743 in 2016, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data shared recently. One-third of households in Bangladesh are now in debt. This information has emerged in the latest household income-expenditure survey of BBS. According to the survey, 37 percent of the country’s households have taken loans or borrowed money last year. Read more: Bangladesh's literacy rate rises to 74 percent, poverty down by 5.6 percent: Survey During the survey – from January to December last year, an average of 37.03 percent of households reported taking loans or borrowing money. In the 2016 survey, 29.70 percent of the households were borrowing. As such, in 6 years, the borrowing of families in the country has increased by more than 7 percent. Last Wednesday, BBS published the preliminary results of Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2022. Read more: Bangladesh’s total labour force is 7.34 crore, 26.3 lakh are jobless: BBS More rural households in debt than in cities According to the BBS survey, more households in the villages are in debt than in cities. In rural areas, an average of 39.35 percent of families are in debt. In urban areas, this percentage is 32.11. In 2016, the average household debt in urban areas was 22.10 percent. And in rural areas that percentage was 32.70. Read more: Inflation rises to 9.33 percent in March, highest in 7 months In 2022, the number of households in debt increased by an average of 10 percent in urban areas, and by 6.5 percentage in rural areas, the BBS survey stated.

The overall Business Confidence Index (BCI) for 2022 stood at 74.4, indicating a positive outlook for business conditions over the next six months, according to the Bangladesh Business Confidence Survey Report 2022-23. Business entities across Bangladesh are confident that the volume of orders for the manufacturing sector, demand for services in the service sector, selling prices, and business activity will increase in the next six months.  As a result, businesses are willing to expand their employment and investment over the same period. However, business entities, especially in the manufacturing sector, have low confidence in costs, indicating the need for immediate action to address the cost burden of businesses, including the cost of electricity, water, gas, rent, and materials. The Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) and the USAID-funded Feed the Future Bangladesh Trade Activity jointly launched the "5th Business Confidence Survey Report 2022" Sunday at a hotel in Dhaka. The survey was conducted between September and November 2022, covering 567 business entities to analyse the existing business condition in the last six months (March 2022 – August 2022) and anticipate turning points in the economic activities for the next six months (December 2022 – June 2023) to enable businesses to prepare and plan accordingly to mitigate risks. Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun said the 5th Business Confidence Survey is significant as it has applied the methodology of harmonised business confidence survey recommended by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Statistics Directorate. Read more: Over 200 foreign delegates to join Bangladesh Business Summit 2023: Jasim "We are pleased to have learned that the overall Business Confidence Index (BCI), conducted by BUILD, gave an optimistic perception of business conditions despite the challenges Bangladesh is currently facing due to the global economic turmoil," he said. "The other scores in the survey show some visible recoveries of business activities and emerging business confidence. However, the cost confidence plummeted to as low as 22.4 over the next six months and the government must take this into serious consideration in fiscal and monetary measures." BUILD CEO Ferdaus Ara Begum said the upward movement in the BCI was driven by improvement in the sentiments for six out of seven components of the BCI, namely, employment, the volume of order or demand for service, business activity, selling price and investment. Out of the seven components, only the overall business cost index is negative giving a pessimistic perception. The diffusion index in this study ranges from 0 to 100 with a midpoint of 50 where less than 50 means contraction or less optimism and more than 50 means expansion or optimism. The overall business cost index stood at 35.8 over the last six months (March 2022 – August 2022) and is expected to reach 22.4 over the next six months (December 2022 – June 2023). Around 72 percent of business entities in this survey reported that the overall business cost will increase over the next six months. Martin Holtmann, country manager of the International Finance Corporation for Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal, said: "The Business Confidence survey is the summary indicators of how the businesses feel. It is an individual measurement of the overall business condition of Bangladesh." "The BCS is a couple of early morning signs. We hope that these signs will help businesses make decisions. However, need to be careful about the status quo bias. We need to look at the trends. We need to give voice to the voiceless; in this case, they are CMSMEs, especially women entrepreneurs. It is well recognised that Bangladesh is doing good in every indicator." Sameer Sattar, president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said an optimistic view emerges from the Business Confidence Survey 2022-23. "This survey found that our business community is showing confidence and resilience. One of the major recommendations the government needs to consider is that the cost of doing business needs to be minimised." "CMSMEs are suffering from multiple issues. Getting finance is one of the challenges for CMSMEs. We would recommend removing the medium from the CMSME category. One thought is that this survey can be more inclusive. More companies and sectors are needed to be included to make the survey more inclusive," he added.

Young people are following the news, but aren’t too happy with what they’re seeing. Broadly speaking, that’s the conclusion of a study released Wednesday showing 79% of young Americans say they get news daily. The survey of young people ages 16 to 40 — the older of which are known as millennials and the younger Generation Z — was conducted by Media Insight Project, a collaboration between The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the American Press Institute. The report pokes holes in the idea that young people aren’t interested in news, a perception largely driven by statistics showing older audiences for television news and newspapers. “They are more engaged in more ways than people give them credit for,” said Michael Bolden, CEO and executive director of the American Press Institute. An estimated 71% of this age group gets news daily from social media. The social media diet is becoming more varied; Facebook doesn’t dominate the way it used to. About a third or more get news each day from YouTube and Instagram, and about a quarter or more from TikTok, Snapchat and Twitter. Now, 40% say they get news from Facebook daily, compared with 57% of millennials who said that in a 2015 Media Insight Project survey. Read: Using the 37 Percent Rule to Make Better Decisions in Life Yet 45% also said they get news each day from traditional sources, like television or radio stations, newspapers and news websites. The poll found that about a quarter of young people say they regularly pay for at least one news product, like print or digital magazines or newspapers, and a similar percentage have donated to at least one nonprofit news organization. Only 32% say they enjoy following the news. That’s a marked decrease from seven years ago, when 53% of millennials said that. Fewer young people now say they enjoy talking with family and friends about the news. Other findings, such as people who say they feel worse the longer they spend online or who set time limits on their consumption, point to a weariness with the news, said Tom Rosenstiel, a University of Maryland journalism professor. “I wasn’t surprised by that,” Bolden said. “It has been a challenging news cycle, especially the last three years.” About 9 in 10 young people say misinformation about issues and events is a problem, including about 6 in 10 who say it’s a major problem. Most say they’ve been exposed to misinformation themselves. Read: How to Set Personal Goals in Midlife to Live Your Best Days Asked who they consider most responsible for its spread, young people pointed to social media companies and users, politicians and the media in equal measure. That may surprise people in the media who believe they are fighting misinformation, and are not part of the problem, Bolden said. A significant number of people disagree. “Whether that’s accurate or not, the people in this business have to deal with that perception,” he said. He suggested that it’s important for news organizations to better explain what it is that they do and how coverage decisions are made, along with taking a step back to make clear how government functions, as well as holding leaders to account. The percentage of people who say “news stories that seem to mostly create conflict rather than help address it” and “media outlets that pass on conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated rumors” are a major problem exceeded the number of people concerned about journalists putting too much opinion in their stories, the survey found. That would seem to point a finger at cable news outlets that fill air time with debates on particular issues, often pitting people with extreme points of view. New CNN chief executive Chris Licht has recently called on his network to cool the overheated segments. Read: Goldilock Rule: How to stay motivated, take challenges in life, career, business “There are people who have grown up in this world of political food-fight media, and this is the only world they know,” said Rosenstiel, who worked on the survey as Bolden’s predecessor at the press institute. “They might have heard their parents talk about Walter Cronkite, but they haven’t seen that.” The topics people ages 16 to 40 say they most follow in the news? Celebrities, music and entertainment, at 49%, and food and cooking, at 48%, top the list. At least a third follow a wide range of other issues, including health and fitness, race and social justice, the environment, health care, education, politics and sports.

Adolescent girls and young women of urban slum areas feel unsafe while bathing at open bathing spaces, according to a survey. Lack of accessible water, infrastructural challenges cause risk of sexual harassment and violence, says a recent survey. International development organisation Plan International shared the survey findings on Saturday S M Tariquzzaman, WASH Specialist of Plan International Bangladesh, shared the survey findings in the event. Also read: 3-day ‘WOW Virtual Bangladesh 2022’ begins celebrating women, girls’ inspiring stories He said Plan International Bangladesh started a model project titled “Empowering Girls for Economic Opportunity and Safe Space-Egloss” since January 2022. Under this project, the organisation initiated to establish and reform 15 bathing spaces in 4 slum areas of Dhaka: Dhalpur, Malek Member Colony, IG Gate Colony, and Match Colony. The initiative has been implemented by Plan International Bangladesh and Population Services and Training Centre (PSTC). Under this initiative, they have also conducted a survey in these four slum areas where 417 girls under the age range of 14-24 years took part. Some 12 focused group discussion was also organised. The survey was conducted by youth-led organisation BYS with the support of Plan International Bangladesh. In the survey, 98 percent respondents shared that they use open bathing spaces for taking their everyday shower. Among these open bathing spaces, only 15% have separate zone for girls where women commonly share the place for shower. According to the survey, on an average, per bathing space is shared by 35-45 people, maximum user is 70 while minimum is 20. The respondents said during the focused group discussions that, they do not feel safe in these bathing spaces. There are risks of taking photos from high-raised buildings around the colonies. Around 68.6 percent said, they face violence at different times during using toilet. There is lack of menstrual hygiene management facilities in these places. Also read: Fewer boys return to schools than girls after long Covid hiatus: Study Around 58.7% mentioned that they have to hurry, and it often gets dark while taking shower therefore. Around 38.2% shared that they feel unsafe whike 79.2 percent respondent confirmed that they faced verbal violence while 13.4% shared that they faced sexual harassment. Manik Kumar Saha, Project Manager of Plan International Bangladesh, said, there are more than 5000 urban slums in Dhaka. There are challenges including land efficiency and sewerage lines. Due to lack of safe bathing spaces, people of all age and gender have to take shower in a common place altogether, which affects their privacy and causes violence. "We have established 15 bathing spaces in four of the slum areas of Dhaka, among them 2 are especially designed for people with special needs. We hope, girls and young women will have at least some sense of safety and protection while taking shower." He also said, “But the demand is even more. We want to reach to the policy makers with this message that we wish to work together on addressing the challenge and solve it.” Shiropa Kulsum of PSTC said, “The lack of safe bathing spaces impacts the lives of adolescent girls and young women. Especially during menstruation, the challenge is unimaginable. The lack of menstrual hygiene management facilities, their reproduction health becomes at risk as well. This is why we need safe bathing spaces. Faez Belal, Founder of BYS, said, “We often do not realise the importance of having a safe bathing space. This is very crucial to ensure safety, even mental health well being of adolescent girls and young women.” Nishat, one of the dwellers of the community shared her real life experience during the press briefing. She said, “This is very uncomfortable for us to bath openly. We often do not get the time to manage our hygiene properly.”. Shemonty Monjari, Campaign Manager of Plan International Bangladesh, said, “Plan International Bangladesh is working to improve the lives of children, adolescents, and youth, especially girls. Till 2030, we are working towards challenging the fear of violence. This initiative of safe bathing spaces is one part of this activities. Ashik Billah, Geo Lead of Central and Northern Region of Plan International Bangladesh, said, the organisation has been working to improve the lives of children and youth through reducing the root cause of the obstacles. This initiative is also a part of the activities.

For 85 per cent of Bangladeshi youths online bullying is a severe problem, according to a Grameenphone and Telenor Group survey run in association with Plan International during August-September. The survey was conducted among youths on how internet use and online bullying trends have changed across Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand, with Covid-19 as the backdrop. Of the 3,930 respondents in the regional survey, 16 per cent respondents were youths from Bangladesh.  READ: HC orders probe into death of a school student due to bullying Twenty-nine per cent of Bangladesh youths said they were bullied before the pandemic, 18 per cent said they experienced more online bullying since the onset of Covid-19. Eight per cent of youths experienced online bullying at least once a week or more since the pandemic.  The three most common platforms where youths experienced online bullying were social media, messaging apps, and online gaming and video game streaming platforms.  To stop the bullying online, respondents in the four countries said that they took several measures to safeguard themselves, which included ignoring the bully, which resulted in the person stopping, changing security settings online so the person could not contact them, and speaking to a parent or guardian about the problem. The survey also revealed that 86 per cent of youths surveyed in Bangladesh spent more time on the internet since Covid-19 began. In addition, 35 per cent of youth in Bangladesh said they used the internet all the time, 15 per cent used it mainly in the evenings, and only 2 per cent limited their use to only during school hours.  Yasir Azman, CEO of Grameenphone, said: "There is no denying our future generation needs digital skills and are active users of the internet. So, we need to intensify cooperation and commitment with various stakeholders to keep them safe. The survey results set a call to action to focus on this issue collectively." READ: UNDP launches 'MyResponse' campaign against cyberbullying "With the marked increase in time spent on the internet by youth during the pandemic, there is a clear need to better equip youth with ways and methods to protect themselves online. Awareness, training on online bullying, and digital building resilience are crucial to be a multi-stakeholder exercise. This should not be left just to educational institutions but should also involve parents and caregivers," said Manisha Dogra, VP, Sustainability for Telenor in Asia. 

Some 84 per cent of the country’s garment workers had worries about Covid-19 pandemic during the first week of last month when they were called back to work amid a strict nationwide lockdown with the virus still surging.This was revealed in a recent survey jointly conducted by South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM) and Microfinance Opportunities (MFO) under a project titled “Garment Worker Diaries” to collect data on the working conditions, income, expenditure, food security, wage digitization, and health of garment workers of Bangladesh. The report mentioned that during the first week of August, garment workers were recalled to work amid the unexpected easing of the national lockdown. Also read: Garment workers have little access to Covid-19 vaccine information, says a study On August 6, garment workers were asked about how they felt about being recalled to work with the lockdown still in place.

There have been close to 500 cases of fire in Thakurgaon district in the past one year, a government survey has revealed.