ORAWEK
ভোরের সংক্ষেপ
SATURDAY, 9 MAY 2026
5 sections
Under 300 words
8:00 AM · Weekdays
Free forever
Top Story
Bangladesh Business & Economy
Remittances cross $30 billion in under 11 months — FY26 may set an all-time record
Bangladesh has already received $30.08 billion in remittances in just the first ten months and six days of FY2025–26 — nearly matching the entire $30.33 billion received in all of last fiscal year. The first six days of May alone brought in $752 million, up over 20% year-on-year. April added $3.13 billion, the fifth consecutive month above the $3 billion mark. If the current pace holds for the remaining 55 days, total inflows could reach $35 billion by June 30 — a new record for Bangladesh by a wide margin. The previous monthly record, set in March, was $3.75 billion. The practical read: Bangladesh Bank is absorbing excess dollars to keep the taka from appreciating too sharply, protecting export competitiveness. Foreign reserves are rebuilding fast. The vulnerability has shifted — it is no longer the balance of payments. It is energy costs and stubborn inflation.
FY27 budget signals: NBR eyes wealth tax, inheritance tax, and 20% higher revenue target
With the FY27 budget expected in June, the National Board of Revenue is floating its most ambitious reform signals in years. NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan has indicated the government is considering reintroducing a wealth tax (abolished in 1999), introducing a new inheritance tax, and raising income tax rates for those earning over Tk 1 crore annually. The revenue target for FY27 is being set at Tk 6.04 lakh crore — a 20% jump from the current year's revised target. The tax-to-GDP ratio target is 9.2% for FY27, up from last year's 6.8%. Economists are sceptical: NBR sets ambitious targets every year without structural reform to back them. This FY27 budget is the first of the new BNP-led government and is expected to signal its economic philosophy.
NBFI depositors demand Bangladesh Bank action on frozen funds
An alliance representing over 12,000 depositors of six distressed non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) has formally urged Bangladesh Bank to take immediate steps to return their long-frozen funds. The issue adds to the growing pressure on the financial sector — Bangladesh's NPL ratio remains near a 25-year high of around 36% of total credit. Bangladesh Bank has not announced a formal mechanism yet.
Economy Watch
Data Point or Policy Update
USD / BDT
122.25 ৳
DBBL ready buying · May 7
YUAN / BDT (CNY)
~17.96 ৳
▲ Mid-market · May 7
DSEX (last close, 7 May)
5,234 pts
▼ −14.27 pts · −0.27% · 2nd session decline
Gold 22k / Bhori (BAJUS)
২,৪৪,৭১১ ৳
▲ +Tk 2,216 · Updated 7 May
Inflation Rate (Feb '26, BBS)
9.13%
▲ 10-month high · IMF FY26 est: 8.9%
Policy Rate
10.00%
Held — Bangladesh Bank
Bad Loans (NPL)
~36%
▲ ~25-year high of total credit
GDP Growth FY26
3.9–4.7%
WB: ↓ revised · ADB: 4.0% · IMF: 4.7%
Global Signal
Overnight — What Reaches Dhaka by Morning
| Brent Crude (8 May) | ~$101/bbl ▲ Fell ~7% on week as Iran ceasefire held; fresh clashes keep floor above $100 |
| WTI Crude (8 May) | ~$94.7/bbl ▲ Yahoo Finance close · Conflict premium intact |
| Strait of Hormuz | Effectively closed · ~10th week · Iran controlling passage; 14 million bpd disrupted — IEA |
| Iran War / Ceasefire | Ceasefire technically in force; US struck Iranian military targets after Iranian fire on destroyers. Iran sent updated peace proposal via Pakistan mediators. Trump: "not satisfied with the offer" · No full deal yet |
| IEA Warning | War removing ~14 million bpd from global supply · Post-conflict production recovery expected to be slow due to infrastructure damage and insurer reluctance |
| Goldman Sachs | Global oil stocks ~101 days of demand; could fall to 98 days by end-May · Refined product shortages sharpest in South Asia, India, Thailand, Taiwan |
| Wall St (8 May close) | S&P 500 +0.84% → 7,398 (record) · Dow +0.02% → 49,609 · Nasdaq +1.71% → 26,247 · AI infrastructure stocks led gains |
| US Fed Rate | 3.50–3.75% Held (Apr 29 decision) · 3rd consecutive hold · 4 dissents — most since 1992. New Chair Kevin Warsh set for May 15 |
| Bitcoin (8 May close) | ~$80,350 ▲ Off recent highs; US strikes on Iran pushed it below $80K briefly |
| US–China Trade | US tariffs on China ~45%; BD manufacturers watching for order diversion opportunities |
| BD–US Tariff | 19% BD exporters met US trade officials in Dhaka this week to clarify zero-tariff terms on US-cotton apparel |
| India–BD Relation | India supplying diesel via pipeline; BD sought $3B additional ADB support for energy cost overruns from Hormuz disruption |
| Asian Markets (8 May) | Tracking Wall St recovery; Japan Nikkei rose ~5.7% in the week to new records amid AI earnings and Iran ceasefire extension hopes |
| Israel–Lebanon | Israel agreed to negotiate with Lebanon; parallel front to Iran ceasefire — outcome still uncertain |
| US CPI & Jobs | April payrolls +115K (nearly 2x expectations) · Unemployment 4.3% · Markets pricing no Fed change rest of 2026 · Rate hike risk if oil-driven inflation persists |
| RMG Export YTD | Strong growth tracking; garment investments rising with US tariff diversion opportunity from China |
| Saudi Arabia | Iraq offering steep discounts to term buyers willing to transit Hormuz; Saudi supply constrained by war-era rerouting |
AI This Week
Practical Intelligence — Never Hype
For Your Work
OpenAI's ChatGPT for Excel and Google Sheets became generally available to all users on May 5 — including the free tier. You can now type plain-language instructions directly inside a spreadsheet sidebar: "build me a 3-year cash flow model," "find the error in this VLOOKUP," "summarise this 40-tab sales report." The tool is powered by GPT-5.5 and edits cells directly rather than requiring copy-paste. For Dhaka's finance, operations, and consulting professionals who live in spreadsheets, this is the most practically useful AI release of the year. The practical signal: if you report to someone who uses Excel, start practising with this today. The people who figure it out first will look dramatically faster than those who don't — and the gap will be visible within months.
OpenAI · May 5, 2026 · chatgpt.com/apps/spreadsheets
ORAWEK Note
A Real Observation. From a Real Person.
“
Bangladesh has sent home $30 billion in remittances in under eleven months. That is not a statistic — that is a quiet structural shift. The people leaving Dhaka for Riyadh, Dubai, and Kuala Lumpur are now the country's most reliable economic engine. Meanwhile, 12,000 depositors of distressed NBFIs cannot access their own savings. Both of these things are true at the same time. A record dollar inflow and a frozen financial system. The war in the Gulf is still not resolved — oil above $100, the Hormuz still controlled by Iran, and the Fed chair changing on May 15 for the first time in years. This Saturday morning has more moving parts than most weeks. Pay attention to the FY27 budget signals — the wealth tax and inheritance tax proposals are the first serious redistribution conversation Bangladesh has had in a generation.
— Founder · Saturday morning · Dhaka