Petrobangla has cancelled some spot liquefied natural gas imports after one of the country's two import terminals was damaged during a cyclone, leaving it unable to receive shipments. The state-owned group is tasked with importing LNG for Bangladesh, which relies on the fuel to meet power demand for its population of more than 170 million people. Summit LNG, the operator of the damaged terminal, told Petrobangla that it had declared force majeure on LNG deliveries after its terminal was damaged.

In late May, Summit LNG paused operations at its floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in Moheshkhali after it was significantly damaged during a cyclone. The company later said the FSRU, which acts as a floating terminal, would proceed to Singapore or the Middle East for repairs, and that it hoped it could return to Bangladesh within three weeks of those being completed. Due to Summit's terminal outage, Petrobangla cancelled four spot cargoes scheduled for delivery from late May to around mid-June, a senior Petrobangla official said.

The amount of private sector short-term foreign loans increased in April, as businesses turned to overseas loans considering rising interest rates and liquidity crunch in the local banking sector. According to Bangladesh Bank data, the amount of short-term foreign loans rose to $11.1 billion in April compared with that of $11.04 billion in March, $11.07 billion in February and $11.25 billion in January. The foreign short-term loans had been declining since May 2023, when they stood at $13.95 billion.

Bankers attributed this shift to the increasing cost of local currency loans after the central bank lifted the 9 percent ceiling on lending rates.Besides, the banking sector has been struggling with a severe liquidity crunch. Therefore, businesses may seek foreign loans to meet their immediate funding needs, bankers said. On July 1, 2023, the Bangladesh Bank introduced a new interest rate framework. However, on May 8, the central bank replaced this system with a market-based interest rate determination system.

At least 6,558 families are still living on 26 hills in various parts of Chattogram city, violating the law and endangering the hills, according to the Hill Management Committee of Chattogram. The committee revealed the data at its 28th meeting at the Circuit House in the Port City this week. At the meeting, Tofayel Islam, convener of the committee and divisional commissioner of Chattogram, asked authorities concerned, including Power Development Board, to disconnect utility services for the families within the next 15 days.

Over 20,000 people currently reside on these hills, which are being subjected to indiscriminate hill razing, said Abul Basar Mohammad Fakhruzzaman, deputy commissioner of Chattogram. According to documents revealed in the meeting, most of the families live on seven hills owned by Bangladesh Railways. Sujan Chowdhury, estate officer (east) of BR, claimed that they have removed over 1,700 illegal structures from these hills in the past two years.

Air pollution has become the leading cause of death in Bangladesh, outpacing fatalities from high blood pressure, poor diet and tobacco use, according to a new study. In 2021, at least 236,000 lives were lost in Bangladesh due to air pollution, according to the fifth edition of the State of Global Air report, which was released this week. In contrast, there were 200,000 deaths linked to high blood pressure, 130,100 deaths linked to tobacco use and 130,400 deaths linked to poor diet.

Children in Bangladesh are particularly vulnerable to air pollution: the country ranked fifth globally in 2021 in the total number of deaths among children under the age of five due to air pollution. As many as 19,000 children under five years old died due to air pollution, said the report, which was produced by the State of Global Air Initiative.