This year's Higher Secondary Certificate and equivalent examination results recorded the lowest pass rate in recent years. The number of examinees scoring GPA-5, the highest index of academic performance, also declined significantly. This downward trend in examination results is set to impact higher education admissions directly. According to preliminary data from the University Grants Commission, taking into account total seats in higher education alongside the number of students who passed this year's HSC and equivalent examinations, more than 800,000 seats may remain vacant.

This year, out of 1,240,798 examinees across 11 education boards, 646,685 passed. The average pass rate stands at 52.12 per cent, with 40,084 students scoring GPA-5. Students who failed in up to two subjects in this year's HSC and equivalent examinations will have the opportunity to retake only the subjects they failed. The supplementary examinations will begin on December 1. Both regular and irregular candidates will be eligible to sit for these examinations.

The government is set to finalise a national carbon credit framework within a month to facilitate public and private investment in renewable energy projects and help developers earn revenue from carbon credits, prime minister's special assistant Saimum Parvez said on Wednesday (Nov. 4). The framework will be placed before the Cabinet for approval, he said at a seminar titled 'Financing the Solar Revolution: Unlocking Private Capital and Carbon Revenue' at the Bangladesh Solar Expo 2026 in Dhaka.

Saimum said the government would establish a national carbon credit registry and a dedicated cell under the Department of Environment to simplify the approval process and help investors apply for carbon credits. Revenue generated from private-sector projects would largely go to project owners, he added. Bangladesh earned around $6 million from carbon credits last year, against an estimated annual potential of $1 billion, Saimum said, noting that each megawatt of solar capacity could generate $10,000-$15,000 annually by avoiding 900 tonnes of carbon emissions.

Bangladesh's trade deficit jumped 31 percent year-on-year to $7.48 billion in July-September of this fiscal year as the fuel import bill more than doubled, according to Bangladesh Bank (BB) data released this week. The country, which is highly reliant on foreign oil and gas, imported $19.33 billion worth of goods in the first quarter of the 2026-27 fiscal year, with import payments rising 15 percent year-on-year. By contrast, export earnings rose 7 percent to $11.86 billion in the July-September period of this fiscal year. Consequently, the gap between the country's exports and imports widened.

The main driver was fuel. Imports of petroleum products rose 105 percent to $4.2 billion from $2 billion, accounting for most of the increase in total imports. Food imports also climbed, with imports of edible oil up 54 percent and wheat up 66 percent. However, imports of capital goods and capital machinery fell, pointing to weaker business investment amid the economic slowdown.

The government tightened monitoring to prevent human trafficking, making approval from the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment mandatory for sending workers to 12 countries, including Russia. The ministry has instructed authorities not to issue clearances without its prior approval. The Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare issued the directive in a letter sent to the Director General of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) on Wednesday.

According to the letter, instructions were given not to issue immigration clearances for workers bound for Serbia, Moldova, Belarus, the Republic of the Congo, Russia, Japan, Iraq, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Ukraine, and Libya without recruitment permission or formal approval from the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment. On the same day, the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) notified all its member agencies regarding the decision. BAIRA circulated the instruction after receiving the ministry's letter to alert its members, attaching a copy of the official directive.