President Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir waived disciplinary penalties imposed on 21 National Board of Revenue (NBR) officials over their involvement in last year's protests for revenue-sector reforms, accepting their appeals for clemency. The Internal Resources Division (IRD) of the Ministry of Finance issued separate gazette notifications in this regard this week.

The disciplinary proceedings against these officials were initiated after they publicly tore up their transfer orders during protests in June 2025, when NBR officials and employees demonstrated against the Revenue Policy and Revenue Management Ordinance, 2025.The conduct was classified as a breach of the Government Servants (Conduct) Rules, according to the IRD notifications. The protests continued for about six weeks and culminated in disruptions at customs and tax offices across the country in late June of last year. The movement, organised under the banner of the NBR Reform Unity Council, included countrywide sit-ins, marches and rallies, bringing revenue-sector activities to a standstill.

A combined 1,210MW of electricity is expected to be added to the national grid over the coming week as the government moves to ease widespread power shortages amid an ongoing gas and energy crisis. Five power plants whose contracts have expired are set to generate 550MW for the national grid without capacity charges, while the 660MW Rampal power plant is also scheduled to resume operations, State Minister for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit told parliament on Tuesday (Sep. 7).

In addition, the government has allocated Tk6,000 crore to generate up to 4,000MW of electricity from HFO-fired power plants. Expressing optimism about an improvement in the situation next year, Amit said he expects Bangladesh to overcome the energy crisis by 2030. An offshore bidding round has been launched for oil and gas exploration in the sea, he said, adding, "The government has also undertaken a programme to drill 106 new gas wells, with work on 30 of them already underway."

Sammilito Islami Bank, formed out of the merger of five troubled Shariah-based banks, most of which were controlled by the S. Alam Group, disbursed Tk 670 crore to 14,000 depositors over the first two days of an initiative supported by Bangladesh Bank to allow depositors at the five banks prior to the merger to withdraw their money. Withdrawal applications were submitted by around 37,600, according to central bank sources. Shapla Chattor has been providing liquidity support to the newly formed bank to enable it to meet customers' withdrawal demands and resume normal banking operations.

At the start of the week, Bangladesh Bank provided Tk 5,000 crore to facilitate the payments to customers of the five banks. The payment initiative is aimed at restoring confidence among depositors of the merged banks, which had faced severe liquidity and governance problems.

The country's trade deficit widened in July, the first month of the current fiscal year, mainly due to higher imports of petroleum products and fertiliser, while exports declined. The deficit rose to $2.09 billion in July, compared with $1.5 billion in the same month of the previous fiscal, according to balance of payments data released by Bangladesh Bank. According to the BoP data, imports grew by 8.6% in July, while exports declined by 1.9%. As imports exceeded exports, the trade deficit widened.

Petroleum product imports amounted to $1.37 billion in July, up from $750 million in the same month a year earlier, representing an increase of more than 83%. Fertiliser import costs rose also by 50% to $187 million in July, compared with $125 million a year earlier. Bangladesh's current account surplus stood at $64 million in the first month of the current fiscal, down from $125 million in the same month of the previous fiscal year.