The Election Commission (EC) has announced the schedule for the presidential election. According to the schedule, the date for voting is set for August 20. If there are multiple candidates, voting will take place in the parliament session room on that day from 2pm to 5pm. Akhter Ahmed, Senior Secretary of the EC Secretariat, announced the schedule for the presidential election on Thursday. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin will serve as the returning officer for this election.

According to the schedule, nomination papers must be submitted on August 13 between 10am and 4pm. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on August 16, while the deadline for withdrawal of candidacies is August 18. Officials said that if only one candidate is nominated, they will be declared elected unopposed on August 18. In such cases, voting is not required. If there are multiple candidates, voting will be held in the parliament session room in accordance with the rules.

The Ministry of Commerce invited government agencies and stakeholders to submit written feedback by Sunday (Aug. 9) on a draft "Gold Policy 2018 (Amended) 2026," aimed at transforming the country's gold sector from an informal state into a legal, recognised and accountable business sector. Commerce Minister Khandaker Abdul Muktadir gave the directive on Thursday while chairing a meeting on the draft policy at the ministry's conference room. The minister said the gold sector has long played a significant role in the economy but has failed to achieve full institutional shape due to the absence of proper policy and regulatory frameworks, adding that regulatory weaknesses, not businesses alone, should be held responsible for the situation.

"We need to fix our mindset. It has not been right for a recognised business sector to remain outside a formal structure for so long. This situation arose because necessary steps were not taken in time. We now want to bring the sector under a legal and institutional framework," the minister said.

Gas supplies to Bangladesh's national grid increased on Wednesday after a floating liquefied natural gas terminal operated by US-based Excelerate Energy partially resumed operations after a fire shut the facility for more than two weeks. The restart of one regasification unit is adding around 115 million cubic feet of gas a day to the national grid, easing shortages that disrupted power generation, industrial production and household supplies, Petrobangla officials said.

The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), anchored off Moheshkhali, was shut down after a July 21 fire damaged electrical cable systems linked to its boiler operations, cutting 450 million cubic feet of gas supply a day. Bangladesh was already facing a tighter LNG market after Qatar declared force majeure on some cargoes during the Iran conflict, prompting Dhaka to seek alternative supplies amid higher prices and Strait of Hormuz shipping risks.

Fresh bank financing to Bangladesh's private sector has virtually dried up, with private sector credit growth falling to a record low of 4.47 per cent in June, reflecting a sharp slowdown in investment and economic activity amid mounting bad loans, heavy government borrowing and persistent business uncertainty. Bangladesh Bank data shows that private sector credit growth declined from 4.98 per cent in May to 4.47 per cent in June, the lowest since the central bank began compiling the data in 2003.

Outstanding loans to the private sector stood at Tk 18.25 lakh crore at the end of June. Bangladesh Bank officials and several senior bankers said they had never witnessed such weak credit growth, even during previous financial crises. The slowdown comes as nearly Tk 11 lakh crore, or about 60 per cent of total loans, have become distressed assets, leaving banks with limited capacity and appetite to extend fresh credit.