An anti-terrorism court in Dhaka sentenced seven people to death in connection with a deadly siege in 2016 of a popular cafe in the Bangladeshi capital. One person was acquitted by the court, which delivered its verdict amid tight security. Judge Md Majibur Rahman of the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal of Dhaka ordered the deaths by hanging.

"These people wanted to wreak havoc in the society and wanted to establish a Jihadist state. As their activities threatened public safety, they will be executed by hanging until they are pronounced dead," Judge Rahman pronounced. Hundreds of security forces, including the paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion, were deployed in and around the court premises in Dhaka for the verdict's announcement. Two of the convicts were seen wearing prayer caps with insignia of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS) group.

Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (REB) and the technical evaluation committee (TEC) of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (Berc) are of the same opinion that if the bulk supply tariff is not increased, it will not be required to raise the retail tariff of electricity. This identical observation was made on the last of the four-day public hearing of the Berc at the TCB Auditorium.

Earlier the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) demanded a rise in bulk power tariff of Tk 0.20 per unit, from Tk 0.85 to Tk 1.05 per unit. Giving a detailed description of the REB plan to bring electricity to the doorsteps of every Bangladeshi, including 100% in rural areas by 2020, the 'Mujib Year', its chairman Moin Uddin said currently 94 percent of the rural people have access to electricity.

The government is set to exceed its annual limit for bank borrowing within the first half of the current fiscal due to poor revenue collection (or overambitious revenue targeting and poor forecasting). It could lead to a credit crunch for the private sector to deal with. As of November 21, the GoB had borrowed 90 percent (Tk 42,607 crore) of its annual limit set in the budget. In contrast, only Tk 26,446 crore was borrowed from the banking sector during the entire 2018-2019 fiscal, according to Bangladesh Bank data.

The government plans to loan an additional Tk 4,555 crore in December as its account was around Tk 6,000 crore short in November 28. As of November 21, banks are owed Tk 150,702 crore by the government, which is an increase of 39 percent from last June. The fact that there was poor planning on precisely what amount of revenue could be collected through VAT and taxes is now plain to see, according to economists.

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