Business

Authorities now have started suspending production at garment factories following recommendation of North American retailers’ inspection teams after they closed production at nine units at the suggestion of EU retailers’ assessment teams. Production at three garment factories in the port city of Chittagong has recently been suspended as inspection teams

Finance ministry seeks clarification Some 20 state-owned companies have come under fire from the finance ministry as the boards of those firms defied the instructions of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and refrained from offloading the shares of the firms in the capital market. The ministry last week sought clarification from the errant companies for their repeated ... Read more

NRBs, World Bank, ADB, European Union to give funds Bangladesh Bank is going to introduce four new refinance and pre-finance schemes of Tk 1,000 crore for small and medium entrepreneurs in a bid to boost the country’s SME sector, said officials. A BB official told New Age on Sunday that non-resident Bangladeshis, World Bank, Asian Development ... Read more

Dhaka stocks fell sharply last week as investors went for selling shares following a central bank move against some banks for increasing their capital market investment beyond the allowable limit. Market operators said investors also booked some profit after gains in the previous week. The key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, lost 2.88 per cent,

Abdul Hai Sarker has been re-elected as the chairman of Dhaka Bank, said a news release. Sarker also holds different top positions at Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, Bangladesh Association of Banks, and Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries. He was an associate director of International Cotton

The World Bank has approved a $12 billion loan for cash-strapped Pakistan that will be disbursed over five years, the country’s finance ministry and the global lender said on Friday, reports Reuters. The ministry said the money will target ‘energy, economy, (fighting) extremism and education’, with $1 billion being transferred to Pakistan in this week. The loan

Bangladesh, the world’s third largest cotton importer according to the US Department of Agriculture, is on a mission to topple No 1 importer China, reports Wall Street Journal. ‘Obviously, we wish to take China’s place, and that day is not so far off — two, three years’ time,’ Mehdi Ali, general secretary of the Bangladesh ... Read more

The prices of onion, potato and broiler increased in the city’s kitchen markets over the week ending Friday. Traders said that a supply shortage pushed the prices of the items in the last couple of days. Onion price went up by Tk 5 a kilogram and the item was selling at Tk 30-Tk 35 a kg on ... Read more

The country is experiencing a sweltering heat with the creeping up mercury mercilessly, prompting the city dwellers to buy electronic home appliances such as air conditioner and refrigerator. Producers and importers say they are in pressure to supply the home appliances to meet the escalating customers’ demand for the same as most of their stocks are

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has decided to carry Hajj pilgrims this year with its own aircraft without taking any wide-bodied aircraft on lease as in previous years. ‘Yes, we’ve decided to carry Hajj pilgrims by our own aircraft,’ Biman acting director (planning) Md Belayet Hossain told the news agency over telephone on

But sales of savings tools drop The net investment in the national savings certificates and bonds increased by 977.30 per cent in the first nine months of the current financial year 2013-14 compared with that in the same period of the FY13 due to a decreased premature cashing by clients. According to the Directorate of National ... Read more

Dhaka Stock Exchange’s chief technology officer ASM Khairuzzaman on Wednesday resigned from his post in the bourse. Asked, Khairuzzaman told New Age that his decision was based totally on personal ground. ‘I have worked at the bourse for 16 years. The journey with the bourse was nice,’ he said. Khairuzzaman’s resignation came at a time when the bourse ... Read more

Trade consultative committee advises commerce ministry Business leaders on Wednesday demanded that the government should immediately give gas connection to new industries and suitable industrial lands for relocating the readymade garment factories from cities to assist those to be compliant with labour and fire safety. At the first meeting of the trade consultative committee at Export ... Read more

Undisclosed money legalisation facility should stay The planned withdrawal of supplementary duty on more than 1,000 imported products from July 1, 2015 will cause a revenue loss of Tk 600 crore a year, the National Board of Revenue chairman Ghulam Hussain said on Wednesday. ‘We have to reduce the list of products for imposing supplementary to ... Read more

Political uncertainty blamed Commitment for the foreign loans and grants declined by 46.56 per cent in the first nine months of the current fiscal year because of the unrest in the run up to the January 5 national elections and ongoing political uncertainties. Latest data of the Economic Relations Division showed that the total commitment came ... Read more

The National Board of Revenue chairman Ghulam Hussain on Tuesday said that they were seriously mulling imposition of tax at double the present rate on new industries to be set up in Dhaka and adjacent areas. The revenue board will also offer attractive tax break for relocating factories from Dhaka and establishing new factories in other ... Read more

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has drafted a new directive for import of mobile phone handsets through type-based approval process instead of existing shipment-based process. BTRC officials said the move came to ensure the quality of the mobile phone handsets for new technologies such as 3G and 4G which the government permitted

The finance ministry on Tuesday scrapped a condition that directors of merchant banks and brokerage houses would issue personal guarantee for releasing loans to the affected small investors from Tk 900 crore refinance scheme of the government. The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission recently sought permission from the ministry for waiving the

Overdependence on foreign loan by private sector creates financial crisis in any country as such type of trend leads to outflow of money in the form of repatriation of principle, interest and dividend, said leading bankers, economists and experts on Tuesday. They made the opinion at a seminar in Dhaka at a time when Bangladesh has ... Read more

International credit rating agency Moody’s on Tuesday said that Bangladesh’s headline growth was not meaningfully impacted because of heightened political turbulence over the last year in the run-up to parliamentary elections in January. In the annual investors update report published on the day, Moody’s also said the disruptions caused by industrial accidents