Business

Online Transactions Most banks miss BB deadline to introduce 2-tier verification All scheduled banks except HSBC and BRAC Bank failed to introduce two-step authentication for the use of credit and debit cards for online transactions by April 1 deadline set by Bangladesh Bank, said officials of the central bank. On September 2, 2013, the BB issued ... Read more

Assesses business risk profile vulnerable The international rating agency Standard & Poor’s on Monday gave mobile operator Banglalink a rating of B+ in long-term corporate credit rating with a stable outlook. The S&P, however, observed Banglalink’s business risk profile was vulnerable because of its local market dependency and Bangladesh’s low

The National Board of Revenue has slashed the value-added tax on licence fees, spectrum charge and revenue sharing of Wimax operators and internet service providers by more than 66 per cent to facilitate the internet services in the country. The revenue board on April 1 issued a special order

The mobile phone companies have demanded withdrawal of 15 per cent value added tax on mobile financial services in the budget for 2014-15. The Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh has recently submitted its budget proposal to the National Board of Revenue for

Unethical practice to destabilise money market: BB reports Some banks are investing in long-term government securities by receiving short-term loans from the call money and Repo markets in a bid to earn high profit, violating banking ethics, according to Bangladesh Bank inspection reports. BB officials said the banks received loans from the call money market with ... Read more

The government in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation has taken a move to formulate an inspection policy for the factories and establishments to upgrade the current traditional inspection system to an international standard. The policy will ensure modern, effective and prevention-oriented labour inspection and occupational safety and

The overall point-to-point inflation increased by 0.04 percentage points to 7.48 per cent in March after one month amid a hike in food items for the second month. The food inflation rose by 0.13 percentage point to 8.96 per cent in March which rose by 0.03 percentage points to 8.84 per cent in February.

Finance minister AMA Muhith on Sunday said inflation would be targeted at 6 per cent in the new fiscal year that will begin from next July. The projected inflation will be 6 per cent in 2014-15, he said during a meeting with the representatives of the non-government organisations

The government’s tax collection from the Dhaka Stock Exchange dropped by 25 per cent in March compared with the previous month due to fall in turnover followed by institutional investors’ less participation on the trading floor. In March, the country’s prime bourse paid Tk 10.74 crore in tax which was Tk 14.37 crore in the previous ... Read more

Factory Inspection Production at 4 risky Ctg units suspended Authorities suspended production at four garment factories in the Chittagong port city on Saturday following the detection of ‘serious structural flaws’ in a five-storey building, which housed the factories, by European retailers’ inspection teams. At least 2,700 workers of the factories are in danger of losing their ... Read more

Let taxpayers know how their money being used, say experts Transparency International Bangladesh executive director Iftekharuzzaman on Saturday said that the rich and companies usually evaded Tk 20,000-Tk 25,000 crore in taxes every year and most of the large companies in the country were accused of evading taxes. At a seminar on ‘unveiling tax, tackling poverty ... Read more

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission has decided that it will allow companies to issue cash dividend before get listed with the stock exchanges once they get approval for their initial public offerings, said high officials of the BSEC. As per a condition under the BSEC’s special power, no company is allowed to issue any short ... Read more

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has sought exemption to the National Board of Revenue from paying minimum income tax for ensuring existence of the state-owned company in stiff international competition, Biman officials said. They said that Biman sought the exemption as a support from the revenue board for its survival as the national flag carrier already became

Dhaka stocks returned to positive zone last week after declining for the last five weeks with significant rising turnover riding on better quarterly earning expectations of large capitalised company shares and bargain hunting. The key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, increased to 4,621.23 points over the week, adding 2.51 per cent or 113.17 points.

Financial Year 2013-14 Remittance inflow from 11 countries dips in 8 months Remittance inflow from 11 countries significantly decreased in the first eight months of fiscal year 2013-14 compared with that of the corresponding period in FY13. Downward trend in manpower export was the prime cause of declining inward remittance from those countries in recent ... Read more

International Labour Organisation director-general Guy Ryder has called for action to avoid repetition of incidents like Rana Plaza tragedy. ‘Rana Plaza is a call for global action on decent working conditions,’ he said at a high-level meeting on Thursday in Copenhagen on garment and textiles production in Bangladesh. The Rana Plaza building collapse, in April 2013,

Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, the EU retailers’ platform, has found structural flaws in six more garment factories in Dhaka and Chittagong and suggested immediate evacuation of the units. Flowing the recommendation, a review committee comprising representatives from the government, the Accord, the Alliance, BUET, BGMEA and BKMEA,

Fin min issued guarantee worth $ 3.5b last year The finance ministry issued sovereign guarantee worth $3.5 billion against non-concessional loans for about a dozen and a half large infrastructure projects and state purchases until December 2013, senior ministry officials said. Another large amount of $2.5 billion in state guarantees is expected to be issued this ... Read more

The Dhaka Stock Exchange on Thursday said that the bourse stopped making public the draft IPO prospectuses of companies on verbal instruction of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission. Replying to a question why the bourse stopped publishing draft IPO prospectus, DSE managing director Swapan Kumar Bala made the comment at a press

Pre-Budget Meeting Fy 2014-15 Demands for tax, duty benefits galore Like previous years, most of the stakeholders from private sectors who attended the pre-budget discussions with the National Board of Revenue on Thursday sought tax and duty benefits in the coming national budget for the year 2014-15. Though the revenue board organises the meetings to get ... Read more