Business

Production in three more apparel factories with ‘structural faults’ were suspended in Dhaka on Friday in keeping with recommendations of European retailers’ inspection teams, taking the total number of workers under threat of losing jobs to more than 13,000 in the past one month. With the suspension of production in the factories — Four Wings Limited,

Chittagong Customs House has put forward a proposal to the National Board of Revenue to form separate dog squads for the Chittagong port and the Hazrat Shah Amanat International Airport to make the CCH better equipped to check smuggling of contraband goods, particularly narcotics, through the channels. CCH officials said the port city customs

The government will submit a progress report on ‘Bangladesh Action Plan 2013’ to the office of the United States Trade Representative by Tuesday though the review for reinstating Bangladesh’s Generalised System of Preferences benefits still looks uncertain. The legal authorisation for the GSP programme expired on July 31, 2013 and the US Congress is

Bangladesh Bank plans to lend low-cost loans from its ‘Export Development Fund’ to big exporting industries, bringing changes in the current regulations governing the fund that is only used to boost non-traditional export items. Any industries selling their goods abroad, besides readymade garment, leather or food, will be eligible for the fund to be

The finance ministry has agreed to a proposal of the International Monetary Fund on slashing the corporate income tax and rationalizing of import tariff structures in the upcoming budget. The agreement would insulate the business interests of corporations affected badly from the headwinds of last year’s political turbulence, top finance officials said, defending

The prices of hilsa, broiler, egg and red lentil rose on the retail market in the city over the week ending Friday. According to traders, the prices of hilsa and broiler increased on the market due to increased demand on the eve of Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bangla new year. The hilsa price increased by ... Read more

Manpower export continued to fall in the first three months of this year after plunging in the previous year, hitting remittance inflow, according to Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training. The downward trend in the labour migration and remittance continued since 2013 due to a gradual shrinking of recruitment of the migrant workers, BMET officials

The global oil market is returning to a rough balance but Russia’s annexation of Crimea has clouded the outlook with both supply and demand growth to slow, the International Energy Agency said Friday. While the IEA has recently been warning of tight markets as oil demand picks up with a recovery of the global economy, it ... Read more

The United States delivered a stern warning to Russia Thursday at the World Bank/IMF meetings in Washington amid worries that a spiralling Ukraine crisis could hurt the world economy. Treasury secretary Jacob Lew told his Russian counterpart finance minister Anton Siluanov that in addition to the actions following last month’s annexation of Crimea,

Estimates country lost $1.4b in pre-polls political unrest The World Bank on Wednesday projected that Bangladesh’s GDP growth would hit 11-year low to 5.4 per cent in the current fiscal year because of fallout from the political unrest in the first half of the year. The WB said due to the political unrest in the run-up ... Read more

The country’s credit growth in the private sector plunged again in February compared with that of the previous month as businesspeople are yet to get confidence back to expand their business after the general elections which was held on January 5, said officials of Bangladesh Bank. According to Bangladesh Bank data released on Wednesday, the

BB detects huge amount of money embezzled from 2,500 job seekers Bangladesh Bank has asked Prime Bank to explain in five working days why the central bank would not cancel no-objection certificate it provided the private commercial bank to run mobile financial services for misappropriating a huge amount of money from 2,500 job seekers. The BB ... Read more

BSCIC mulls increase in price of industrial land Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation has proposed to tighten the industrial plot allotment process to ensure proper utilisation of industrial lands and to ensure workplace safety, quality of products and protect environmental, officials of BSCIC said. The corporation is set to amend the existing Industrial Plot Allotment ... Read more

State minister for finance MA Mannan on Wednesday said the government should be careful in providing cash incentives to the industries. ‘Outcome of the cash incentives should be assessed thoroughly before awarding it,’ he said during a pre-budget discussion with the International

Safety Inspection 2 more RMG units closed partially Experts of a review committee on factory safety asked two more garment units in Dhaka to evacuate two floors within seven days as the condition of the building is critical to bear the load. The factories –– All Weather Fashion and Crystal Apparels –– are housed in Shahabuddin ... Read more

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