Business

The country’s overall imports increased by 10.85 per cent in January of this year against a negative growth of 6.45 per cent in the corresponding month of last year due mainly to higher import of food gains — particularly rice and wheat — and capital machinery. According to Bangladesh Bank data, the overall settlement of letters ... Read more

Bangladesh Bank will monitor business performances of the country’s big corporate groups and companies in a bid to secure stability in the financial sector, said officials of the central bank. A BB official told New Age on Tuesday that the central bank had already started formulating policies to bring the big corporate groups under its

The profit of leading mobile phone operator Grameenphone declined for the straight second year as the company reported Tk 1,470 crore profit in 2013 which is 16 per cent or Tk 280 crore lower than that of previous year. In 2012, the GP profit declined by 7 per cent to Tk 1,750.47 crore compared to 76 ... Read more

The government on Tuesday awarded 54 leading business people in seven categories CIP (commercially important person) status for their outstanding performance in setting up industries, manufacturing, job creation and overall economic development of the country. At a ceremony at the BIAM auditorium in

Independent Directors DSE proposes new name on list in place of Farashuddin The Dhaka Stock Exchange at a board meeting on Tuesday decided to propose the name of Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh member Ruhul Ameen on its list of independent directors in place of former Bangladesh Bank governor Farashuddin Ahmed as ... Read more

The US ambassador to Bangladesh Dan W Mozena on Tuesday urged the garment factory owners not to compromise with the international safety standard and not to go back to business as usual to avoid further industrial disasters. In the launching ceremony of a documentary on readymade garment sector and workers in Dhaka, Mozena said that Bangladesh

Unsettled Inland Bills 5 banks’ warned of losing top AD branch licences Bangladesh Bank has warned five scheduled banks of cancellation of authorised dealer licences of top branch of each bank over their failure to settle back-to-back inland bills against local letters of credit in line with the central bank directive. The BB on February 5 ... Read more

Tofail eyes $50b annual exports in 5yrs Spot export orders at the Dhaka International Trade Fair 2014 have dropped by nearly 50 per cent to Tk 80.44 crore this year from Tk 157 crore in last year as many buyers skipped the fair due to political uncertainty. Participants at the month-long fair that ended on Monday ... Read more

The power, energy and mineral resources ministry has issued a guideline for setting up fuel oil refuelling stations relaxing restriction on maintaining minimum distance for new filling stations to be established outside city corporations and district towns. Officials of the ministry said that now entrepreneurs would be able to set up new filling stations at

BSEC to urge fin min for weekly reporting The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission is likely to request the finance ministry to refrain Bangladesh Bank from monitoring on daily basis banks’ capital market investment through their merchant banks, BSEC sources said. The BB in January asked banks to submit to it total fresh investments made by ... Read more

FICCI for smooth energy supply, infrastructure Attracting foreign direct investment is the first priority of the government to spur economic growth and boost investment in the country, commerce minister Tofail Ahmed said on Monday. ‘We are taking different steps including one stop service for the foreign investors to encourage the overseas corporate investors to invest ... Read more

Industrial defaulted loan decreased by 29.45 per cent in October-December of the current financial year 2013-2014 compared with that of the previous quarter when the amount rose by 2.93 per cent. BB officials told New Age on Sunday that the majority number of banks in the last one-and-a-half months had irrespectively rescheduled their defaulted loan by ... Read more

BSEC asks Dhaka, Ctg bourses to re-submit directors’ lists Former Bangladesh Bank governor Farashuddin Ahmed has declined an offer to become an independent director, potentially to be the chairman, of Dhaka Stock Exchange. The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission on Sunday asked the Dhaka and Chittagong bourses to resubmit the primary list of independent

Finance minister AMA Muhith on Sunday turned down a proposal of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association for special foreign currency assistance from the Bangladesh Bank. The government would need additional foreign currency for implementation of the Padma Bridge project, he told the BTMA officials at a meeting

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has sanctioned Tk 1,253 crore in favour of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) in subsidy payments for selling petroleum products in the domestic market at prices lower than its procurement costs. The allocation was made in consideration of the losses and outstanding subsidy for the last five years and for the first ... Read more

Jobs In Malaysia Workers need to pay Tk 5,000 more for airline change The migration cost of a Malaysia bound worker will increase by Tk 5000 due to change of airliners in February, according to Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training. The BMET has recently taken a decision in principle that Bangladeshi workers would be ... Read more

Stock Market Manipulation Judge appointment to special tribunal awaits SC nod The appointment of the judge to the first-ever special tribunal to deal with the cases for stock market manipulation is awaiting Supreme Court approval. The law ministry in January sent a proposal to the Supreme Court for appointing Mustafizur Rahman, a district judge now ... Read more

The country’s trade deficit decreased by 58.28 per cent in the first half of the current financial year compared with that of 34.13 per cent fall in the same period of the FY13 due to a rise in exports against negative growth in imports. According to the latest BB data, the deficit narrowed to $1.53 billion ... Read more

Worker leaders welcome the move, owners concerned The government is going to set up a hotline soon for factory workers so that they can inform it any concern about possible fire, building safety and worker rights. The government says it has taken the initiative as per the requirement set by the international buyers but factory ... Read more

The National Board of Revenue has lowered tariff value of machine-made bricks by more than 33 per cent in a bid to encourage production of environment friendly bricks in the country, officials of the revenue board said. They said that the revenue board took the decision to discourage production of bricks in traditional brick kilns which ... Read more