Business

Bangladesh Tea Association on Tuesday demanded the government to reintroduce 20 per cent supplementary duty on import of tea to protect local producers from uneven competition and save domestic industry. At a meeting with commerce minister Tofail Ahmed, leaders of the association placed their 8-point demands, saying that local producers and exporters

The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday said that Bangladesh Bank should take steps to reduce the bank interest rate to achieve the 16.50 per cent private sector credit growth targeted in the monetary policy for the second half of the current fiscal year. The chamber body in a statement said that the 15.50 ... Read more

Bangladesh Bank on Monday announced a ‘cautious monetary policy’ for the second half of the political crisis-hit financial year 2014 targeting a lower GDP growth at around 6 per cent and bringing down the inflation to 7 per cent. The central bank in its monetary policy statement for the January-June kept major targets including the private ... Read more

Commitments of loans and grants made by international lenders and development partners declined by 27 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal year compared with that of corresponding period of the last year, Economic Relations Division data released on Monday showed. On the other hand, disbursement of foreign

The internet users through mobile phones witnessed a downtrend in last three months after the six mobile phone operators launched 3G service in September, showed a recent data of the telecom regulator. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission data showed that the mobile internet subscribers of the six operators were 3.50 crore in October,

The national flag carrier will resume its Dhaka-New York flight with a stoppage in Birmingham from June 4 after an eight-year suspension due to soaring fuel price and per trip loss, the Biman Bangladesh officials announced on Monday. It will also resume Dhaka-Frankfurt operation from April. ‘We are serious about Dhaka-New York operations… twice weekly

Bangladesh Bank on Monday asked scheduled banks to take effective safety measures for their vaults to avoid burglary incidents. The central bank has given the direction as the burglars looted around Tk 16.40 crore by digging tunnel into the vault of a Sonali Bank’s branch in Kishoreganj on Sunday. To this end, the BB issued a circular ... Read more

Dhaka stocks ended flat on Monday after increase in the previous four trading sessions with decline in turnover as investors adopted a ‘go-slow’ approach to cope with the fresh monetary policy declared by Bangladesh Bank after the trading closer on the day. The benchmark general index of the bourse,

The government ministries and agencies implemented only 27 per cent of the annual development programme in the first half of the current fiscal year, three per cent less than the ADP implementation rate in the same period of the last fiscal year, planning ministry officials said. In July-December of the last fiscal year, the rate of ... Read more

Basel Pillar Ii: Risk-Weighted Assets BB asks banks to take preparation to keep more capital Bangladesh Bank has asked the scheduled banks to take preparation to keep more capital against their risk-weighted assets starting from the last quarter of 2014 or first quarter of 2015 to implement fully the BASEL II, said officials of the ... Read more

The active number of mobile phone subscribers in the country increased by 1.66 crore or 17 per cent in 2013 as the total user of six mobile operators reached to 11.37 crore at the end of the year. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission data showed the total number of mobile phone subscribers rose by 13.70 ... Read more

GDP will grow by 5.6-5.8pc in FY14 Four major economic sectors of the country in the first half of the current fiscal year incurred losses of Tk 49,017.92 crore, which is 4.7 per cent of the GDP of the last fiscal year, due to political violence, Centre for Policy Dialogue said on Saturday. The independent think-tank ... Read more

Declines again to sell power, gas Dhaka and Yangon have agreed to sign accords on food grain export and investment promotion and protection during the recently held joint trade commission meeting in the Myanmar capital. Both sides also agreed to sign instruments on amended agreement to coastal and maritime shipping and finalisation of the standard ... Read more

Labour ACT Govt misses schedule to finalise rules The government has failed to finalise the rules and regulations for proper implementation of labour act even after two months of its promised time. Though the government formed a committee in August last year promising to finalise the rules and regulations within three months, the committee only

Existing method to continue until BB directive Bangladesh Bank has decided to formulate a cost model to determine the pricing of mobile financial services in the country after the telecom regulator came up with a directive on the matter. The decision came following a meeting between the BB and the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission on ... Read more

Dhaka stocks continued to rise last week, fourth week in a row, with the bourse’s key index hitting a new high as investors continued to inject fresh fund amid an anticipation of another share market bubble. The benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, increased by 4.06 per cent, or 183.30 points, over the week ... Read more

The prices of coarse and fine varieties of rice marked a fresh rise on the retail markets in the capital over the week ending Friday. The retailers are blaming the wholesalers for the increase of rice prices while the wholesalers are putting blame on supply shortage and high transportation cost. The prices of coarse and fine varieties ... Read more

The Dhaka International Trade Fair-2014, which began on January 11, witnessed a large number of visitors on Friday, the second weekend after the start of the country’s biggest trade show. Visitors, particularly youths, flocked the ticket counters rushing to enter the fair premises at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the city on the public holiday.

The finance ministry plans to enhance the authorised capital of four state-owned commercial banks to make space for the struggling banks to widen their capital bases in future given their soaring risk weighted assets and need for expanding operations. The move has been taken in less than one month after the government injected Tk 4,100 crore ... Read more

To get access to EC database Bangladesh Bank has taken initiatives to get for the scheduled banks access to the Election Commission’s database so that the banks can check national identity cards of clients when they (banks) will give priority to the NID numbers of clients in opening accounts for clients, Bangladesh Bank officials said. Currently ... Read more