Business

The working conditions in the garment sector in Bangladesh have been among the worst in the global garment industry despite the fact that the country enjoyed relatively high economic growth over the past two decades due mainly to readymade garment exports, said a report of the International Labour Organisation released on Monday. The report ‘Bangladesh:

Tensions broke into the open on Monday involving two large groups of retailers — one overwhelmingly American, the other dominated by Europeans — that have formed to improve factory safety in Bangladesh, reports New York Times. An official from the European group voiced concern that the American retailers would piggyback at no cost

Says service operated violating laws The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission on Sunday asked mobile phone operator Banglalink to submit the financial details of Home Zone service which the operator launched in 2011 violating the relevant laws. The BTRC asked the company to submit the zone-wise earning of the Home Zone package by November 21 (tomorrow) as

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday approved a Tk 20-crore initial public offering of Emerald Oil Industries Ltd. The BSEC gave its nod to the IPO application of the company in a regular commission meeting presided over by its chairman M Khairul Hossain,

Bangladesh Jute and Commodity Exchange Ltd, a private company, on Tuesday proposed that the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission should approve ‘Bangladesh Jute Exchange Limited’ as its new name. The company’s appeal came after the BSEC directed the company to drop ‘commodity exchange’ from its name. BJCE recently undertook a

Capital Market Development BSEC sceptical about release of 2nd-phase $150m ADB fund Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission officials have become sceptical about the release of Asian Development Bank’s second phase fund under the Capital Market Development Programme-2 as the proposed Financial Reporting Act 2013 is yet to be placed before the parliament. The ADB, a Manila-based ... Read more

DSEX hits record high since Jan 28 launch Dhaka stocks gained for the fifth straight day on Tuesday with the key index, DSEX, hitting its highest value since the January 28 launch as the rumour that the Bangladesh Bank might relax some provisioning related rules fuelled investors’ optimism. The DSEX added 2.38 per cent,

Tax For Shares NBR sets issue price as base for tax collection The National Board of Revenue has recently informed the Dhaka Stock Exchange that the issue price of shares of a company approved by the stock market regulator would be considered as the base price for tax payment by the shareholders. A DSE web post ... Read more

Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday introduced a half-yearly journal named ‘Thought on Banking and Finance’ in a bid to help the people understand the dynamics of the country’s financial sector. BB governor Atiur Rahman unveiled the journal at the central bank headquarters in the capital. The Bangladesh Bank Training Academy, a wing of the central bank,

The government on Monday introduced a five-year group insurance scheme for the construction workers. Labor and employment minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju launched the scheme at the secretariat after the sixth board meeting of the workers’ welfare foundation. The minister said a construction

Five newly-established commercial banks are likely to be enlisted with the central bank as primary dealers of the government securities from December 1, said officials of the Bangladesh Bank. The five banks are NRB Commercial Bank, South Bangla Agriculture and Commerce Bank, Midland Bank, Farmers Bank and Meghna Bank. BB officials said the

The government has nominated 46 export firms to award National Export Trophy for their outstanding performances in export earnings in 24 export-oriented sectors in the financial year 2010-11. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to hand over the trophies to the firms at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital tomorrow, commerce

More than 15 per cent of the apparel factories in Walmart Stores Inc’s initial round of safety inspections in Bangladesh failed their audits and had to make improvements to keep doing business with the giant retailer, reports The Wall Street Journal. Walmart said most of the three dozen

Dinajpur’s Hili land port has been closed indefinitely in protest against the harassment of businesspersons at the border. Export and import through the port was initially temporarily stopped on Sunday noon. But after a meeting of importers, C&F agents, businesspersons and labour representatives at night, it was decided to close the port indefinitely.

Rokia Afzal Rahman, chair of Arlinks Limited, has been re-elected the president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry for 2014 term. The chamber’s new committee in its first meeting re-elected her for the post on Monday. Anis A Khan, managing director and chief

Dhaka stocks gained for the fourth trading session on Monday as the turnover recorded the highest in a month thanks to active participation of the investors. The benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, finished at 4,279.42 points, adding 0.54 per cent, or 23.00 points. DS30,

Bangladesh Bank has decided to create a database of the expatriate Bangladeshi workers. Expatriates will be able to post personal information in the database linked to the central bank’s web site. The initiative, which begins this week, is aimed at gathering information about Bangladeshis working in various countries, said the bank spokesperson

Bangladesh Bank has asked the scheduled banks which are holding most of the overdue inland and foreign bills against letters of credit to settle their bills by November 27, said officials of the central bank. The BB’s direction came at a series of meetings held in the last eight days with 23 scheduled banks which performed ... Read more

The High Court on Sunday asked the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission and the government to explain in 15 days the legality of the latest broadband wireless access service licence awarded to Ollo. The HC bench of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar issued the rule after hearing a public interest

The country’s apparel exporters on Sunday urged the visiting US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, Nisha Desai Biswal, for a move to push the US buyers for increasing the prices of products. Better prices for apparel products are necessary to ensure workplace safety and workers’ rights in Bangladesh, they told Nisha. In a ... Read more