Bangladesh will introduce four more stress-tolerant rice seeds this year — two saline-tolerant and two submergence-tolerant — to scale up production by fighting the effects of climate change. “The seeds will make us more prepared to face the impact of climate change,” said Anwar Faruque, director general of the seed wing of the
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Remittance inflow crossed $14b in 2012
Remittance inflow increased by 16.49 per cent to $14.17 billion last year compared with that of 2011 thanks to significant appreciation of the dollar against the taka during the period, said Bangladesh Bank officials. The central bank data released on Wednesday showed that migrant Bangladeshis had sent about $14.17 billion in remittance in the year 2012 ... Read more
BB launches online monitoring
Documentary Bill Purchase BB launches online monitoring The Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday introduced three software solutions to monitor banks’ activities relating to purchases of inland and foreign documentary bills for letters of credit and flow of inward and outward remittances to ensure transparency in the foreign exchange transaction. A BB official told New Age that ... Read more
Diversify exports, find new markets
Prime minister asks businesses as DITF kicks off Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday asked businesspeople to diversify export products and explore new markets abroad to help earn more foreign currency. “Don’t rely too much on traditional export products,” she said while inaugurating the month-long 18th Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) at
Teletalk launches 3G modem
Teletalk yesterday launched 3G modems, with 4 Megabits per second maximum speed, after operating 3G services for one and a half months. The state-owned mobile operator launched the product, ‘Flash’, with the largest package of 10 GB data and one SIM card at Tk 2,500. The customers will have to use up the free data ... Read more
Banks post healthy operating profits
The country’s scheduled banks in the just concluded year posted healthy operating profits despite debacle in the capital market, liquidity crisis, lower loan disbursement and a stagnation condition in opening and settling of letter of credits for import. A BB official told New Age on Monday that although the growth in profits in 2012 was not
Base price for 3G auction: $20m
Auction by March; operators to pay 15pc additional VAT The finance ministry has set $20 million for per megahertz spectrum as the base or starting price for 2100 MHz band auction to roll out 3G or 4G service in Bangladesh. Sunil Kanti Bose, chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, said the finance ministry has approved ... Read more
20 highest taxpayers get NBR awards
The National Board of Revenue on Monday awarded the 20 highest individual and corporate income taxpayers of the 2009-2010 financial year in recognition of their contributions towards the nation’s economy. Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith handed over the tax cards and certificates to 10 individuals and 10 companies at a programme organised by the NBR ... Read more
Dhaka Int’l Trade Fair begins today
The month-long Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) begins today for showcasing Bangladeshi products to the visitors amid hopes for increased export orders. DITF for the first time introduced an online shopping option for busy city-dwellers. The export orders may rise about 5 percent to Tk 45 crore this
Robi opens new unit to run towers efficiently
Mobile operator Robi Axiata has set up a new concern to provide support to its back-up equipment as part of its efforts to improve the overall quality of its service, an official said yesterday. “We have more than 8,392 base transceiver stations across the country. It is not possible to maintain them without any dedicated ... Read more
Tourism fair begins Thursday
The government needs to act fast to ensure rapid growth in domestic tourism with better services and road communication, said an association of the tour operators yesterday. “The number of domestic tourists is increasing at 10 percent a year. Now the government should provide them with better accommodation, security,
Profit-taking sends stocks slipping for third day
Stocks slid for the third day in a row as investors continued with their selling spree to pocket profits. DGEN, the benchmark General Index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, finished the day with 4,542.64 points, after declining 103.43 points or 2.22 percent. The day, however, started on a positive note, with the market gaining 44 points ... Read more
Jamuna Future Park to open soon
Jamuna Future Park, one of the world’s largest shopping mall, is going to open soon beside Baridhara Diplomatic Zone in the capital, according to a statement yesterday. There is an allotment of 120 bighas of land for the Jamuna Future Park Complex, 33 bigha of which is being used to build the
Unregistered SIMS banned from Friday
Mobile operators will not be able to sell pre-activated connections from Friday as the telecom regulator introduced a raft of measures to tighten the registration process to fight crimes committed using cellphones. Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said mobile operators would have to stop purchase and sales of all kinds of pre-activated SIM (subscriber identity ... Read more
BB wants more control over state banks
Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman yesterday called for more control over state-run commercial banks to help them run professionally and enhance their accountability. Exemption of state-owned banks from some of Bangladesh Bank’s supervisory empowerments of Banking Companies Act stands in the way of effective supervision of
REHAB fair begins in New York today
Amid gloomy real estate business at home, listed developers are going to arrange the ‘REHAB Fair-2012’ in New York targeting the growing Bangladesh-origin second generation and retired groups in the USA. The three-day fair, organised by the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh begins today that will help attract prospective
Walton Android phone to hit market soon
Walton Android Primo, the first of its kind in Walton’s smart phone series, is likely to hit market in Dhaka soon, said a news release. The new smartphone is coming to the market with the slogan, ‘Get Android Primo-Be Entertained.’ Equipped with all third generation (3G) features, this smartphone set will be very
Western Fishers launches first deep-sea fishing trawler
Western Fishers Shipyard Ltd (WFSL) has launched its first deep-sea mid water fishing trawler recently. WFSL — a joint venture between Western Marine Shipyard and Fishers Shipyard Ltd — is the first shipyard in Bangladesh to build such a trawler. The 42-metre vessel — FT Agro Food-1 — has a freezing capacity of 300 tonnes ... Read more
Slow exports to pull down GDP growth to 6pc: ADB
Bangladesh’s economic growth may come down to 6 percent in the current fiscal year due to sluggish exports and a decline in domestic demand, the Asian Development Bank has said. The lender launched its Asian Development Outlook 2012 in Bangladesh and throughout Asia Pacific yesterday. GDP (gross domestic product) rose by 6.3 percent
Cooperatives come under NBR lens
The National Board of Revenue has brought the banking business of cooperative societies and cooperative banks under its scrutiny. The tax administrator also asked its field offices to examine tax records of the cooperatives that are doing banking business