Business

Khawaza Main Uddin The government is yet to begin providing training to garment workers for improving their skill, utilising an endowment fund, four years after it had been pledged to face the challenge of quota-free textile regime. The selection of a firm for imparting training to workers has become entangled in the complexity of a ... Read more

Kazi Azizul Islam One of every seven essential food products, especially which are marketed in packets, has no seal of standardisation on its label, revealed a survey conducted by the Consumer Association of Bangladesh. Such a seal, which is approved by the national standardisation organisation–– Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institute, is mandatory in the label ... Read more

Repo rate down 25 basis points Sajjadur Rahman The central bank yesterday slashed the interest rate it charges on loans to commercial banks by 25 basis points to 8.50 percent to bolster growth and cushion the impact of the global economic turmoil. “The decision to cut the short-term repo rate has been taken to encourage ... Read more

UNB, Dhaka Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) on Wednesday strongly urged the government to remove the uncertainties on continuation of the tax holiday and widen the list of industries under the scheme in the next budget. The MCCI came up with the plea at a pre-budget meeting with the National Board of Revenue ... Read more

Kazi Azizul Islam With severe load-shedding of electricity continuing in the city and elsewhere, the businesses dealing with power back-up devices see hectic business in the upcoming summer with sales peaking since early March. In last year around 60,000 units of instant power supply or IPS and 15,000 small generators were sold. Industry people expect ... Read more

Sayeda Akter The government plans to renovate Dhaka Sheraton Hotel without delay and appoint an international operator to run the five-star hotel for five years. Also, Sheraton is set to extend its contract with the government for three

Star Business Desk The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry has demanded that the government come up with a bailout plan for the readymade garment sector. It also sought subsidy on the imports of capital machineries and industrial

Sohel Parvez Supermarket biggies have attempted a massive expansion drive this year to catch up more shoppers who still depend on unorganised wet markets to buy their essentials. The rise in supermarkets, according to analysts, will diversify consumer choices and boost consumer spending needed for economic growth, while the wet markets will also witness an ... Read more

Staff Correspondent The government might provide facility again to legalise the undisclosed money to boost up the industrialisation and employment in the wake of global financial recession, hinted the revenue board chairman on Sunday. ‘We want all kinds of money should come into the formal economy,’ Abdul Mazid, national board of revenue chairman, said at ... Read more

COMMODITY SUPPLY MESS Supermarket pioneer reveals findings Kazi Azizul Islam If middlemen are eliminated and agro-produces from growers reach directly to retailers, prices will remain low — it is not only a public perception, also many economists subscribe to this idea. But, from his experience of running the operations of the country’s premier superstore chain ... Read more

Approves Asia Insurance IPO Staff Correspondent The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday approved the Asia Insurance Limited to raise Tk 9 crore through issuing initial public offering. ‘The insurance company will float 9 lakh shares of Tk 100 each,’ SEC executive officer Farhad Ahmed told reporters. The existing paid-up capital of Asia Insurance is ... Read more

Md Hasan The nascent call centre industry is facing policy hurdles and a shortage of skilled human resources that are posing a threat to nip the promising industry in the bud. Only seven out of 300 call centre licence holders in the country are inching towards grabbing a share of the $450 billion global

Staff Correspondent Garment exporters have admitted that the global recession has started affecting their businesses as orders are falling and importers are puting pressure for more price cuts. They, however, said that the government frustrated them more as it so far had not taken any decision on a stimulating support which

Asif Showkat Three state-owned banks, among four have targeted 231 loss-making branches to make them profitable by this year. The SOBs are Sonali, Janata and Agrani banks. Sonali Bank, the largest of the SOBs with 1,181 branches, had the most 439 loss-making branches in 2007 and the reform measures brought the number down to 191, ... Read more

Kawsar Khan Concord Entertainment Company Limited (CECL) plans to invest Tk 15 crore over the next one and a half years to expand its resort facilities at Foy’s Lake in Chittagong, in a bid to cash in on a steady inflow of tourists. In the next five years, CECL, a concern of Concord Group, will ... Read more

Bdnews24.com . Dhaka Investment in national savings certificates has increased two and a half times in the first half of the 2008-09 fiscal year compared with the previous year. Reduced inflation and suspension of anti-graft drive have contributed to the rise of investment in savings schemes, experts say. According to the central bank data, savings ... Read more

AFP, Nairobi The UN Environment Programme has unveiled an ambitious seven-point plan to feed the world without polluting it further by making better use of resources and cutting down on massive waste. A survey of the current state of food production and consumption released to a forum of the Kenya-based UNEP and world environment ministers ... Read more

Star Business Report A delegation led by Deputy Minister for Economic Development of Russian Federation Anna Popova arrived in Dhaka yesterday on a four-day visit to Bangladesh to learn about operations and the legal structure of Grameen Bank and

BSS, Dhaka According to a recent research findings with every ten percent increase in mobile phone penetration, a country’s GDP increases by 0.6 percent. A Wireless Intelligence report said Bangladesh at present is one of the top ten mobile phone growth markets in the Asia-Pacific region. It said in 2007, Bangladesh recorded unprecedented increases in ... Read more

Agence France-Presse . Manila More than 140 million people could be plunged into poverty and 23 million lose their jobs in Asia this year as the global financial crisis batters the region, according to a study released Wednesday. The crisis could also slow rural-to-urban migration, with many facing the prospect of returning to low-paid agricultural ... Read more