Business

BSS, Dhaka A special economic zone on 1000 acres of land in Sylhet district could attract more FDI from expatriate Bangladeshis to help set up industrial projects there. Talking to BSS on Sunday, Sylhet Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Junnun Mahmud Khan said that the business leaders of the district have planned to take ... Read more

Staff Correspondent The country’s small and medium enterprises in a pre-budget discussion on Sunday suggested setting up an economic crisis mitigation fund to help them grow. The growth of the country’s SMEs has slowed down in the last few years, an expert of the Central for Policy Dialogue told the discussion at the National Board ... Read more

Huawei Technologies (Huawei), a leader in providing nextgeneration telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, together with Intel Corporation, on Wednesday (February 11) announced the launch of a new WiMAX Interoperability Testing (IOT) laboratory in Beijing. Jointly designed and built by Huawei and Intel, the completion of the testing lab represents another milestone in ... Read more

Kawsar Khan Rupayan Housing Estate Ltd has constructed around 800 small and medium-sized apartments at a satellite township in Narayanganj that the company officials said were built targeting the middle-class families as clients. The apartments are housed in 28 buildings over a 19-bigha land in Bhuigar area of the district, a nine-kilometre ride from the ... Read more

NATION BUSINESS REPORT BTI (Building Technology and Ideas) on Saturday said it is constructing country’s one of the largest building projects in the city, which will accommodate at least 117 houses and shopping complex with modern architectural design. BTI is implementing the project styled Premier Plaza on 400,000 square feet land area at Rokeya Sarani, ... Read more

AFP, Dubai Low-paid Asian workers who toil long days to build the skyscrapers of Dubai have become the latest victims of the global financial crisis as companies run short of business and money. For many years, the Gulf emirate was a magnet for South Asian workers who fed the booming economy with cheap manpower-from cleaners ... Read more

Star Business Report Stocks rebounded yesterday as state-run banks entered the scene to rescue the troubled market from a slump in investor confidence and downturn for four days. The benchmark DSE General Index surged about 15-month high at 121.71 points or 5.03 percent to close at 2538. 37. The DSE All Shares Price Index advanced ... Read more

NATION BUSINESS REPORT Grameenphone’s revenue went up by 13 per cent to about Tk 6,100 crore in 2008 compared to 2007. At the end of 2008, the number of subscriptions reported about 2.1 crore with a subscription market share of 47 per cent. In 2008, the number of subscriptions increased by 45 lakhs. “While it ... Read more

Sayeda Akter Romance is set to paint the town scarlet and several industries eye trade worth over Tk 100 crore on Valentine’s Day, just around the bend. Flowers and cards are good, but not good enough for Valentine’s Day. Tailor-made packages for courting couples have been arranged by five-star hotels, restaurants, flower shops, card and ... Read more

Staff Correspondent The finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, on Saturday said the government would take necessary measures for strengthening and developing the country’s capital market to make it a major source of financing

Staff Correspondent Industries minister Dilip Barua on Saturday said the government was mulling over formulation of a coordinated industrial policy aimed at keeping the wheels of economy running. ‘We want to focus more on our SME sector in the proposed industrial policy for facing [the impacts of] the ongoing global recession,’ the minister told the ... Read more

Sajjadur Rahman Nasir Glass Industries Limited (NGIL) exported more than Tk 20 crore worth of glass in 2008, a chunk of which went to the northeastern states of India. The country’s largest glassmaker that started commercial operations in September

Star Business Report Businessmen bagged Tk 20.59 crore ($3 million) worth of export orders from the 14th Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF), which came to a close yesterday. “Spot orders show that the products showcased at the fair have international

Refayet Ullah Mirdha Top readymade garment (RMG) makers are optimistic about meeting the export target in the current fiscal year although exports of some other products from Bangladesh declined in July-December period. Woven garment surpassed the export target by 2.45 percent, knitwear 2.16 percent, terry towel 10.96 percent and textile fabrics by 8.16 percent during ... Read more

NATION BUSINESS REPORT The Bangladesh Bank has started closely monitoring the country’s real estate prices in the wake of drastic fall in housing prices worldwide, including the United States and neighbouring India. Even the International Monetary Fund has recently warned that the US housing downturn might deepen and lasted longer than previously forecast, and the ... Read more

NATION BUSINESS REPORT The total deposit of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) reached at Tk 20,289 crore up to January of the current year, showing a growth rate of 22 per cent against the corresponding period of the last year. The total investment has reached Tk 20,555 crore, showing a growth rate of 15 per ... Read more

Sajjadur Rahman Bankers fear random import of low-cost yarn from neighbouring India will cost them heavily by making their clients defaulted. Banks have also tightened their grip on new lending to this sector to see the bad time of the industry, which had a consistent growth for the past one decade, bankers said. “Payment from ... Read more

Kazi Azizul Islam and Asif Showkat Economists and commodity importers on Wednesday suggested that the government should be careful before framing any policy to allow depreciation of taka, as it may fuel inflation and erode the customs revenue. If the government wants to encourage exporters and wage-earners abroad, they could be offered some other interim ... Read more

UNB, Dhaka The government has taken initiative to simplify the textual language of Income Tax, VAT and Customs rules and regulations for easy understanding of the stakeholders, as many shy away from paying taxes for legal encumbrance. “The language and attitude of the rules and regulations concerning Income Tax, Customs and VAT will be changed ... Read more

Star Business Report Leaders of the MCCI yesterday urged Industries Minister Dilip Barua to modernise the BSTI so that its certification is accepted worldwide for smooth running of international trade and commerce. At present, many countries especially India does not accept the certification of the state-owned Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI). As a result, ... Read more