Business

Bdnews24.com . Dhaka The industries minister, Dilip Barua, on Wednesday said current interest rates were hindering industrial development in Bangladesh. ‘It’s hard to make profit at the current 14-15 per cent bank interest against industrial credit,’ Dilip told a delegation of the International Business Forum of Bangladesh at his ministry on Wednesday. Sympathising with businesses ... Read more

AFP, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia is preparing a second economic stimulus package to fend off the threat of recession and is considering freezing the recruitment of foreign workers, reports said yesterday. The stimulus package, which comes after a 2.0-billion-dollar programme unveiled last November, is focused on helping companies and workers affected by the global slowdown, The ... Read more

Sayeda Akter Units of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, which were leased out to private operators for better management and efficiency, continue to incur losses. Several units are yet to pay back long-due lease money to the troubled state-owned tourism agency in line with the

Kazi Azizul Islam The bakers and restaurant owners continue to charge high prices for their products, which are made using flour and oil, despite the price of the two major essentials declined drastically in the past several months. The price of the food items at bakery shops and restaurants in the capital city was found ... Read more

UNB, Dhaka Lack of attention of the new government to the share market took its toll on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), as it witnessed a sharp fall on Monday, continuing the bearish trend since January 5. Brokers said investors were losing confidence in the market in absence of the new government’s attention to the ... Read more

Staff Correspondent Frustrated at the continuous fall in share prices, a group of retail investors on Monday staged a demonstration in front of the Dhaka Stock Exchange building. Dhaka stocks plunged for the straight fourth trading day on Monday due to selling pressure amid a volatile trend in

NATION BUSINESS REPORT Leaders of the Foreign Investors’ Chamber and Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have urged the government to take their opinion before finalising the new industrial policy. They made the request at a meeting with the industries minister, Dilip Barua, at the ministry on Sunday. The minister said the government was going to formulate ... Read more

SINGAPORE,(AFP): Sales of computers in the Asia Pacific region outside Japan fell for the first time in a decade during the fourth quarter, as the global meltdown hit consumer spending, a study said today. Preliminary figures showed 17.2 million desktop computers and laptops were sold in the December quarter, down 14 per cent from the ... Read more

Staff Correspondent Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday suggested a number of tasks for the new government to boost up business confidence and growth of the small and medium enterprise sector. In their first press meet, DCCI office-bearers and the board, which had been sworn in a month back, lauded the government’s long-term ... Read more

Sajjadur Rahman The shrimp industry foresees the toughest time this year on a continuous fall both in the price and demand in the troubled developed economies, main consumers of the item, according to industry people. They said buyers in the US and Europe are

Raheed Ejaz Manpower recruiting agents Sunday submitted a 28-point proposal to the government that includes increasing the migration cost from Tk 84,000 to Tk 1,40,000 to stop cheating as well as maintaining growth in this sector. A delegation of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agents met labour and employment and expatriates’ welfare and overseas ... Read more

BSS, Dhaka The new government’s decision of withdrawal of all duties on equipments of Solar Household System (SHS) will significantly boost up the expansion of renewable energy in rural parts of the county, experts said. Prof NC Bhowmik, director of Renewable Energy research Centre (RERC) told BSS that the vast areas of rural people mostly ... Read more

Sohel Parvez The prices of broiler chicken have jumped over 51 percent because of short supply as fears over probable bird flu attacks slowed farming last month. Low returns over chicken last month also prompted farmers to cut farming, leading retail prices to rise as high as Tk 139 a kilogram. The overall prices of ... Read more

United Airways, one of the private airlines in Bangladesh, has announced 30 per cent fuel surcharge cut on all routes as world oil prices marked a sharp fall. The cut in fuel surcharge comes into effect on January 20, reports UNB. Considering the passengers’ right to benefit from the decline in world fuel prices, United ... Read more

Staff Correspondent Dhaka stocks finished down on Sunday, the third consecutive trading day, in a market that saw continuous price fluctuations amid a downtrend for the last couple of weeks. The general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange lost 18.39 points, or 0.68 per cent, to close at 2677.19, while its blue chips index, DSE20, shed ... Read more

Citycell (Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited) introduced the country’s first inter-standard Global Roaming Service, which allows customers to roam in both CDMA and GSM networks of over 450 operators in more than 200 countries around the world. This Global Roaming Service also provides revolutionary satellite coverage even in places where no mobile operator’s network exists. Additionally, ... Read more

Bdnews24.com . Dhaka Shinepukur Ceramics Ltd has signed a memorandum of understanding with a German company for setting up an expansion unit of bone china. The deal was signed Sunday to boost Shinepukur’s bone china output by 150 per cent. Nazmul Hassan, chairman of Shinepukur Ceramics Ltd, and Konrad Schmidling, managing director of Ceramic Info ... Read more

Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) organized a welcome ceremony today, Saturday, 17th January 2009 at the Baridhara campus for the newly admitted students of the Spring 2009 semester. On the occasion, the premises, full to the brim by the new spring-faces truly wore a festive look with festoons and banners. Prof Bazlul Mobin Chowdhury, Vice Chancellor ... Read more

Sajjadur Rahman The sectoral distribution of bank credit has marked a significant change, with a majority share going for trade financing, central bank data show. Some 35.4 percent of total bank credit was meant for the trade financing as of September 2008, which was only 18.7 percent in March. Up to September, the bank advances ... Read more

Staff Correspondent The Coordination Council on Monetary Policy and Exchange Rate of the finance ministry is expected to meet at the end of this month to explore strategies for bringing stability in the country’s balance of payments to contain inflation and keep the exchange rate of taka at a reasonable level. ‘The council meeting will ... Read more