Business

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

Staff Correspondent Dhaka stocks dropped last week, extending its bear run for the second consecutive week, amid decreased participation of investors, market operators said. The general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange lost 65.09 points, or 2.36 per cent, in the week closing at 2,695.58 on Thursday, while its blue chips index, DSE20, shed 71.86 points, ... Read more

Star Business Report The 14th Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) pulled a huge crowd on the weekend on Friday and yesterday with customers complaining of high prices charged by the companies participating in the month-long

Says BoJ chief United News of Bangladesh . Chittagong The National Board of Revenue chairman, Abdul Mazid, on Saturday said they would try to raise revenue income from internal sources to make up the shortfall caused from the impact of decline in commodity prices in the world market. ‘Our revenue growth has been based on ... Read more

Star Business Report Grameen Danone Foods Ltd entered Dhaka market yesterday with its nutrient-rich ‘Shakti’ brand food items to build a cushion against the subsidy it provides for selling the products at cheaper rates among the

BSS, Dhaka Expecting high returns from the biggest-ever allocation for agriculture sector, Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury today brushed aside the notion of providing Taka 2,700 crore fresh subsidy to fertilizer a problem for the new government. “The government has the ability to afford the money required to give the subsidy on fertilizer. If we ... Read more

Sarwar A Chowdhury An export-oriented Dutch-Bangla joint venture company started its journey last month. The company, Wellpac Polymers Limited, has already made its first shipment of plastic bags to the Netherlands entering the billion-dollar international plastic bag market. “Initially our target is exporting 3,000 tonnes of plastic bag, especially shopping and garbage bags, a year ... Read more

A group of seven core development partners along with ICDDR,B officials participated in a signing ceremony documenting their continued partnership, at ICDDR,B’s Mohakhali campus recently. The Core Donors’ Group (CDG) was established in 2007 to coordinate donor funding to ICDDR,B in consistence with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. The CDG members providing unrestricted support ... Read more