Business

Looking Back 2008 RMG breezes past 2008 Refayet Ullah Mirdha Bangladesh’s ready-made garment (RMG) business was well in 2008, although some national and international anti-business issues marked the year as a turbulent one. However, on the onset of the year, the country was faced with a severe competition in the global RMG

Afp, Hong Kong Asia’s markets closed Wednesday to bring down the curtain on a miserable year that saw them lose half their worth in the wake of the global financial meltdown. Despite a number of bourses gaining some ground over the past few days, the overall picture for 2008 has been one of gloom as ... Read more

Sadat Sayem Heavy inflow of liquidity and entry of fresh investors in the first half of 2008 helped Bangladesh’s stock market sustain the bull run it witnessed in 2007, surpassing all the records in market indicators made during a boom from January 14 in the previous

Khawaza Main Uddin The National Board of Revenue starts enforcing compulsory use of electronic cash registers in big and medium sized shops in the six city corporations from today to strengthen collection of value added tax as a major source of revenue earning. The revenue board, which took the decision to introduce the system following ... Read more

NATION BUSINESS REPORT Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has taken different steps for expansion of internet system in the country. As part of the measures, the commission has decided to give three categories of Internet Service including Cyber Cafe Service License on thana basis with a view to making the internet service available and reaching ... Read more

Spot orders likely to cross Tk 50cr Staff Correspondent A month-long 14th Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF)-2009 kicks off from today (Thursday) with the aim of giving a boost to country’s trade and commerce. Organizers expect the participating companies will get above Tk50 crore spot orders from the month-long gathering for local and foreign traders. ... Read more

Staff Reporter The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) registered remarkable gains after a day of the national election as investors’ hoped that the peaceful election and its results would help boost the market. The investors yesterday placed huge buying orders to get profit, pushing up the day’s turnover to Tk 4.31 billion on yesterday from Tk ... Read more

Kazi Azizul Islam Although Canadian import of apparels slowed down this year, Bangladesh’s garment export to that North American country has posted a satisfactory growth rate, say officials at the exporters’ associations. Diversion of a portion of Canadian apparel imports from China to Bangladesh in the past few months helped the exporters, they pointed out. ... Read more

AFP, Dubai Up to 45 percent of the construction workforce in the United Arab Emirates could be laid off, with thousands already having lost their jobs due to the global financial crisis, a report said yesterday. The Khaleej Times newspaper quoted Khalfan Al-Kaabi, a member of the board of directors at Abu Dhabi Chamber of ... Read more

NATION BUSINESS REPORT Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) has inked a deal with Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) to promote Bangladesh’s software and IT enabled services (ITES) industry in Japanese market. JETRO has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with BASIS in this regard on December 15 last at the BASIS Secretariat ... Read more

Staff Correspondent The advisory council committee on economic affairs in a meeting on Tuesday rejected the finance ministry’s proposal to assign the Privatisation Commission again to offload government’s shares in the Rupali Bank Ltd. ‘We have decided not to task the Privatisation Commission again with offloading government’s shares in Rupali Bank as the bank is ... Read more

Reuters/Bdnews24.com . New York The financial crisis is shattering global confidence, with three quarters of households cutting spending and consumers in emerging countries feeling especially squeezed, a survey showed on Tuesday. While countries like China, India and Russia have helped fuel world growth in recent years, the survey of 22 states in November found consumer ... Read more

Kazi Azizul Islam The ongoing global economic recession has finally rung alarm bells for Bangladesh garment industry as latest official data reveals that the country’s export earnings in October was $868 million, posting nearly 8 per cent decline from that in the same month of 2007. The monthly data released by the Export Promotion Bureau ... Read more

United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka The Dhaka Stock Exchange recorded significant rise on Sunday amid increased turnover, helping stocks to gain across the board. The DSE General Index, the benchmark index, rose 73 points or 2.89 per cent to close at 2,591 from 2,518 points on Thursday while the All Shares Price Index increased ... Read more

Asif Showkat The government has decided to take initiatives to keep the remittance inflow stable in this stormy time of global financial turmoil, sources in Bangladesh Bank said. ‘We will take several plans for increasing remittance inflow, including asking the banks to reduce their charges on remitted money; as a result, more remittance will come ... Read more

Turnover drops to 9-month low Staff Correspondent Dhaka stocks finished lower on Sunday amid thin participation of investors as the bourse returned to trading after a nine-day closure, market operators said. The Dhaka Stock Exchange remained closed from December 5 to 13 on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha and the weekly holidays. The DSE general index ... Read more

Kazi Azizul Islam Documents submitted to a US court in a case disclose that German industrial conglomerate Siemens bribed the authorities concerned to gain a telecom infrastructure contract in Bangladesh as it did at least in two other countries. The case documents were submitted on Friday to a US court, which is scheduled to hear ... Read more

Md Hasan State-run mobile operator TeleTalk seeks to get $221 million loans from the Chinese government, mainly to expand its network to provide third-generation technology (3G). The operator said its board had accepted the loan proposal, now pending with the Economic Relations Division (ERD) for further processing. “The telecommunication ministry is in talks over the ... Read more

PROPOSAL FOR SEPARATE PAY STRUCTURE BB asked to seek recommendation of national pay commission Staff Correspondent. The finance ministry has asked Bangladesh Bank to seek recommendation of the National Pay Commission on its proposed separate pay scale for the officials and employees, official said. ‘If the government allows the central bank to have a separate ... Read more