Business

Visiting World Bank vice president for South Asia Region Annette Dixon on Tuesday advised the government to improve the existing business environment for the private sector to become a middle income country. Dixon made the plea while talking to journalists after a meeting with Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman at the central bank headquarters in the ... Read more

NBR to frame policy to prevent misuse of income tax rebate Revenue collection by the National Board of Revenue fell short by Tk 2,359 crore in the first seven months of the current financial year 2014-15, NBR chairman Md Nojibur Rahman said on Tuesday. At a regular news briefing at NBR headquarters in the capital, Nojibur ... Read more

The biennial election board of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry announced May 23 as the election date for 2015-17 tenure. The chairman of the election board Ali Ashraf on Tuesday announced the schedules of the FBCCI election date for the next two years’ tenure. As per the schedule,

Cancellations of the import-related letter of credit increased by 24.94 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal year because of disagreement between importers and exporters and dull business situation in the country amid political uncertainty and unrest in the period, Bangladesh Bank officials said. The BB data released recently showed that LC cancellations ... Read more

AIMS of Bangladesh Limited has submitted an action plan to the capital market regulator for the possible conversion or windup of two close-ended mutual funds it manages as the tenure of the mutual funds will end in June 30 this year, AIMS of Bangladesh managing director Yawer Sayeed told New Age on Monday. The AIMS-managed two ... Read more

Prices of daily essentials including beef and mutton remained high in the capital’s kitchen markets over the week ending Friday as the ongoing blockade being enforced by the BNP-led alliance hurt the supply chain across the country. Beef was selling at Tk 340-Tk 350 a kilogram in the city’s kitchen markets on Friday while mutton was ... Read more

DSE Weekly Review Dhaka stocks return to negative zone Dhaka stocks returned to the negative zone last week after a sharp rise in the previous week due to investors’ profit taking share sell-offs and scepticism about the market prospect amid fresh political tension. The key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, fell by 1.10 per cent, ... Read more

The defaulted loans in the agriculture sector increased by 14.42 per cent in the first seven months of this financial year despite a downward trend in farm loan disbursement in the period as farmers failed to repay their loans for not getting fair prices of their products due to a supply chain disruption amid political ... Read more

Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith has agreed to raise the value-added tax-free annual turnover threshold for traders to Tk 36 lakh from Tk 24 lakh, following recommendations from the VAT Act-2012 review committee, officials of the National Board of Revenue said. In a recent instruction to the revenue board, finance minister

Country’s real estate sector suffered losses of Tk 1,656 crore in the last 46 days due to a nonstop blockade and frequent hartals enforced by the BNP-led alliance since January 6, claimed sector leaders. The sector leaders at a press conference on Thursday demanded loan rescheduling facility for two years and waiver of interest on bank ... Read more

The Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), a global association of mobile phone operators, has requested the Bangladesh government to carry out a public consultation of draft guidelines on the upcoming spectrum auction, said a Grameenphone press release on Thursday. ‘Such a process [public consultation] would allow all

Finds NBR, starts legal process to recover the money The country’s tax administration has demanded a total of Tk 19,594 crore from four major gas distribution companies, alleging that the companies dodged the amount in value-added tax and supplementary duty from 2009 to 2014. Officials of the National Board of Revenue told New Age that Titas ... Read more

Belgium is on course to become the new billion-dollar export market for Bangladesh in the current financial year 2014-15 riding on the moderate growth of readymade garments and frozen food products. Exports to Belgium in the first seven months of the FY15 grew by 9.01 per cent to $608.97 million against $558.59 million in the same ... Read more

BB advises to use persuasion in recovering defaulted farm loans Bangladesh Bank on Monday asked six state-run banks to give farmers relief from certificate cases by rescheduling their defaulted farm loans. The BB asked the banks not to file any fresh certificate case against farmers as the central bank gave importance on recovering the defaulted farm ... Read more

Mobile phone operator Airtel is running a WiFi service after expiry of its authorised tenure violating the telecom rules, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission officials told New Age on Monday. Airtel, however, said that the BTRC approval for the WiFi service was given to a third-party — iConnect — and the operator had no regulatory concern in ... Read more

The National Board of Revenue has sent a proposal to the finance ministry for enacting a law for imposing surcharge on mobile phone services including talk time. The board made the proposal in the past week as the law ministry in late January sent back a draft Statutory Regulatory Order imposing 1 per cent surcharge ... Read more

To advise to find alternative defaulted farm loan recovery window Bangladesh Bank will ask six state-run banks to take initiatives to decrease the certificate cases against farmers by searching alternative window to recover the defaulted farm loans as the number of unsettled certificate cases has already crossed two lakh. The BB will organise a meeting with ... Read more

TElecom Surveillance Upgrade Home asks NBR to exempt telcos from import duty The home ministry has requested the National Board of Revenue to waive any payment of tax on the import of equipment which will be used to upgrade the government’s mobile phone surveillance system, NBR officials told New Age. A letter from the home ministry’s ... Read more

HSBC published a full-page letter in British newspapers on Sunday to offer its ‘sincerest apologies’ for past practices at its Swiss private bank, which has been accused of helping clients to evade tax. Europe’s biggest bank admitted failings in compliance and controls in its Swiss operation after media reports that said it had helped wealthy customers ... Read more

A multinational gang of cyber criminals has stolen as much as $1 billion from as many as 100 financial institutions around the world in about two years, Russian computer security company Kaspersky Lab said on Saturday. The company said it was working with Interpol, Europol and authorities from different countries to try to uncover more details ... Read more