Business

The country’s import orders decreased by 7.03 per cent in December 2014 against a 5.23-per cent growth in November as the businesspeople again adopted a go-slow policy to business expansion due to the recent spate of political unrest and uncertainty, said officials of Bangladesh Bank. According to the BB data released this week,

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission has started scrutinising the assets of the mutual funds as the commission is suspecting unlawful use of the assets by some asset management companies. In December last year, the capital market regulator issued letters to the custodians of mutual funds asking the entities to submit details of the MFs’ assets ... Read more

Dhaka stocks reverted to negative zone on Wednesday after rising in the previous trading session amid volatile trading due to investors’ skepticism about the market prospect. The key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, fell by 0.19 per cent, or 9.46 points, to close at 4,747.63 points on the day. Share prices of two-third traded scrips fell ... Read more

The country’s telecom regulator has decided to formulate guidelines for direct-to-home service, a television channel distribution technology, as the two DTH licensees cannot start their operations due to lack of relevant rules. The DTH is a digital satellite television distribution service which is done directly to end users using wireless technology, eliminating the need for any

Seeks trade bodies’ suggestions on making black list of foreign buyers Bangladesh Bank has requested the country’s major trade bodies to give suggestions to prepare fit and black lists of foreign buyers so that the country can check money laundering by businessmen through export and import, said officials of the central bank. The BB issued ... Read more

Amount stands at Tk 13,135.49cr in Jul-Dec The net investment in the national savings certificates and bonds hit a new record at Tk 13,135.49 crore in the first six months of the current financial year 2014-15 as clients invested heavily in the savings tools due to low rates of interest on deposit products of the ... Read more

International Customs Day today The National Board of Revenue has set up a central risk management unit to prevent duty evasion by traders through misdeclaration and other malpractices in international trades, NBR member (customs policy) Farid Uddin told reporters at a briefing on Sunday. The unit consisting of seven officials will categorise the

The Post and Telecommunication Division on Sunday asked the telecom regulator to sign an annual performance agreement with it in a bid to ensure better monitoring over the telecom sector, said officials. The decision was finalised in a meeting on Sunday presided over by telecom ministry additional secretary Firoz Salahuddin, they said. The Bangladesh Telecommunication

The country’s telecom regulator is yet to start auditing the mobile phone operators despite initiating the process two years back in 2013. According to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission officials, because of internal and external issues the audit process is being delayed. The BTRC had called international audit firms in January 2013 to crosscheck

Experts, entrepreneurs say at BoI seminar Experts and entrepreneurs on Saturday said that the government and businesses should take immediate steps to enhance productivity and value addition in the leather sector to explore huge untapped international export market. Tanneries should also be environment-friendly and should fulfil other compliance issues to keep protected its global market particularly ... Read more

Introduction of an employment injury insurance programme in the readymade garment sector could establish a formal mechanism to give compensation to workers in the event of workplace accidents, experts of the International Labour Organisation said on Saturday. ILO experts gave the opinion at a stakeholders’ workshop

Taxmen cite slower economic activities for sluggish collection Revenue collection fell short of target by Tk 2,004.13 crore in the first half of the current fiscal year mainly because of fall in domestic consumption, sluggish economic activities and political uncertainly prevailing in the country, officials told New Age on Tuesday. They said that value-added tax ... Read more

Bangladesh Bank has asked Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank to be credible in rejecting farm loan application forms. The central bank has issued show-cause notices to the banks to explain why they did not preserve the rejected application forms. The BB on Monday issued the show-cause notices

International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh on Tuesday said that the global economic recovery had remained very fragile in the recent years and much weaker than that of recoveries that took place in the wake of previous economic crises. In the editorial of current ICC-B News Bulletin released on the day, it said the global economy was heading ... Read more

Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, the platform of European retailers, is going to assess fire and electrical safety and structural integrity of 200 more factories. The Accord will hire engineering firms to inspect the additional factories that have been included on the list after completing the initial inspections

VAT-free turnover limit proposed to Tk 36 lakh The VAT act review committee formed by the National Board of Revenue has recommended that the government should introduce a multiple value-added tax rate instead of the 15 per cent single rate for all sectors incorporated in the new law, officials told New Age on Monday. In ... Read more

Inter-Bank ATM Transaction Bangladesh Bank now decides to impose charge at Tk 15 Bangladesh Bank backtracked from its earlier decision of imposing a fee at Tk 20 on each inter-bank ATM transaction from currently charged Tk 10 amid criticism from different quarters, said officials of the central bank. The central bank has now decided to impose ... Read more

Bangladesh Bank on Monday asked scheduled banks not to outsource its core and risk management-related functions and core banking operations from outsourcing service providing organisations. The BB issued a circular and guidelines to managing directors and chief executive officers of all banks on outsourcing arrangements asking them to conduct their outsourcing

Stocks Refinance Scheme ICB gets Tk 300cr in 2nd tranche from BB The Investment Corporation of Bangladesh on Monday received Tk 300 crore, the second tranche of the Tk 900-crore government refinance scheme for the small-scale investors affected by the 2010-11 stock market crash, from Bangladesh Bank after six months of making demand. The supervision ... Read more

The telecom regulator has issued a directive to the internet service providers asking them to maintain the rules for providing VPN service, a data communication service within any organisation. A BTRC directive issued on Sunday said that the ISPs can only provide VPN connection to government organisations and commercial offices and no third party use of ... Read more