Business

Retures Submission By Nov Deadline Income tax collection drops by Tk 200cr Collection of income tax paid through the tax returns dropped surprisingly by more than Tk 200 crore within the NBR-set deadline in the current fiscal year of 2014-2015 compared with that of last year, according to the data of the National Board of ... Read more

The bank and financial institutions division has imposed restriction on sanctioning and disbursing new commercial and trade loans by the two state-owned specialised agriculture banks, officials said. The banks are Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank. Bank and financial institutions division secretary M Aslam Alam

The active mobile phone users of the country reached to near 12 crore in November as the six mobile operators added more than seven lakh new subscribers in the month. The latest data of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission showed that the total mobile users reached to 11.96 crore in November when Citycell lost

India ban on coal mining hits brick production, price The National Board of Revenue on Monday reduced duties and taxes on coal import by 50 per cent to facilitate the brick manufacturing industry in the country amid an Indian ban on coal mining in Meghalaya, the main source of Bangladesh’s coal import for the sector, ... Read more

Bangladesh Bank on Monday asked scheduled banks to reduce their defaulted loans to 10 per cent of their total outstanding loans by December 31, 2014 from the existing 11.60 per cent even by writing-off bad loans if required. The BB gave the direction at a quarterly bankers’ meeting presided over by its governor Atiur Rahman at ... Read more

The Economic Relations Division on Monday signed a €60 million loan agreement with the German Development Bank or kfW to improve the western power grid system. The kfW, which represents the German government, would provide €45 million in loan at 2.5 per cent interest and €15 million in grant, officials said. The contract was

Bangladesh Bank has taken initiative to settle the overdue inland bills against letters of credit by deducting fund from the indebted banks’ current accounts maintained with the central bank. The central bank’s direction came at an executive management team meeting held on December 7 with BB governor Atiur Rahman in the chair. BB deputy governors and senior ... Read more

Only 21pc implemented in five months The government will follow a ‘different manner’ in implementing the annual development programme from next fiscal year as traditional ways have been facing some problems resulting in delay in execution of development projects, planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said on Sunday. At a press briefing organised at the ministry ... Read more

The finance ministry has released Tk 284.76 crore for subscribing rights shares of the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh, a state-owned entity listed with the capital market. The Finance Division of the ministry on December 10 released the fund after the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission on August 12 this year had allowed

Restoration of GSP facility is not the priority for Bangladesh garment industry rather transformation of the industry for better workplace safety and workers rights are the key issues at the moment, outgoing US ambassador Dan Mozena said on Sunday. ‘Restructuring of the industry for better workplace and building safety and workers rights are the issue. Through ... Read more

EPB fails to send products in Kolkata on time A five-day home and decor fair in Kolkata has virtually turned to be a two-day exposition for five Bangladeshi furniture producing companies as their products could not reach the fair ground in the first three days. The products were supposed to reach the fair venue under the supervision ... Read more

Earnings from vegetable export posted a negative growth of 15.81 per cent in the first five months of the current financial year as the competing countries gained edges in the major export destinations. Vegetable export earnings stood at $49.03 million in the July-November period of the FY 2014-15 against $58.24 million in the same period of ... Read more

Wants favourable investment climate for injecting $80m US-based Coca Cola, a multinational soft drinks maker, has raised concern over increasing supplementary duty on soft drinks in Bangladesh, claiming that its business in the country was being hampered because of the duty hike. The company informed the Bangladesh embassy to the United States that it would invest ... Read more

Low- and mid-priced smartphones and tablets are in high demand at the three-day Grameenphone Smartphone and Tab Expo 2014 that began at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city’s Agargaon on Friday. The exposition is also hosting seminars on latest technologies and gaming contests. International brands like Samsung, Asus, Acer, Lenovo,

Commerce minister Tofail Ahmed on Saturday said the government will set up an industrial park – BKMEA Palli – for knitwear manufacturers, on 100 acres of land at Shantir Char in Narayanganj. ‘The government will do everything necessary to achieve the export target of $50 billion from the readymade garments sector by the 50th anniversary of ... Read more

The country’s current account balance registered a deficit amount of $1.26 billion in the first four months of the current financial year 2014-15 against a surplus amount of $793 million during the same period of the FY 2013-14 due to a negative growth in trade balance, services and primary income. The current account balance registered ... Read more

Jump In Number Of Trades DSE likely to review howla charge as trading cost rises The Dhaka Stock Exchange is likely to review its charges on share trading following a jump in the number of trades for share transaction after the introduction of the lot-free trading system on Thursday, DSE officials said. They said the increase ... Read more

The prices of fine varieties of rice remained high in the city’s kitchen markets over the week ending Friday. Coarse varieties of rice, however, saw slight fall in their prices because of new harvest, traders said. The prices of coarse varieties of rice decreased by Tk 4 a kilogram and were retailing at Tk 30-Tk 31 a ... Read more

A three-day computer science and engineering fair, organised by World University of Bangladesh, began in Dhaka on Thursday. Students of 10 universities and 15 colleges are taking part in the event on the World University’s Dhanmondi campus. The fair will host seminar on IT-related issues, gaming contest and IT Olympiad to display the young talents. World University vice-chancellor

The country’s trade deficit increased by 92.44 per cent to $3.71 billion in the first four months of the current financial year 2014-15 compared with that of $1.93 billion during the corresponding period of the FY14 amid a negative export growth. Bangladesh Bank officials said falling exports of readymade garments, the main product, dented the overall ... Read more