Business

Borrowing Foreign Funds Expert body discourages sovereign bonds’ floating An expert committee on issuance of Sovereign Bonds has strongly discouraged the government on borrowing costly foreign funds through sovereign bonds as the proposed tool would involve wide ranging impacts on economy. The committee, headed by SK Sur Chowdhury, president, sovereign bond transaction execution committee, also deputy ... Read more

Bangladesh Bank has taken moves to streamline monitoring on the corporate social responsibility activities of banks and financial institutions after the improper uses of fund under the CSR sparked controversies and backbites between the finance minister and the Janata Bank’s immediate past chairman last week. BB officials said that they would make it mandatory for banks ... Read more

Earnings from the US market suffer setback After a setback in last financial year the export earnings from India rebounded in the first two months of the current financial year while the export earnings from China maintained a robust growth. The export earnings from the US market, however, suffered a setback registering a negative growth in ... Read more

Local think-tank Unnayan Onneshan has said that country’s industrial development is slower than its potential because of many infrastructural bottleneck and policy failure. In the September issue of its monthly economic update, the UO on Saturday said that poor infrastructure, myopic adoption of macroeconomic policies, lack

Dhaka stocks advanced last week, third week in a row, as investors focused on heavyweight companies. Some profit-taking share sales were also observed in the first two trading sessions of the week, said market operators. The key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, finished at 4,675.92 points, adding 0.72 per cent or 33.54 points in the week. Investors’ ... Read more

The country’s 12 scheduled banks including eight state-run banks held 69.42 per cent of the total defaulted loans in the banking sector as of June 30, 2014 as they disbursed significant amount of loans unlawfully to their clients, said Bangladesh Bank officials. Five out of the 12 banks also failed to keep

The prices of red lentil and garlic went up in the city’s retail markets over the week ending Friday due to a supply shortage. Traders said that the prices of imported red lentil increased as the market witnessed a supply shortage of the item and the price of garlic increased due to a higher demand ... Read more

World food prices fell for the fifth consecutive month in August, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Thursday, reaching their lowest point since 2010 pushed by stronger-than-expected grain and cereal crops. Grains and cereals are the biggest component in FAO’s World Food Price Index, which is based on a basket of 55 ... Read more

Experts say high PE is a risk factor The price earning ratios of 40 companies have increased to above 40 due to the recent price hike of their shares, making the companies’ shares risky for investment, Dhaka Stock Exchange data showed. Under the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission rules, no merchant bank or brokerage house ... Read more

The income tax zone of Khulna will accord reception to 55 highest taxpayers of Khulna division. On the ‘National Income Tax Day-2014’ on Monday the reception will be accorded. A rally will start in the morning from the income tax office in the city marking the day. Administrator of Khulna District Council Sheikh Harun-ur-Rashid will ... Read more

The scheduled banks and non-bank financial institutions continued to ignore the rural entrepreneurs disbursing only 23.86 per cent of their total sanctioned SME loans among them in the first half of this year. According to the latest Bangladesh Bank data, the banks and the NBFIs disbursed Tk 11,252.46 crore in loans to the SMEs located in ... Read more

The National Board of Revenue is going to reward 403 individual and corporate taxpayers tax cards and certificates for paying the highest income tax at national and district levels for the fiscal years of 2012-13 and 2013-14. The revenue board will hand over the tax cards, crests and certificates to the taxpayers at nine different programmes ... Read more

The government on Thursday set fresh deadlines for implementing the remaining conditions of the action plans provided by the US government and the EU Sustainability Compact to revive generalised system of preferences in the US market and to retain the duty-free access to the EU countries. At a meeting with foreign diplomats, senior officials of the ... Read more

Bangladesh Bank on Thursday asked scheduled banks to disburse fresh farm loans to farmers even if they fail to repay installments of the previous agricultural loans in the country’s 21 flood affected districts. The central bank issued a circular to managing directors and chief executive officers of all banks asking them to maintain an intensive monitoring ... Read more

In the face of strong criticism from the business community, the government on Wednesday decided to review the new Value-Added Tax and Supplementary Duty Act-2012 which are supposed to be implemented from July next year. At a seminar on the law, finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith instructed the National Board of Revenue to form a ... Read more

Tofail urges India to remove trade barriers Non-tariff barriers are the key problems for boosting Bangladesh’s export in the South Asian countries despite having duty- and quota-free access facility, a minister and business leaders said. The barriers will continue to hinder the country’s export growth in the region in future unless effective and integrated efforts ... Read more

Rmg Factory Safety Inspection 50pc of Alliance-listed units finish remediation Alliance, a platform of North American brands and buyers, on Wednesday said that remediation work at 50 per cent of garment factories it inspected had been completed at an average cost of Tk 2 crore a unit. The authorities of the garment factories conducted the remediation ... Read more

Bangladesh Bank is likely to ask scheduled banks to keep withhold their recovery of installments of farm loans from the flood-affected farmers in 17 districts for three months to six months during and after the calamity. The BB will issue a circular to managing directors and chief executive officers of all banks in two or three ... Read more

The Dhaka Stock Exchange on Wednesday decided to enlist two companies — Saif Powertec Limited and Ratanpur Steel Re-Rolling Mills Limited. The DSE made the decision at a board meeting presided over by its chairman Siddiqur Rahman Miah. The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission this year allowed the companies to raise capital from the capital market. Ratanpur

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Tuesday dropped charges against 11 government officials, including three secretaries, who had been investigated in three graft cases involving embezzlement of around Tk 395 crore. The officials include energy and mineral resources secretary Abu Bakar Siddique, also former Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation chairman, Anwarul Karim, the additional