Business

Dhaka stocks advanced for the third trading session on Wednesday due to investors’ expectation that the government would review capital market-related budget proposals. The 24 per cent increase in foreign direct investment in 2013 was another reason which encouraged investors to participate on the trading floor on the day,

The unit holders of AIMS First Guaranteed Mutual Fund at a meeting on Wednesday decided to extend the tenure of the fund by another 10 years. As per the approval, the tenure of the fund will be extended to June 30, 2025 from July 1, 2015 subject to the approval of the regulatory authorities.

Foreign direct investment in Bangladesh increased by 24 per cent to US$ 1,599 million in 2013 compared with US$ 1,293 million in the previous year, according to the world investment report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Board of Investment on Tuesday unveiled the report at a press conference presided over by ... Read more

Regional Seminar On Union Rights Restrictive labour laws deny trade unions’ freedom Trade union leaders of the Asia-Pacific region on Tuesday said that restrictive labour laws denied basic freedom to trade unions, workers and unions in playing a positive and contributory role in the development agenda of the countries in the region. At the inauguration ... Read more

The finance ministry has again rejected a proposal of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to lower the international call termination charge to 1.5 US cents from the existing 3 cents for the IGW operators. In a letter sent to BTRC on Tuesday, the ministry asked the telecom regulatory body to review the proposal terming it a ... Read more

The government is likely to reduce the proposed taxes on import of mobile handsets to keep the products within purchase capacity of common people, finance ministry officials said. They said that finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith might withdraw advance income tax, and reduce customs duties and value-added tax on mobile handsets at import stage. ... Read more

Export Dev Fund Single borrowing limit raised to $15m Bangladesh Bank has increased the limit of borrowing by an exporter from the Export Development Fund to $15 million from the existing $12 million. The manufacturing-oriented exporters of the BTMA, BGMEA and BKMEA are eligible to avail the opportunity of the central bank’s special fund. The ... Read more

Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday sent a letter to Swiss Financial Intelligence Unit expressing interest to sign a memorandum of understanding on exchanging information about money laundering. The BB took the move in a bid to collect information about money deposited by Bangladeshi citizens with the Swiss banks, said officials of the central bank. The recent ... Read more

Dhaka stocks advanced for the second trading session on Tuesday riding on the expectation that the government might revise some budget proposals related with the capital market. The key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, closed at 4,392.94 points, adding 0.57 per cent or 25.04 points. Market operators said that despite the central bank move ... Read more

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday approved the initial public offering of Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries Limited to raise fund worth Tk 20 crore floating its 2-crore shares at face value. The capital market regulators made the decision at a commission meeting presided over by its chairman M Khairul Hossain, a BSEC ... Read more

To mop up Tk 3,000cr aiming to contain inflation Bangladesh Bank on Monday raised the cash reserve requirement by 50 basis points to 6.5 per cent for scheduled banks to curb inflationary pressure on the economy, said officials of the central bank on Monday. A BB official told New Age that the central bank would ... Read more

NGWF says no letter sent, but info on torture ‘correct’ The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association on Monday demanded action against some trade union leaders accusing them of acting against country’s readymade garment industry by sending letters to the US congressmen with false information about labour standard. BGMEA president Md Atiqul Islam alleged that ... Read more

May reinstate scope for dividend-based tax rebate Tax on realised gains from stock investment is likely to remain unchanged in the next budget as the government decided not to change the provision in the proposed Finance Bill-2014, officials of the finance ministry said. On the other hand, the government may increase the tax exemption on ... Read more

IndustriALL Bangladesh president Nazrul Islam Khan has rejected the commerce minister Tofail Ahmed’s allegation that they had sent a letter to US government agencies complaining about malpractices in Bangladesh’s garment industry. Nazrul, who is senior leader of opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, also accused Tofail of trying to cover up his incompetence

FCA-2014 to replace FIA-1993 Bangladesh Bank will be empowered with the authority to dissolve the boards of non-bank financial institutions in a proposed Finance Company Act that has put stringent restriction on lending by the financial entities, commonly known as leasing companies. BB has drafted the Finance Company Act-2014 to place the existing Financial Institution ... Read more

Stock Scheme Application deadline extended again for 3 months The supervision committee on the Tk 900-crore government refinance scheme for the small-scale investors affected by the 2010-11 capital market crash on Monday extended the deadline again for receiving applications from merchant banks and brokerage houses. This time the application deadline, which was to expire

Trade hours rescheduled to 10:30am-1:30pm for Ramadan Dhaka stocks rebounded on Monday as investors went for buying shares amid a rumour that the government might review some capital market-related budget proposals. The key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, finished at 4,367.89 points, adding 1.05 per cent or 45.63 points. Market operators said that ... Read more

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday suggested that the National Board of Revenue should reconsider the newly-imposed gain tax on capital market investors, BSEC officials said. They said the capital market regulator also expressed its concerns over several budgetary moves which had been affecting the capital market in a meeting held at the ... Read more

The government has extended the ban on export of rice, except aromatic ones, by another year, commerce ministry officials said. They said that the ministry on June 17 issued an order in this connection to be effective from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015. The ban on rice export has been extended to boost supply

Economists and experts on Sunday called for establishing good governance both in public and private sector for attaining sustainable economic growth in the years to come. At different sessions of a seminar ‘Vision 2030: a framework for economic policy making and strategy formulation in a pluralistic democracy’, they underscored reaching a