Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The BBN (Bangladesh Business News) has prepared the morning news highlights compiling reports, published by different newspapers and news portals in Bangladesh.
Stampede in zakat delivery kills 27 in Bangladesh
At least 27 people, mostly women, were killed and more than 50 others injured in a stampede in the country’s central Mymensingh district on Friday morning, police and witness said. The tragic incident occurred at about 4.45 am over distribution of zakat (donation for the poor ahead of Eid festival) on Atul Chakrabarty Road in town, they added. Eight people, including the zakat donor Md Shamim, were held in this connection, a local police official confirmed.
New life insurers spend more to earn less
Insurance regulator in a recent review has found the performance of 13 new life insurance companies highly unsatisfactory. The insurance regulator has prepared a report in this connection after holding separate meetings with the officials of 13 new companies. During the meetings, Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) has warned that it would not renew licences unless they showed improvement in their respective performance.
New gas connection to industries: Over 50pc applications found fake
More than half of the applications for new gas connections to run industrial boilers were found to have been made on false information as the applicants had no facilities to utilise the gas. Two intelligence agencies revealed the fact after investigations into the applications referred to a high powered committee headed by prime minister’s energy adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury by five of the six gas distribution companies after verification. Two intelligence agencies submitted the investigation reports to the committee in phases till the past week.
Reasons behind Ashraf's removal
Prime minister's annoyance, internal political feud and his inactiveness in party and ministerial activities were behind Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam's removal from the LGRD ministry, sources in the government and the ruling party said. According to them, a group of influential people in the government and the party had been working against Ashraf for quite some time and their roles were instrumental in his removal. In addition, Ashraf annoyed the government high-ups by differing with them on many policy and development issues.
Muhith hints at more Cabinet shakeups
Finance Minister AMA Muhith hinted Friday at further shakeup in the Cabinet, after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina relieved Syed Ashraful Islam of the Ministry of LGRD and Cooperatives, reports bdnews24.com. But the senior Awami League (AL) leader said he has no idea what will happen.
Bangladesh’s public banks capital shortfall rise by 29.63% in Q1
The capital shortfall of all eight state-owned banks (SoBs) increased by 29.63 per cent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2015 mainly due to further deterioration in the quality of their assets and implementation of Basel-III requirements. The capital shortfall rose to BDT 105.89 billion in the Q1 of 2015 from BDT 81.69 billion three months ago, according to the central bank’s latest statistics.
Weekly Review: Bangladesh’s stocks end higher for 2nd week
Bangladesh’s stocks edged marginally higher for the second straight weeks that ended on Thursday as investors showed buying appetite on fundamental stocks. The week featured five trading sessions as usual. Of those, the market ended lower first two sessions while last three sessions closed higher.
Bank interest rate spread shrinks in May amid dull business
Interest rate spread in the banking sector declined further in May as most of the scheduled banks were compelled to reduce rates of interest on their lending and deposit products amid dull business due to political uncertainty. According to the latest Bangladesh Bank data, the overall interest rate spread, the gap between the interest rate on credit and deposit, decreased to 4.83 percentage points in May from that of 4.84 percentage points in April this year. The spread was 4.87 percentage points in March.
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