Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The BBN (Bangladesh Business News) has prepared the morning business round up compiling reports, published by different newspapers and news portals in Bangladesh.
Higher growth doable with current investment
At a time when the finance minister, economists and businesses are worried about the falling private investment, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal argues that Bangladesh's economy can grow at higher rates with the current level of investment. He cited examples of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines that have been witnessing higher GDP growth rates with an investment to GDP ratio between 22 percent and 28 percent.
Foreign aid commitments galore, great pains remain in fund release
Rebutting criticism of expensive domestic borrowing, a minister said Sunday there are adequate commitments of foreign aid by donors but there are great pains, too, when the government goes for realising the piling resources. Now around US$23 billion commitments are in the pipeline and the net disbursement in Bangladesh was $4.0 billion a year.
BASIC Bank continues to totter
Scam-hit BASIC Bank managed to regularise only Tk 2,700 crore of the Tk 6,000 crore in bad loans lent out by its previous board of directors, led by former chairman Sheilkh Adbul Hye Bacchu, in the last one year. At least 59 defaulting borrowers did not respond to repeated calls by the bank to regularise their loans.
Govt to give traders ECR, POS machines
The government may distribute Electronic Cash Register (ECR) and Point of Sales (POS) machines among traders to prevent evasion of value-added tax. The traders, who are eligible to use such electronic machines, have to collect those machines mandatory from the government and use them at their selected stores, so no traders can evade the VAT or manipulate the transaction records, said officials.
Bangladesh’s stocks close lower for 2nd day
Bangladesh’s stocks extended their losing streak for the second session in a row on Sunday, the opening day of the week, as late hour sale pressure wiped out early gains. The market opened higher in the morning and key index of the premier bourse rose 8.0 points within the first 40 minutes of trading, but rest of the session fell amid marginal volatility, eventually ended slightly lower.
Banks going rural to cover unbanked multitude
Commercial banks are expanding their networks to rural and semi-urban areas to cover unbanked multitudes, many of whom hold much disposable money and do nonfarm vocations. Officials said the scheduled banks, both private and state-owned, are spreading their wings over the grassroots in aid to government policy to enhance financial inclusion in the country by way of bringing unbanked people under the coverage of formal banking services.
Defaulted industrial loans up Tk 4,613cr in Jul-Mar
The amount of defaulted loans in the industrial sector in the July-March period of this fiscal year increased by Tk 4,613.23 crore from that in the same period of the previous fiscal year due to a dull business environment and a lack of effective loan recovery measures by scheduled banks and non-bank financial institutions. According to the latest Bangladesh Bank data, the defaulted industrial loans stood at Tk 23,258.61 crore in the first nine months of FY 2015-16, 24.74 per cent higher from Tk 18,645.38 crore in the same period of FY 2014-15.
Bangladesh signs $130m loan deal with World Bank for economic zones
The government of Bangladesh on Sunday signed a $130 million additional financing agreement with the World Bank aiming to develop economic zones across the country. The additional financing to the Private Sector Development Support Project (PSDSP) will help develop new Economic Zones through identifying, licensing, and negotiating Public-Private Partnership for economic zone development.
BBN/SSR/AD