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.
Cautionary stance on hard loans
The government has taken on a cautionary approach for hard-term external borrowing to mitigate future risks even though there is no longer such condition from the International Monetary Fund. From now, the government has decided to consider foreign loans with grant element lower than 35 percent to be hard-term ones. The IMF set the condition in its Extended Credit Facility loan programme that was taken in 2012, but the programme's tenure ended in June last year.
Big rush for building furnace oil-fired IPPs
A total of 44 local and foreign firms have submitted bids to build 10 new furnace oil-fired independent power plants (IPPs) in different locations across the country. Among the companies are the country's leading private sector power companies, including Summit, Orion and United, a senior official of the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) told the FE.
Banks’ consumer loans double to Tk 50,508cr in 2 years
Outstanding amount of banks’ consumer loans almost doubled in two years, surpassing Tk 50,000 crore as of March 31, 2016 as the country’s business sector has been going through a dull situation in recent years amid political uncertainty and delicate law and order situation. According to the latest Bangladesh Bank data, the outstanding consumer loan figure increased to Tk 50,508 crore as of March 31, 2016 from Tk 46,008 crore as of March 31, 2015. The outstanding amount of consumer loans was Tk 27,512 crore as of March 31, 2014.
Pvt sector credit sees steady growth
The credit growth slightly improved to 16.6% in June, the same rate set in the latest monetary policy for December this year from 16.4% in previous month, according to the Bangladesh Bank data. The total loan to the private sector stood at Tk6,69,700 crore at the end of FY’16 compared to Tk5,74,600 crore towards the end of FY’15. The growth trend is expected to remain steady in the coming days turning back from upward trend, said Allah Malik Kazemi, change management advisor to Bangladesh Bank.
Bangladesh’s stocks open week on negative note
Bangladesh’s stocks closed marginally lower on Sunday, the opening session of the week, after remaining upbeat in the past four consecutive sessions, as investors opted for quick-profit. The market started with an upward note, gaining nearly 10 points within first 15 minutes of trading, but rest of the session fell steadily, eventually, ended slightly lower.
BD position better in S Asia
Bangladesh holds a better position among South Asian countries regarding risk of money laundering and terrorist financing. The country has also improved its ranking two steps globally. Among six South Asian countries, Bangladesh has been placed 5th after India, according to the Basel Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Index 2016 developed by the Basel Institute on Governance.
Textile ministry to request PM not to hike gas price for captive power plants
The Ministry of Jute and Textile has decided to send a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office, and the power, energy and mineral resources ministry requesting them not to increase gas price for captive power generation for textile industries. The decision came from an inter-ministerial meeting presided over by state minister for jute and textile Mirza Azam at the ministry auditorium in the capital on Sunday.
Halt eviction drives to save investment, jobs
Leading business leaders and experts opposed Sunday the ongoing drives in the residential areas across the capital to evict various commercial establishments from there. They also demanded halting the drives for the sake of protecting invested capital worth billions of taka as well as saving a large number of employments.
BBN/SSR/AD