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.
Dhaka to focus on Teesta deal, Ganges barrage
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to visit India for four days starting from April 7 with a plan to hold official talks with her counterpart Narendra Modi in New Delhi on April 8. The two governments are expected to formally declare the schedule of the visit soon while the officials in two capitals have been working on setting agendas for the talks and agreements expected to be signed during the visit. The Bangladesh government would put emphasis on signing an agreement on sharing of Teesta River water, construction of the Ganges Barrage with participation of India, completion of the implementation of the land boundary agreement and removal of anti-dumping duty on jute imposed by India, among several other issues, officials in Dhaka and New Delhi said.
Strong taka heightens real exchange rate, hits export
The local currency's real effective exchange rate, which is closely linked to trade situation, remained high and hit hard the country's export-competitiveness. As per official count, the rate was an all-time high last December. And people familiar with development told the FE that such higher appreciation of the taka could impact growth, tax revenues and banks' asset quality. The REER stood at 150.01 in December 2016, 140.31 in December 2015 and 126.58 in December 2014, according to a report prepared by the central bank.
Earnings from incoming calls on the decline
The government's earnings from incoming international telephone calls fell 23.41 percent year-on-year to Tk 1,201 crore in 2016 because of a sharp decline in inbound voice traffic and a rise in the call routing rate. Shahjahan Mahmood, chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regula-tory Commission (BTRC), said the regulator is trying to fix the issue by way of enacting regulation. “We have formed a committee, which is working on the subject.”
Plan to export 100Gbps bandwidth to Myanmar
Bangladesh has planned to export 100 Gbps (Gigabit per second) bandwidth to Myanmar through undersea cable which would boost the government revenue. Negotiations are on with Myanmar and it will take three months to complete the entire task of laying 300km undersea cable. Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) Managing Director Monwar Hossain said: “Definitely, Myanmar market has a huge potential for Bangladesh’s unutilised bandwidth.” Using this undersea cable, Bangladesh can also export bandwidth to Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Bangladesh’s stocks edge higher amid choppy trading
Bangladesh’s stocks finished slightly higher Sunday amid choppy trading as late hours sell pressure wiped out most of the early gains. Analysts said the market maintained the positive trend for the five consecutive sessions although the early enthusiasm failed to sustain amid profit booking sell pressure. The market opened higher and the key index of the premier bourse rose 24 points within first 30 minutes of trading. Later on investors concentrated on booking short-term profits and index eroded most of its initial gain.
Rice import goes up in two weeks
Rice import has been increasing for last two weeks amid its persisting higher price in the domestic market and decline in prices in neighbouring India, said sector insiders. Even after paying 25 per cent customs duty, private importers are making profits by importing two specific rice varieties from India, they added. The food ministry data showed that private rice millers so far brought over 54,000 tonnes of rice in the current financial year (FY'17) of which 14,000 tonnes entered just in last 15 days.
Foreign funds shoot up in Dhaka bourse
Net foreign investment in Dhaka Stock Exchange soared two and a half times year-on-year to Tk 238.46 crore in February, as the Bangladesh stockmarket is gradually becoming lucrative for investment. Overseas investors bought shares worth Tk 435.67 crore and sold shares worth Tk 197.21 crore in the month, according to Dhaka Stock Exchange. Many international fund managers see the Bangladesh stockmarket as an emerging one in the region and that is why more funds are being injected here.
NBR inks MoU with OECD for training on transfer pricing
Experts from the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will train up the officials of transfer pricing cell (TPC) of the National Board of Revenue to efficiently check alleged tax evasion by multinational companies (MNCs) through profit shifting and transfer pricing. The revenue board has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the OECD, an organisation of developed countries, in this connection, NBR officials said. Under the MoU, experts from the OECD will share technical knowledge and provide training to the transfer pricing officials (TPO) of the cell over the next two years so that they can effectively fight against tax evasion by the MNCs, they said.
BBN/SSR/AD