Good morning. Here's what happened overnight and what you need to know today.
1.
Reviewing Workers’ Minimum Wage: In an effort to bring normalcy back to the industries, the government will review the workers' wage through the minimum wage board, the interim government has decided. A new government is in power and the door will be open for discussion on wage review for the workers through the minimum wage board, said AHM Shafiquzzaman, secretary to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, after a meeting at the ministry attended by seven advisers. (The Daily Star)
2.
Banks Preferring Reverse Repo: Commercial banks having surplus funds are reluctant to invest in the collateral-free call money for prevailing trust deficit in their counterparts, and switching to secure state-guaranteed instruments. Officials and bankers have said despite higher bets offered on the call-money market, the lenders feel comfortable to put their un-invested money in the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) or reverse repo of Bangladesh Bank (BB), where the rate is quite low. (The Financial Express)
3.
Seeking Guarantee for Liquidity Support: National Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh and Social Islami Bank have applied to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) for its guarantee to avail a total of Tk 6,800 crore in liquidity support through the inter-bank money market for a period of three months. The restructured National Bank seeks a central bank guarantee for the highest Tk 5,000 crore in liquidity support while Islami Bank Bangladesh requests Tk 1,100 crore and Social Islami Bank wants Tk 700 crore. (The Daily Star)
4.
Load Shedding Worsens: Load shedding has been intensifying at an abnormal rate across the country for the past few weeks, making daily life unbearable for many. While the capital city, Dhaka, has experienced relatively less disruption, district towns and rural areas are enduring prolonged outages of 9 to 12 hours. Social media is abuzz with complaints about the worsening power crisis. (The Business Standard)
5.
Higher Inflow of Remittances: Wage earners’ remittance inflow – the key source of foreign currency for Bangladesh – reached $584.54 million during the first week of September this year, with Islami bank bringing in the highest figure during this timeframe – to the tune of $126.51 million. According to latest data released by the Bangladesh Bank on Wednesday, Bangladesh earned $584.54 million in remittance from September 1 to 7, a 16.21 per cent higher figure compared to that of the last week of August. (The Business Post)
6.
Safety Fear: A lack of safety in foreign manufacturing and industrial units in Bangladesh, stemming from the debilitating law and order situation and labour unrest, has become a cause of major concern for foreign investors, denting their confidence. The low presence of industrial police in some areas is another reason for faltering investor sentiment. Numerous representatives of foreign companies say there is no functional authority which they can turn to for protection in some industrial zones. (The Daily Star).
---Saju Sarker