Good morning. Here's what happened overnight and what you need to know today.
1.
Foreign Debt Servicing Surges: Bangladesh's foreign debt servicing surged 29 percent year-on-year in the first three months of fiscal 2024-25 owing to the country's expanded foreign loan portfolio and the rise in global interest rates. Bangladesh returned $1.13 billion in principal and interest payments on foreign loans during the July-September period of FY25, up from $870 million during the same quarter of FY24, according to data of the finance ministry. (The Daily Star)
2.
Job Market Shrinkage: A veritable shrinkage of private-sector job market forces skilled and educated professionals to compromise their hard-earned expertise by accepting low-paid positions in fast-growing informal sectors. Amid rising inflation and diminished job security within a sluggish investment climate, many experienced professionals are grappling with uncertainty in their employment prospects. Market analysts suggest that job security in the private sector is increasingly threatened by myriad challenges facing both local and foreign investors. (The Financial Express)
3.
Treasury Bill Rate Rises: The interest rate on Treasury bills, a tool used by the government to borrow from the banking sector, increased by 30 basis points in a single day due to speculation among banks that the central bank might raise the policy rate within the next few weeks. According to central bank data, in yesterday's auction by the Bangladesh Bank, funds were borrowed from the banks at an interest rate of 11.75% for 91-day Treasury bills. Besides, commercial banks will receive 11.90% interest on 182-day Treasury bills and 11.99% on 364-day Treasury bills. (The Business Standard)
4.
Devolvement on PDs Set to Go: Devolvement on Primary Dealers (PDs) in primary auction is set to be withdrawn shortly to ensure market-driven yields on government securities, officials said. The policy will be included in the fresh PD guideline, which is being updated by the Bangladesh Bank (BB), aiming to bring dynamism in the country's fixed-income market. "Devolvement is one kind of manipulation for fixing yields on the government securities (G-Sec)," a senior official at the central bank told the FE, adding that the yields on the G-Sec should be determined based on the demand and supply of the securities. The devolvement has already been suspended for PD banks as well as the BB for the last one year, according to the official. (The Financial Express)
5.
Restaurants Face Sluggish Sales: When Sheuly Akhter and her friend entered a branch of Star Kabab in Dhanmondi on Thursday last week, marking their return to the establishment for the first time in nearly four months, they were surprised by the lack of customers. Unlike usual, they did not have to wait at all for seats while their order arrived within about 15 minutes. uzzled by this, Sheuly asked a waiter if everything was alright with the restaurant as it typically teemed with customers during her previous visits at the same time of day. (The Daily Star)
6.
Forex Reserves on the Rise: Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves are gradually increasing and stabilising, says Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Ahsan H Mansur. “The reserves, which had been depleting by $1.3 billion per month under the previous government, are now seeing a more positive trend,” Ahsan said in an interview with UNB on Sunday. “A significant amount has already been paid for fertilisers, electricity, and obligations to Adani-Chevron,” he said. In the past two months alone, the central bank has successfully reduced deferred payments from $2.5 billion to $700 million by paying off $1.8 billion in outstanding liabilities for energy and other essential services. (The Business Post)
----Saju Sarker
BBN/SSR/AD