Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The BBN (Bangladesh Business News) has prepared the morning news highlights compiling reports, published by different newspapers and news portals in Bangladesh.
Fatal deaf ear
It was sometime in June of 1974. Some army officers including Major Faruk and Major Rashid had gathered at the residence of Major General Ziaur Rahman, then deputy chief of army. During the three hour long meeting, their discussion was centered on a coup. One of the participants had doodled on a scrap of paper which had been thrown carelessly into a waste paper basket.
'Faulty' tax system raises smokeless tobacco use
Consumption of health-hazardous smokeless tobacco items is gradually increasing in the country despite substantial hike of tax, as producers of these items are somehow escaping from taxmen. Experts said 'faulty' tax collection system is the major reason behind poor collection of revenue from the products.
WB’s $250m budget support may be okayed in November
The Bangladesh government hopes to get $250m budgetary support from World Bank at the end of this year as it says significant progress has been made towards meeting the attached conditions. The global lender, earlier, promised to provide Bangladesh with $500m fund as budgetary support and tagged some conditions including signing MoU with state banks to improve their financial condition.“Most of the conditions have already been fulfilled. MoUs have been signed with state banks to make specific progress within specified time in improving their financial conditions,” a Finance Division official told the Dhaka Tribune.
Bangladesh Bank buys $85m more from 8 banks
The central bank of Bangladesh purchased US$85 million more from eight commercial banks on Thursday to help keep the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market stable, officials said. “We’ve bought the US currency from the bank directly at market rate to protect the interests of exporters and migrant workers by keeping the exchange rate of the local currency against the US dollar stable,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka. The US dollar was quoted at BDT 77.80 in the inter-bank forex market unchanged from the previous level, market operators said.
Low demand for money lowers interest rates
Intense competition among the 87 lenders to grab clients is putting pressure on the interest rates, but demand for money is not rising, said industry insiders. Of the lenders, 56 are banks and 31 are non-bank financial institutions. The nine new banks and NBFIs are facing further challenges, as the cost of their funds is relatively higher than their peers. “The market is very dull. Moreover, competition to bag clients is intensifying by the day,” said Asad Khan, managing director of Prime Finance.
BD-India taskforce to make database on currency forgers
The Bangladesh-India joint taskforce on preventing fake currency notes has decided to prepare a database of the counterfeiters to prevent adverse activities of their strong networks that have been affecting economy of the two neighbouring countries, officials said. At the same time, the joint taskforce also agreed to detect the sources and routes of such cross-border crimes through sharing intelligence information and technical supports among the friendly nations, they also said.
Banks should help woman entrepreneurs in marketing their products: seminar
Experts on Thursday suggested that the banks should help women entrepreneurs to market their products manufactured using SME loans disbursed by the banks. They said that the banks were now limiting their activities only to disbursing loans to the clients but they should also help the women entrepreneurs to market their products. The opinion came from a conference of women entrepreneurs development unit of the banks and non-bank financial institutions organised by Bangladesh Bank at the BB training academy in the capital.
Bangladesh’s stocks slip into red again
Bangladesh’s stocks closed the week with marginal fall on Thursday with turnover declined slightly as investors remained cautious amid profit taking tendency. DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 12.75 points or 0.26 per cent to settle at 4,808.87, despite opened with higher note. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 8.73 points or 0.46 per cent to finish at 1,859.39. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) shed 1.74 points or 0.14 per cent to end at 1,191.
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