Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The BBN has prepared the morning business round up compiling reports, published by different newspapers and news portals in Bangladesh.
Fix politics to save economy
Businesspeople took to the streets all over the country yesterday, denouncing the ongoing violence that claimed at least 68 lives and inflicted serious damage on the economy in the last one month. They formed human chains and staged sit-ins in the capital and elsewhere simultaneously for 15 minutes from 12:00noon, seeking an immediate end to the crisis to help save the economy. They sang the national anthem, waved the national flag and chanted a slogan "Save the Country, Save the Economy".
Bank transactions come under close BB watch
Bangladesh Bank on Sunday made a decision to monitor closely the transaction details of the scheduled banks to prevent any suspected financing in the ongoing political violence, said officials of the central bank. As a part of the move, the BB is going to organise a meeting with managing directors and chief executive officers of all banks tomorrow at the central bank headquarters in the capital in which it will give fresh directives to them in this regard.
BB executive director and spokesperson M Mahfuzur Rahman told New Age on Sunday that the central bank normally monitored on routine basis the banking transactions to prevent terrorist financing and money laundering.
Govt postpones BDF meeting
The government postponed Sunday the Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF) meeting scheduled for April 26-27, in view of the ongoing waves of political unrest, competent sources said. No fresh schedule was announced immediately. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was scheduled to inaugurate as chief guest the donor-government meeting, where development partners make an appraisal of Bangladesh's socioeconomic situation before making fresh aid commitments for bankrolling the country's development works.
FBCCI demands law to ban strike
Bangladesh’s apex trade body FBCCI formed human chain and observed sit-in across the country Sunday demanding a peaceful end to the ongoing political turmoil and return of trade-friendly atmosphere. They also demanded enactment of a law to put an end to the prevailing strike and blockade. The business community, in a desperate move, came with the demands when they were observing the programmes holding national flag in front of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) office in Motijheel, the commercial hub of the country.
MCCI wants to slash interest rate further
The interest on lending should be lowered further in line with the declining trend of inflationary pressures on the economy, the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) said on Sunday. The country's premier trade-body issued the statement, making its formal comments on the monetary policy statement (MPS) of Bangladesh Bank (BB), unveiled on January 29. "BB should encourage the commercial banks to devise ways to reduce the decline in the inflation in the past three years," the MCCI said.
Farmers hit hard by blockade
Convinced that normalcy had returned after the political upheaval of last winter, Mohammad Shariful Islam, a small farmer from Bogra, bet big on winter crops this time. In September last year, ahead of the harvesting season, he borrowed Tk 190,000 and ploughed the entire amount into growing cauliflower and potato -- anticipating handsome returns, enough to make up for the previous season's losses.
Highest taxpayers’ files to be audited on priority basis
The National Board of Revenue is going to conduct ‘rigorous’ audit on the income tax returns of the highest individual and company taxpayers on a priority basis to dig out any possible concealment of income and tax evasion. Field offices have already been instructed to select the tax files submitted in the current fiscal year on priority basis considering the revenue risk factors of the taxpayers. The NBR has recently issued a Field Audit Guidelines for the fiscal year of 2014-15 for the field offices incorporating the issues, among other instructions.
BBN/SSR/AD-09Feb15-10:55 am (BST)