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.
Bangladesh’s classified loans rise further in Q1
The volume of classified loans in the Bangladesh’s banking system jumped by over 18 per cent or BDT 112.37 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of the current calendar year. The amount of non-performing loans (NPLs) bloated into BDT 734.09 billion during the January-March period from BDT 621.72 billion in the preceding quarter, according to the central bank’s latest statistics.
State banks likely to get Tk2,000cr recap funds in next fiscal year too
The government intends to provide the state-owned banks with another recapitalisaiton fund of Tk2,000 crore in the next fiscal year to meet the capital shortage created by the loan defaults, said a source in the Finance Division recently. The same amount of money was allocated for the state banks to meet their capital shortage in the current fiscal year.
Gold, crime go hand in hand
Customs Intelligence's raid on Apan Jewellers and finding 286kg gold apparently without valid documents reveal nothing new since the jewellery business in Bangladesh has been going on for decades with smuggled gold.
Inflation up amid price rises
Point-to-point inflation in March climbed highest in five months to 5.39 per cent on the back of rising prices of some necessaries, according to official statistics. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data unveiled Tuesday showed the rate of inflation had been on a downturn since November 2016, but picked up last March again with the consumer price index (CPI) on both food and non-food items rising significantly.
Bangladesh’s stocks break week-long losing spell
Bangladesh’s stocks broke the week-long losing streak on Tuesday with improving turnover value as investors went for buying mood at available attractive prices of stocks. Analysts said after week-long fall about 117 points, many stocks came to a lucrative price level, which encouraged investors to take fresh position anticipating short-term rally.
Muhith wants to legalise gold import
Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Tuesday said he wanted to legalise gold import for the jewellery industry as most of it is currently being smuggled into Bangladesh. “How can we relieve ourselves from this smuggling situation? I think the best way would be to allow importing gold to combat gold smuggling from India,” the finance minister said in his situation paper on allowing legal import of gold.
Edible oil set to be VAT-free from July
The government has decided to keep edible oil out of value-added tax net in the new VAT law to ensure affordable price of the product for consumers. The decision will reduce the price of the essential kitchen item and minimise the overall inflationary pressure under the new VAT regime from July 1 this year when VAT and Supplementary Duty Act-2012 is scheduled to come into force, officials of the finance ministry said.
Many of local banks face cyber invasions
A large number of banks in Bangladesh have experienced cyber intrusions or attempted cyber intrusions in their information technology (IT) systems over the past three years, a recent industry-wide survey on IT system in banks has revealed. Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) conducted the study on 21 banks across the country.
BBN/SSR/AD