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.
BB heist probe still dangling
It has been a year since the investigation of the Bangladesh Bank heist of $101 million began, but no major progress has been made in tracing the lost money or the culprits. Bangladesh has only managed to retrieve around $36 million and investigators are still unsure about how the rest of the money will come back to the country. In January this year, a Bangladesh Bank executive said they are expecting to retrieve more $30 million from the untraced $65.68 million as they believe the money is stuck in Solaire Casino of Philippines.
Offshore Gas Exploration: S Korean firm gets block-12
Bangladesh yesterday awarded an offshore block to Posco Daewoo Corporation of South Korea for gas exploration. Senior officials of Posco Daewoo and Bangladesh's Petrobangla and energy ministry signed a production sharing contract for the deep-sea block-12 in the Bay of Bengal at the headquarters of Petrobangla in Dhaka. As per the agreement, the two-dimensional seismic survey would begin this year, and based on the outcomes of the survey, the real picture of gas availability could be known by 2019, according to Petrobangla.
Data mismatch makes budgetary exercise difficult: Muhith
Finance Minister AMA Muhith, now preparing for authoring the next budget, Tuesday said the data produced by statistical organizations are 'not reliable and conflicting' with other official statistics. "Our statistical data are 'not reliable and conflicting' with other official data--it needs huge improvement," he told reporters after a second pre-budget exchange-of-views meeting with leading economists and professionals at the state guesthouse Padma.
Hasina, Modi talks on April 8
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina would go to India on April 7 on a four-day state visit at the invitation of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. The two prime ministers would hold official talks in New Delhi on April 8, said a joint announcement of the foreign ministries from the two capitals on Tuesday. The visit ‘is expected to further expand the cordial and cooperative relationship’ between the two countries and build on the ‘strong ties of friendship and trust between the two leaders’, the announcement said. Hasina is scheduled to call on Indian president Pranab Mukherjee. She would stay at Indian president Pranab Mukherjee’s official residence Rashtrapati Bhaban at his invitation, according to Indian high commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla.
Inflation creeps up in Feb
Inflation went up 16 basis points to 5.31 percent last month due to a rise in the prices of food items, especially beef and edible oil. Food inflation crept up 31 basis points to 6.84 percent in February, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. The price of per kilogram of beef and per litre of soybean oil rose about 10 percent last month from a year earlier, according to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh. Meanwhile, non-food inflation declined 3 basis points to 3.07 percent.
Bangladesh’s stocks return to higher amid low turnover
Bangladesh’s stocks returned to higher on Tuesday, after single-session mild correction, as investors took position on lucrative stocks amid optimism. Analysts said the market rebounded as some enthusiastic investors went on buying spree, especially on bank issues. “However, this enthusiasm was not vivid among all the market participants as reflected in the downturn in daily turnover,” said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm. Trading activities declined to BDT 9.65 billion, which was 3.50 per cent lower than the previous day’s BDT 10 billion.
Probashi Bank to become commercial
The government has decided to provide Tk 2.50 billion to Probashi Kallyan Bank (PKB), a specialised bank, to help it become a scheduled bank, sources said. The decision was taken at a meeting Tuesday at the ministry of finance (MoF) with Finance Minister AMA Muhith in the chair. The bank needs to have Tk 4.0 billion as paid-up capital for becoming a scheduled bank. Presently, the bank's paid-up capital is Tk 1.0 billion.
ADP implementation in July-Feb remains dismal
Implementation of the annual development programme remained dismal during the first eight months of the current fiscal year due mainly to poor performance of the ministries and divisions which got the highest allocations in the budget. According to data of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the planning ministry, 56 development budget implementing ministries and divisions could spend only 36.91 per cent or Tk 45,532 crore of the total ADP outlay of Tk 1,23,346 crore in July-February of the FY 2016-2017.
BBN/SSR/AD