Chittagong port of Bangladesh
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.
Trade deficit widens by 12pc in July
Country’s trade deficit widened further in July, the first month of the current fiscal year (2018-2019), maintaining the last fiscal year’s trend, as import payments remained high. As per the Bangladesh Bank data released on Wednesday, trade deficit in July of FY19 increased by 12.14 per cent to $1,173 million compared with that of $1,046 million in July of FY18.
WiMax on brink of extinction
Once a popular wireless broadband service, WiMax is on the brink of extinction in Bangladesh as operators lost 84 percent of their customers in the last five years and failed to make profits amid the onslaught of high-speed mobile internet.
Provisioning shortfall soars 18pc to Tk 79.90b in H1
Overall shortfall in provisioning against loans in the country's banking system swelled by over 18 per cent or Tk 12.23 billion in the first half (H1) of this calendar year (2018). The aggregate amount of provisioning shortfall rose to Tk 79.90 billion as on June 30 from Tk 67.67 billion six months ago, according to the central bank's latest statistics.
India urged to be more cooperative with BRI
India is not convinced by the future of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and could be withholding its support because China is driving the development master plan for the Asia region, analysts said on Wednesday. The uncertainty was voiced at the “Asian Regional Conference on BRI: Prospects and Challenges” organized by local think-tank Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) at a hotel in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Unrealised loan totals Tk 1.31t from 230,658 defaulters: Muhith
The number of loan defaulters in the country reached 230,658, and the amount of unrecovered loan from them totalled over Tk 1.31 trillion until June 2018, according to the central bank. Finance Minister A M A Muhith disclosed the information in the Jatiyo Sangsad (JS) on Wednesday in response to a query of Member of Parliament (MP) Pinu Khan.
BB issues guideline on unclaimed deposits
The central bank yesterday said unclaimed bank deposits would be transferred to the government account if no demand is received for refund of the inoperative deposit for 12 years. Deposits and assets at banks not claimed by anyone for 10 years are considered unclaimed, according to guidelines released by Bangladesh Bank yesterday.
NBR revenue collection Tk 2871cr short of July target
Revenue collection by the National Board of Revenue fell Tk 2,871 crore or 17 per cent short of target in July, the first month of the current fiscal year 2018-2019, mainly due to poor performance of value-added tax and customs wings of NBR. The revenue board also registered a dismal revenue collection growth of 4.86 per cent in July compared with the same month of last year.
Muhith offers conditional 5% gains tax for DSE shareholders
The government slashed the rate of capital gains tax for Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) shareholders on Wednesday on the condition the Tk947 crore they made through divesting a 25% stake to a Chinese consortium will be reinvested in the market for three years. Finance minister AMA Muhith revealed the huge cut from 15% to 5% in a speech to mark the 25th anniversary of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in Dhaka.
BBN/SSR/AD