Bangladesh Bank Headquarters

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.

Who is BB fooling?
Two things come easy in Bangladesh — getting big bank loans and blissfully failing to repay. The money in the vaults seems to be the easiest prey today. In the last ten years, scam after scam in the banks has rocked our financial sector, each and every scam unique and more spectacular than the previous ones. The banks looked like sandcastles suddenly being washed away by a bevy of businessmen.

LNG supply shortage forces GTCL to suspend operation
The gas supply through the long-awaited Anwara-Fouzdarhat transmission pipeline had to be suspended only four hours after its commissioning on Tuesday night due to a scarcity of re-gasified LNG (liquefied natural gas). Sources blamed the lack of coordination between the Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL) and the Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL) for the setback.

Spread of 16 banks still much higher
The spreads of 16 private and foreign commercial banks are still much higher than the rate set by the Bangladesh Bank (BB), although the overall spread in the banking sector has come down to 4.22% following a directive from the Central Bank. Apart from these 16 banks, the spread of most banks in the country are above 4%.

Govt mulls VAT cut on internet infra cos
The government considers reducing value added tax on services of internet infrastructure companies, including international internet gateway, from December. Posts, telecommunications and information communication technology minister Mustafa Jabbar told New Age on Wednesday that finance ministry considered bringing down the VAT on the services of companies in three sectors to 5 per cent from existing 15 per cent.

Bangladesh’s stocks back to red Wednesday
Bangladesh’s stocks slipped into the red on Wednesday after volatile trading as investors remained followed cautious stance ahead of national elections. Market operators said majority of the investors were not enough confident to put fresh stakes while some continued busy with rebalancing their portfolio.

Savings instrument database from Feb
The much-awaited database of national savings certificate holders, which is expected to check the current misuse of the high-yielding savings tools, is expected to take off from February next year. Finance Minister AMA Muhith in his budget speech for fiscal 2017-18 had announced the roll-out of the database during the fiscal year.

WB likely to give $188m for renewable energy development
The World Bank (WB) is likely to provide US$ 188 million worth of funds for setting up a 50-megawatt (MW) solar power plant and renewable energy development works, officials said on Wednesday. The government in a meeting last week decided to take the financial assistance from the Washington-based lender, they also said.

Islamic banks hold 24% share of banking sector
The share of the total Investment of Islamic banks accounted for 24.02% among all banks at the end of July-September quarter this year, which was 23.93% in the previous quarter, according to latest data by Bangladesh Bank (BB). During the July-September quarter, total investments (loans) in the Islamic banking sector stood at Tk2,20,343.15 crore, which went up by Tk3,515.72 crore (1.62%) compared to the previous quarter, reports BSS.

BBN/SSR/AD