Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The BBN has prepared the morning business round up compiling reports, published by different newspapers and news portals in Bangladesh.
Budget to be cut after slow expenditure
The government is likely to slash the budget for the fiscal year in light of the slow spending in the first six months. Between July and December last year, Tk 76,798 crore was exhausted from the Tk 250,506 crore-budget for fiscal 2014-15. The six-month spending sum is also a 0.1 percent year-on-year decline. At this point in fiscal 2013-14, total expenditure had soared 20.3 percent year-on-year. The reason for the decline, a finance ministry official says, is a drop in subsidy outlay owing to the slump in petroleum prices in the global market.
Tk 42b RMG stocklot builds up on turmoil
Readymade garments (RMG) worth Tk 42 billion (4,200 crore) have become stocklot due to the ongoing political troubles marked by frequent hartal and blockade, according to the research cell of the apparel exporters' association. The apparel exporters missed the shipment deadlines fixed by several global business partners resulting in the buildup of the stocklots worth Tk 42 billion, according to the BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association).
BB makes loan mandatory for women entrepreneurs
Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman has announced a unique scheme especially for micro women entrepreneurs to expedite the ongoing financial inclusion programmes in Bangladesh. Under the initiative, all commercial banks and non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) will have to provide minimum Tk 50,000 as loan to at least a woman entrepreneur each year. A total of 9228 branches of all banks and NBFIs will provide the loans to the women entrepreneurs across the country. “We’ll able to create nearly 10,000 women entrepreneurs every year if the initiative continues,” Governor Dr. Rahman said.
Dhaka wants transit thru India
Dhaka has proposed inclusion of a new transit provision in the current Indo-Bangla bilateral trade agreement for ferrying goods from Bangladesh to Nepal and Bhutan across Indian territory, a senior official in the foreign ministry said. The proposal was made last week, apparently to strike a balance in the trade agreement as India enjoys similar facility in the trade pact for carrying goods from its one state to another using Bangladesh land. The three-year trade agreement will expire on Thursday. The ministry of commerce has yet to have a response from the Indian government to the proposal which the ministry sent to India through the ministry of foreign affairs.
Chittagong port users protest additional fees
Importers yesterday alleged that operators, shipping agents and freight forwarders are extorting additional fees from them during delivery of containers at the Chittagong Port. The importers at a meeting in the port city objected to the “illegal charges”, and the situation prompted business leaders to form a monitoring cell with representatives of all stakeholders to solve the issue. The Port Users Forum, a platform of Chittagong Port's stakeholders, organised the meeting with its Chairman Mahbubul Alam in the chair. Alam blamed freight forwarders for collecting additional charges such as delivery order charge and destination service charge, violating directions from the National Board of Revenue.
New urban policy on the cards
The government is reportedly working on a new urban development policy that would look to decentralise the densely populated cities and steer away large investments from megacities. As part of a proposed National Urban Policy 2015, the Local Government Division (LGD) wants to impose a fresh tax on the owners of land and buildings if they delay developing their work-in-progress on new establishments, sources told the Dhaka Tribune. The government is also considering to discourage large scale investment in megacities, as part of an effort to spread out resources and develop areas with lower populations.
Multinational cos, RMGs enjoy special exemptions
A number of multinational companies and export-oriented garment factories are enjoying special exemption from certain provisions related to labour compliance in Bangladesh Labour Act. These exemptions include maximum working hours in a day and over the week, whether workers have fixed lunch break and weekly holidays. Labour leaders complained that these companies were using the exemption from workers’ welfare-related sections of the law to engage workers in work for longer hours and to avoid obligations to follow local and international laws and social compliance audit.
Bangladesh to build new container depot for RMG transportation
Bangladesh government is going to set up a new Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Gazipur to facilitate the transportation of readymade garment (RMG) production directly from the factories in the district to Chittagong port. The state-run Bangladesh Railway (BR) has already decided to construct ICD at Dhirashram in Gazipur so that the RMG owners can be attracted to use the railway service in sending their consignments to Chittagong, a senior official said.
BBN/SSR/AD-29Mar15-8:45 am (BST)