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.
Debt at heart as Kamal strikes balance amid falling revenue, rising expenditure
Between a rock and a hard place is where Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal finds himself in as he is set to unveil his second budget on June 11. Does the government enforce austerity given the stunning collapse in economic activities for the coronavirus outbreak? Or does it spend his way out of the pandemic-induced recession and preventing it from undoing decades of progress in alleviating poverty and elevating its citizens into the middle-class?
Budget spending to go up by 11pc in FY '21
The appointment of additional number of doctors and nurses to fight coronavirus pandemic will push up the operating expenditure of the government by around 11 per cent in the next fiscal year (FY'21) on top of other public sector spendings, finance ministry officials say. The government's operating expenditure includes salaries, allowances, payment of pensions, interest, subsidy, incentives and grant. The revenue budget also includes capital expenditure and spending on supply and services.
Bank earning slump makes import financing costlier
Cost of foreign import financing by the country’s local banks increased up to 2 percentage points in the last couple of months due mainly to a slump in earnings of the banks. Earnings of all scheduled banks slumped, in most of the cases turned negative in April and May, as the Bangladesh Bank asked the entities to refrain from booking interest earnings for the two months, bankers and BB officials said.
Forex reserve hits new record of $34bn
The country’s foreign exchange reserve has hit a new height setting a record of over $34 billion amid coronavirus pandemic. The aid of developing partners and remittance added to raise the foreign exchange reserve to $34.23 billion on June 3, a high-level official of Bangladesh Bank said on Thursday.
Next budget would be an immense balancing act
Next fiscal is likely to be one of the most challenging years from a fiscal management perspective, among others. With the virus still around, the economy will take time to recover. When recovery is going to start is extremely uncertain. There will be pressure on public expenditure to fight COVID-19, strengthen the health system, support livelihoods at risk and keep businesses afloat.
Stocks extend losses amid sluggish turnover
Stocks extended their losing streak for the third straight session on Wednesday as investors remained mostly cautious about the upcoming earnings declaration coupled with ongoing Covid-19 crisis. DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, went down by 6.17 points or 0.15 per cent to close at 3,963. The core index eroded 97 points in the past three consecutive sessions after adding 52 points in the opening session on May 31.
Delta Hospital wants its IPO scrapped over low cut-off price
Delta Hospital Limited has requested stock market regulator Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission to cancel its initial public offering as low pricing by the institutional investors set the cut-off price of its shares at Tk 11 each. The face value of the company’s shares is Tk 10 each.
‘Printing money will help meet budget deficit’
The coronavirus outbreak has further deepened the country's economic crisis. Investment, export-import activities have been declining steeply, triggering a concern that people's savings and consumption expenditure might witness a fall. Revenue earnings will fall naturally if people's income and expenditure decrease. Rejuvenating the economy, increasing spending on health and agriculture sectors and bringing more poor people under the social safety net – all those now hinge on the next budget.
BBN/SSR/AD