Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Highlights of Thursday’s newspapers:
The Financial Express:
— Share prices at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) plunged 2.57 per cent Wednesday, ignoring the latest proposal of the Bankers Association of Bangladesh (BAB) to float a Tk 50 billion market stabilisation fund.
— Bangladesh stands as the eighth largest country in terms of its population with 150.5 million people living in a small piece of land, according to a UN report.
— The government would request a World Bank (WB) executive director to facilitate the Bank’s funding for the Padma Bridge project and seek consent for continuation of work on the multi-billion-dollar scheme, officials said Wednesday.
The Daily Star:
— It was a forgery unearthed by the High Court (HC) yesterday. A two-member bench of the court exposed a fictitious HC order relating to a grant of anticipatory bail to 21 charge-sheeted accused in a murder case.
— Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told parliament yesterday that no alternative funding would be needed for the Padma bridge project, and hoped that the project would start soon through a settlement of “temporary complications”.
— Stocks fell yesterday due to the pessimistic observations of the World Bank on the share market. The key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DGEN, dropped 2.5 percent to 5,411 points.
The New Age:
— The government on Wednesday decided not to allow any more Indian cargoes under ‘regular transit’ until the ongoing trial transit through the Ashuganj river port and Akhaura land port in Bangladesh to Agartala in the Indian state of Tripura is completed and modes are finalised, officials said.
— A parliamentary standing committee on Wednesday stuck to its decision favouring open-pit mining of coal from the Barapukuria colliery at Fulbaria in Dinajpur.
— The exchange rate of dollar, set by the Bangladesh Bank on a daily basis, crossed Tk 76 for the first time on Wednesday as Taka continued to lose ground, pushing up further the already high inflation.
BBN/SSR/SI-27Oct11-8:51 am (BST)
