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.
Foreign fund inflow dips
Reduced flow of external resources poses a threat to achieving around 20% growth estimated for the current fiscal year, as disbursement of foreign funds during the first six months of 2019 caused a negative growth. The amount of foreign aids was $3.31 billion in January-June against $3.34 billion in the same period of the previous year, according to the latest data of the Economic Relations Division (ERD).
WB expert focuses on bank-FinTech tie-up
Banks will never be able to compete with financial technology (FinTech) service providers in terms of providing financial services, a specialist of the World Bank (WB) opined on Monday. “As banks will never be able to compete with FinTechs, it is better to collaborate with them. Collaborations will be good for both banks and FinTechs,” said A K M Abdullah, the WB Senior Financial Sector Specialist for South Asia Finance and Private Sector.
Employees see red as BASIC slashes salaries
In a sensational move, BASIC Bank has slashed the salary of its employees for chronic losses, setting a precedent in Bangladeshi’s banking sector of linking performance to remuneration. The decision was taken by the state bank’s board on Sunday as part of its austerity measures and immediately issued a notice to inform the employees that their salary would be fixed as per the structure followed by other public banks.
BB set to issue circular on single-digit interest rate on loans
The central bank of Bangladesh is set to issue a circular on single-digit interest rate on industrial loans after getting approval from its board of directors, officials said. A draft of the circular is expected to be placed in a meeting of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) board of directors, scheduled to be held at the BB headquarters in the capital Dhaka on Tuesday afternoon.
Attempts made to steal money from buyers
A racket of swindlers has made a number of attempts to steal money from western buyers through breaching email information of Bangladesh’s readymade garment exporters. Three RMG exporters have recently informed the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association that their email information had been breached and the buyers were asked to divert payment to different accounts.
BSTI scraps licences of nine brands
The national standards body has cancelled licences for six food items and a skincare product marketed by nine companies in the last three months because of their substandard quality. The food items belong to different categories, namely salt, soybean oil, turmeric powder, vermicelli, ghee, and chanachur (a salty and spicy crisp snack), according to a corrected statement of the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI).
NBR moves to ensure green channel facility for 3 pharma cos
The National Board of Revenue has taken initiatives to ensure green channel facilities for three local pharmaceutical companies to release import goods through the channel after it extended the tenure for the authorised economic operators’ licence by six more months for the companies. The revenue board in mid-November extended the AEO licence for the period as the seven units of Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd could not realise any benefits during the previous tenure that expired on November 6.
DSE key index dips below 4,400-mark further
The key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) dipped below the ‘psychological’ threshold of 4,400-mark on Monday as worried investors continued their selling on major sectors’ shares. DSEX, the core index, went down by 26.51 points or 0.82 per cent to settle at 4,394, the lowest in more than 42 months since June 26, 2016, when the index was 4,380.
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