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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.

Economists, trade leaders seek Taka devaluation for competitive economy
Eminent economists and business leaders have strongly urged the policymakers and Bangladesh Bank to devalue the Taka against the US dollar to remain competitive in the export market and boost inward remittance. They said most of the countries in Asia already depreciated their local currencies against the US dollar in the last couple of years except but Bangladesh was yet to devalue. As a result, Taka is now overvalued by around 5% against the currencies of other Asian economies.

Infrastructure fund opposed

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has opposed forming the proposed national infrastructure fund and suggested enhancing the lending capacity of two state-run financers instead to fund public-private partnership projects, officials said. The MoF has decided to provide Tk 20 billion from the public exchequer to the state-owned Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund Limited (BIFFL) and the Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) for the purpose of funding projects under public-private partnership (PPP) modality.

Jobs abroad in decline
Bangladesh continues to witness decline in overseas jobs over the last two years amid unabated malpractices in recruitment process, falling demand in the Gulf countries and an absence of effective steps to explore new markets. More than 10 lakh Bangladeshis secured jobs overseas in 2017 but that came down to 7,34,181 last year, according to the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training.

Bangladesh inflation rises slightly in September
Bangladesh’s inflationary pressure on the economy increased slightly in September mainly because of rise in prices of both food and non-food items. Inflation as measured by the consumers’ price index (CPI) rose to 5.50 per cent in September 2019 from 5.48 per cent of the previous month on 12-month average basis, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data.

FDI jumps 50.71pc to $3.89b in FY’19

The net inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Bangladesh increased by 50.71 per cent in the last fiscal year (FY’19), according to the latest statistics released by the central bank on Tuesday. It showed that net FDI stood at $3.89 billion in FY’19 from $2.58 billion in FY’18.

Stocks bounce back but worries remain
Dhaka stocks bounced back yesterday thanks to the announcement of the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) to provide support to the market. On Monday, ICB declared that it would start buying shares with Tk 200 crore it has at present and with another Tk 800 crore that it will get from four state-run banks through issuing bonds.

NBR eases central BIN issuance to large cos

The National Board of Revenue relaxed the rules for issuance of central business identification numbers to large manufacturers to facilitate obtaining of central BINs by companies with separate raw material producing units and backward linkage entities. Large companies that manufacture raw materials and backward linkage products for producing finished goods would now be eligible to obtain central BINs incorporating all of their units, according to a general order issued by the NBR on Tuesday.

How to make the Bangladesh apparel industry sustainable
The second edition of the Sustainable Apparel Forum (SAF), scheduled to be held in Dhaka on November 05, is aiming to make the apparel and clothing industry of Bangladesh more sustainable. “Sustainability is not an option but a must for the Bangladesh apparel industry. So, the SAF aims to add pace to the sustainability momentum and drive discussions to that end,” Mostafiz Uddin, a key organizer of the forum said during a press conference in Dhaka on Monday, reports SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL.

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