Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– The Bangladesh Business News (BBN) prepares the morning business round up compiling reports, published by different newspapers and news portals in Bangladesh.
 

Lower GDP growth estimate by BBS for FY '14 irks planning ministry: A lower-than-expected provisional estimate of the country's economic growth for the current fiscal year (2013-14), done by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), has evoked deep dissatisfaction in the planning ministry, according to reliable sources.   After expressing his dissatisfaction over the provisional growth estimate for the current fiscal, the Planning Minister directed top BBS officials to immediately place the detailed assessment data before his ministry. The Planning Minister's directive came as the provisional estimate of the BBS projected the economy to grow well below the original target during the current fiscal.

Amnesty for black money: a no-go: The government is once again looking inclined towards giving amnesty to black money in the upcoming fiscal year, a concession which did not yield desired results in the past. At a pre-budget meeting with the Economic Reporters Forum last week, Ghulam Hussain, chairman of the National Board of Revenue, spoke favourably of the provision to legalise undisclosed or black money, as it might arrest the rampant capital flight from the country to Malaysia, Dubai and Canada. Between 2002 and 2011, $16 billion of illicit capital left the country, according to a December 2013 study by Global Financial Integrity, a US-based non-profit organisation focused on curtailing cross-border flow of illegal money.

NBR may backtrack from move to slash corporate tax: The revenue board plans to backtrack from a move to slash the corporate tax in the upcoming budget as the revenue to be forgone under the fiscal stimulus stands high, and loss offsetting budgetary measures appear limited. Senior taxmen said raising the tax slabs for individuals to offset the losses to be incurred for slashing corporate tax would be practically impossible under a democratic system of government as such measures could trigger backlash from different quarters.

BB relaxes rules for enterprises in EPZs seeking foreign loan: The central bank has relaxed foreign exchange regulations allowing all industrial enterprises in export processing zones (EPZs) to borrow medium and long-term loan from overseas sources, officials said. Under the relaxed regulations, industrial units in the EPZs will submit borrowing approval applications and related documents as per proforma of the Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Transactions (GFET, 2009 edition), through their nominated authorised dealer banks for onward referral via the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) to the Bangladesh Bank (BB).

United Power sets share bidding for May 18: Institutional bidding for United Power Generation and Distribution Company's shares will begin on May 18 under the book building method, a modern pricing mechanism. United Power will float 3.3 crore ordinary shares of Tk 10 each. Institutions will bid for 1.32 crore shares worth Tk 10 each; bidding will start at 2:00pm on May 18 and continue until 2:00pm on May 20, according to a notice posted on the Dhaka Stock Exchange website yesterday.

BPC seeks Tk 14.50b subsidy from govt again to meet fuel import bill: The cash-strapped state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has sought over Tk 14.50 billion again from the government to meet its fuel import bill, officials said. The state entity is facing acute financial problem mainly because of non-payment of outstanding dues by the state- run Biman, they said. Sources said the BPC is passing a hard time due to the fund problem. The Biman is not settling its outstanding dues despite repeated reminders. It is just dilly-dallying.

World’s most expensive city Singapore: World’s most expensive city is Singapore. It has outranked Tokyo this year as the world’s most expensive city to live in. The Asian economic tiger is also the priciest location to go shopping. Results that determined Singapore’s new label, as costliest place to live in the planet was the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey that the Economist Intelligence Unit conducted, reports kpopstarz.com.

Japan to invest $1.2b in Bangladesh: The Japan International Cooperation Agency will invest $1.2 billion in the priority sectors including power generation in the next fiscal year, the planning ministry said yesterday quoting Jica's representative in Dhaka. Bangladesh can become a middle-income country by 2021, but the planning ministry and the planning commission will need to speed up implementation to achieve that, Mikio Hataeda, Jica's chief representative in Dhaka, said at a meeting with Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.

BBN/SSR/AD-07May14-8:05 am (BST)