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.
Poor service despite huge investment
Despite increasing government investment in Bangladesh Railway over the years, railway services have not shown much improvement and the entity is continuing to rack up losses. Bangladesh Railway (BR) authorities, meanwhile, claim that their priority remains on improving services for citizens and not cutting losses. Yet, people are not getting the expected service from the railways, considered a safe public transport system.
BB starts work on industrial lending rate cut
The central bank has started working on bringing down the industrial lending rate to a single-digit in line with the Ministry of Finance (MoF)’s advice. Under the move, the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, has sought information on outstanding industrial (manufacturing) loans from the scheduled banks within 48 hours which will end on Wednesday.
Dhaka seeks $20m RCBC fine from Manila
Bangladesh on Tuesday requested the Philippines government to transfer the US$20 million it has collected from the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in connection with a Bangladesh Bank reserve heist. The foreign ministry made the request to a delegation of the Philippines foreign ministry in a meeting in Dhaka which the two sides described as foreign office consultation.
State-owned banks account for 51% NPLs
All nine state-run banks accounted for 51.27% of total non-performing loans (NPLs) of Tk1, 16,288.31 crore in the banking sector as of September this year. At the end of September, the non-performing loans of Agrani, Rupali, Sonali, Janata, BASIC, Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, Bangladesh Development Bank and Probashi Kallyan Bank stood at Tk59,622.91 crore, up Tk1,179.40 crore from the previous quarter, according to the latest data of the Bangladesh Bank.
Bangladesh receives over $7.50b remittance in five months
The inflow of remittances crossed US$7.50 billion in the first five months of the current fiscal year (FY) as the government started providing incentive to the beneficiaries against inward remittance. Depreciating mode of the local currency against the US dollar has also pushed up the flow of inward remittances in the recent months, bankers said.
ACC suggests NBR scan all export, import containers
The Anti-Corruption Commission has recommended that the National Board of Revenue ensure scanning of all export and import containers at sea and river ports along with other customs stations to prevent duty evasion and corruption in international trades. The ACC also suggested conducting physical verification of all import and export goods until the revenue board could set up required numbers of scanner machines at ports including Chattogram port and other sea and river ports.
DSEX dips below 4,700-mark again
Stocks kept the losing streak on Tuesday with core index of the prime bourse falling below 4,700-mark again, as investors continued their selling binge. DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 37.24 points or 0.78 per cent to close at 4,697, after losing more than 24 points in the previous day.
Bandwidth export to India grinds to a halt
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), a state-run Indian telecommunication carrier, is struggling to afford importing internet bandwidth from Bangladesh and will suspend its deal with the country in February after four years of doing business. The carrier has been struggling with mounting unpaid staff salaries and vendors’ payments for nearly a year. Now it has decided to stop buying bandwidth from Bangladesh for its market in Northeastern India as a desperate austerity measure.
BBN/SSR/AD