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.
Bangladesh’s private sector credit growth rises in March: Bangladesh’s private sector credit growth increased slightly in March last following rising trend of import payments ahead of the holy Ramadan, bankers said on Tuesday.“Trade financing has increased during the period under review to clear import payments particularly for essential commodities ahead of the Ramadan,” a senior official of a leading private commercial bank (PCB) told BBN in Dhaka. He also said the upward trend of private sector credit growth may continue this month because of higher import payments.
US flexes muscles to know account info: Bangladeshi banks have come under pressure from the United States to send account information on American citizens or foreign companies where US investors have at least 10 percent ownership. If any local bank fails to report to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the bank's money at Nostro accounts in the US will be withheld. Local banks maintain the accounts with American banks to facilitate settlement of foreign trade. Bankers fear if local banks comply with the US regulation, it will directly affect deposits and investments by non-resident Bangladeshis, who are also taxpayers in the US. Moreover, the local banks have to do the task at their own cost. The Daily Star has talked to half a dozen bankers who said the move would not only cost them money but also time for collecting data from millions of account holders. Some of them said an officer has been engaged in each branch to do the job.
Dhaka urges Washington to form 2 committees: Dhaka, keen to get duty free access to the US market, has requested Washington to establish two committees on market access and investment, senior commerce ministry officials said. The committees comprising public and private sector representatives could hold period meetings to identify and remove the hurdles to boost trade and investment between the two countries, they said.
Bangladesh banks’ default loans rise significant in Q1: The amount of classified loans in the country’s banking system increased significantly in the first quarter (Q1) of 2014 due mainly to the lack of proper follow-up of rescheduled loans by some banks. The volume of default loans increased by 18.70 percent to BDT 481.72 billion in the January-March period of 2014 from BDT 405.83 billion in the previous quarter of the last calendar year. The share of the non-performing loans (NPL) rose to 10.45 per cent in the period under review from 8.93 per cent in the previous quarter, according to the central bank statistics.
Coordinated regulatory regime a sine qua non: The first priority of the chairman of the demutualised stock exchange is to help bring transparency in capital market, help creating an enabling environment to restore and strengthen the confidence of investors at large and small and medium investors in particular. Dr Muhammad Abdul Mazid, the former chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the incumbent chairman of Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), shared his future plan of actions in an exclusive interview with the FE.
Cotton demand likely to double by 2022: Bangladesh’s cotton consumption is expected to almost double by 2022, strongly retaining its position of world’s second largest cotton importers, according to a new study. The local consumption is expected to increase from 9% in 2010-11 to 16% by 2022, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) Agricultural Outlook 2013-2022 released recently. “Use of cotton in the domestic spinning mills increases every year riding on growing apparel industry,” said Mohmmad Ayub, president of Bangladesh Cotton Association. Bangladesh’s apparel industry relies heavily on cotton-based yarns, as knitwear and denim production account for nearly three-fourths of the country’s export earnings.
Banking sector provision shortfall soars by 844pc in Q1: The overall shortfall in provision against general and defaulted loans in the banking sector increased by Tk 2,174.59 crore or 843.74 per cent in the first quarter of this year with seven banks failing to keep required provision in the period. According to the latest BB data, the shortfall rose to Tk 2,432.32 crore as of March 31, 2014 from Tk 257.73 crore as of December 31, 2013. The provision shortfall in the banking sector stood at Tk 3,281.74 crore as of September 30, 2013.
BBN/SSR/AD-14May14-9:56 am (BST)