Business News

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday postponed the public subscription of the initial public offering of Appollo Ispat Complex Ltd following the finance minister’s advice. The decision came at a meeting presided over by BSEC chairman M Khairul Hossain. The BSEC said following the finance minister’s suggestion, the commission decided to get further information about the company. Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith in a letter last week advised the BSEC chairman to suspend the public subscription of the IPO, scheduled to begin on March 3, over allegations of different irregularities.
 
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The posts and telecommunications ministry on Tuesday finalised the 3G licence guideline reducing the spectrum block allocation to 5 MHz with base price at $20 million and licence validity for 15 years. ‘We sent the final draft to the BTRC today (Tuesday) and hope they will complete the formalities within the shortest possible of time to start the auction for 3G licence,’ telecom secretary Md Abubaker Siddiqi told New Age on Tuesday. He said the new guideline was designed considering the operators’ valid demands and the government’s interest as well.
 
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Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday introduced an electronic system for monitoring all kind of transactions involving foreign exchange in the banking sector to check any embezzlement. BB governor Atiur Rahman inaugurated the electronic system named dashboard at the central bank headquarters in the capital. Atiur said from now on the inspection team of the central bank would be able to analyse the data of the dashboard before it made any special visit to a bank.
 
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The BTRC’s latest decision on the subscriber identification module registration process affected country’s mobile phone industry as the number of subscribers reduced in the fourth quarter of 2012, said Grameenphone on Tuesday. ‘It [the decision] was imposed on the mobile phone operators without holding proper consultation with them and the industry suffered an immediate shock,’ GP chief executive officer Vivek Sood said while presenting the financial statement of the company for the last year to the media. GP’s net profit declined by 7 per cent to Tk 1,750.47 crore in 2012 from that of Tk 1,889 crore in 2011.
 
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The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday fined 15 brokerage houses and issued warning letters to five investors on charges of violation of different securities laws. The commission in a meeting also approved a draft guideline to strengthen its inspection over the stock brokers and stock dealers. The BSEC fined Be Rich Ltd, Mona Financial Consultancy and Securities, Mirpur Securities, Western Investment Management Tk 1 lakh each for violating securities laws in treading shares of International Leasing and Financial Services Ltd. Sylhet Metro City Securities, Al-Muntaha Treading Company, Hack Securities and SIBL Securities were fined Tk 1 lakh each for violation of securities laws while treading shares of Beach Hatchery Ltd.
 
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Bangladesh is unlikely to import rice in the current calendar year owing to a stable situation following good harvests over the past several years and an expected output boost in the upcoming Boro cultivation. However, Bangladesh signed an agreement to import some 1.0 million tonnes of rice from Thailand in 2013, when Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra visited Dhaka in December last year. The agreement may be helpful in case we need to import rice at anytime of the current year.
 
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The country’s export earnings growth in the first seven months of the current fiscal year fell to 8.83 per cent from that of 14.28 per cent in the same period of the last fiscal year, though the earnings in January continued uptrend for the third month. The monthly export earnings growth in January increased to 18.81 per cent from around 12 per cent during the same period of the last fiscal year. The single-month export earning in January totalled $2.55 billion, which is also 6.34 per cent higher than the target of $2.40 billion.

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As many as 21 financial institutions out of 30 working in Bangladesh have already raised their paid up capital to BDT 1.0 billion within the stipulated time, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith informed the House Monday. He, however, said there is no plan for time being to cancel the license of the financial institutions which failed to deposit paid up capital within the stipulated time.
 
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The government has finally decided to borrow hard-term loans worth nearly USD 1.5 billion from export credit agencies (ECAs) for setting up five big power plants. Financing from the ECAs is hard-term borrowing with a high rate of interest and a short maturity period (2 to 10 years). The ECA loans are usually supplier's credits, extended to the exporter, but they may also be buyer's credits, extended to the importer. The risk on these credits, as well as on guarantees and insurance, is borne by the sponsoring government.
 
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The telecom ministry may send the final 3G licensing guideline to the regulator today for further action, said Telecom Secretary Md Abubakar Siddique yesterday. After getting the guideline, the regulator will initiate the process of auction. He said a total of four licenses will be given for 2,100 megahertz spectrum -- three to the incumbent operators and one to a new entrant. Earlier, at the end of 2012 the finance ministry set USD 20.0 million as the base or starting price for the auction for per megahertz spectrum. The spectrum will be technology-neutral and operators will be able to provide services of 3G or 4G or LTE (long term evolution). LTE offers faster speed in data transfer compared to 3G. A total of 40 MHz spectrum will be auctioned, while another 10 MHz spectrum has already been allocated to state-owned Teletalk on a trial basis.

SME loan disbursement by banks and non-bank financial institutions increased by 29.84 per cent in 2012 from that of 2011 although major amount of loans went to trade or unproductive sector, according to BB data released on Monday. All banks and NBFIs had disbursed a total of Tk 69,753.32 crore in small and medium enterprises loans in 2012 against Tk 53,719.44 crore in 2011. The SME loan disbursement by banks and the NBFIs had increased by 45.16 per cent to Tk 44,222.65 crore in trading sector in 2012 from the annual target of Tk 30,463.81 crore. The trading sector got 63.39 per cent of the total disbursement.

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Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited has commenced export of medicines to Europe. This was the very first time a local pharma company exported ophthalmic products to Europe. A signing ceremony was held on the factory premise of Beximco Pharma to mark the first consignment to Europe in presence of high officials of the company and representatives from DHL and Emirates.
 
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The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Authority has directed the international gateway operators to form a clearing house in a bid to curb illegal international call termination and unhealthy competition among the service providers. The BTRC in a directive asked the IGW operators to from the central platform for routing the international calls to monitor them properly. The BTRC directive came following a recent trend of decreasing international call volume and offering of low rates in international calls other than the prescribed rate, it said. The proposed International Clearing House would have a memorandum of understanding with the IGWs to ensure that the termination rate, which is 3 cents per minute, remains regulated.
 
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Bangladesh Bank will launch an electronic system tomorrow for monitoring all kind of transactions involving foreign exchange in the country’s banking system to tackle embezzlement, said officials of the central bank. A BB official told New Age on Sunday that electronic screens would initially be set up at the offices of BB governor and concerned deputy governor, executive director and general manager. The screens will work as dashboard or control panel, he said. He said that the BB would monitor through the dashboard the procedure of letters of credit for imports and exports by banks, inward and outward remittance processes and all other forex-related transactions.
 
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Bangladesh will propose to the World Bank (WB) to divert the scrapped USD1.2 billion fund, which was supposed to be disbursed for constructing Padma Bridge, to other development projects now being implemented with the Bank aid. Finance Minister AMA Muhith made the announcement on Sunday, saying, "The proposal of fund diversion will be formally placed during the upcoming meeting to be held between the WB President and myself in Washington sometime in the current month".
 
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The aspiring international oil companies (IOCs) are seeking a higher natural gas price for exploring the country's new offshore blocks as offered in the currently opened bidding round. The IOCs argue that the gas price offered in the model production sharing contract (MPSC) for the offshore bidding round is not attractive. As per the MPSC of the new offshore bidding round the gas price has been pegged to high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) prices, and the floor price for HSFO has been fixed at USD 100 per tonne and the ceiling price at USD 200 per tonne for the 2012 bidding round.
 
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The government is going to introduce one Treasury bill and another Treasury bond on short-term basis to facilitate government borrowing, BB officials said. A BB official told New Age on Sunday that the maturity tenure of the T-bill would be of 28 days and T-bond would be of 2 years. He said the primary dealer banks and non-PD banks were usually reluctant to invest long-term T-bills and T-bonds as their liquidity turned into an idle asset for a long time in this way.
 
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Member mills of Bangladesh Garments Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association would be able to borrow up to $1 million a year from the $300 million export development fund of Bangladesh Bank. To this end, the BB on Sunday issued a circular to all authorized dealer branches of the banks.  Till date, only member factories of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association could borrow up to $10 million a year from the EDF.
 
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Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday called upon the private insurers to bring the agriculture sector under insurance coverage considering the recurring loss of crops due to natural calamities. Loss of crop owing to flood and other natural calamities is a recurring phenomenon which disrupts the entire economy of the country, she said. To make agriculture more productive and to help the farmers recover the losses of natural disasters, new measures have to be taken both by the public and private sector insurers, she said.
 
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Bangladesh remained the world's second largest ship-breaker after Pakistan while India slid to the third position in the 2012 calendar year, scrap-yard sources said. Bangladesh dismantled about 260 ships weighing a total of 3.1 million tonnes nearly half the share of Pakistan that tore down more than 500 ships with the dead-weight tonnage of 6.0 million tonnes.
 
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Export may face challenge over FTA between EU, Vietnamspan style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline ! important; float: none;">
Bangladesh’s export, particularly of apparel items, to the European countries may face a big challenge in the future if European Union and Vietnam sign a proposed free trade agreement, commerce ministry officials said.The tariff preferences Bangladesh is enjoying on the EU market under GSP scheme may be eroded gradually and Vietnam may take away some market share of Bangladesh in the EU countries if the agreement is signed, the officials said.‘Bangladeshi exporters may face tough competition in exporting readymade garment products on the EU market if Vietnam is given duty-free facility under the FTA as the country exports almost same kind of RMG products in the region,’ a tariff commission official told New Age on Sunday.
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br /> Half of cost can be raised from stock market: DSE presidentspan style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline ! important; float: none;">
Dhaka Stock Exchange president Rakibur Rahman on Sunday said that half of the total expenditure needed for the construction of the proposed Padma Multipurpose Bridge could be raised from the capital market. Rakibur made the suggestion amid an intense liquidity crisis in the market in recent time.‘As the government has planned to construct the Padma Bridge with its own resources, the capital market can play a major role in it,’ said Rakibur after the third meeting of the capital market coordination committee, which was formed recently to bring normalcy in the capital market, at the DSE board room in the capital.

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ISLAMIC INTER-BANK FUND MARKET:No transaction takes place in two weeksa href="http://www.newagebd.com/detail.php?date=2013-02-04&nid=38969">br /> No transactions have been made at the Islamic Inter-bank Fund Market since January 20, 2013 as Islamic banks and Islamic wings of the traditional banks did not participate in the money market, said Bangladesh Bank officials.A BB official told New Age on Sunday that the Hallmark Group – Sonali Bank scam had hit the money market and the country’s overall banking sector so hard that majority of the Islamic banks and the Islamic wings of the traditional banks issued very few bills of acceptance against the inland bills for domestic import.Besides, the advance-deposit ratio of the Islamic banks has recently gone down significantly as they were providing loans to fewer clients, which created a standstill in the Islamic banking sector, he said.br />
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Six new banks may get BB’s final nod tomorrow
span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline ! important; float: none;">Bangladesh Bank is likely to give its final approval to six proposed banks for getting licences in its next board meeting to be held tomorrow, said BB officials.
The six proposed banks are NRB Commercial Bank, NRB Bank, Union Bank, South Bangla Agricultural Bank, Midland Bank and Meghna Bank.‘The BB has placed documents of the six proposed banks before its board at today’s [Sunday] meeting after completing a scrutiny process,’ BB deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury told reporters after the board meeting at the central bank’s headquarters in the capital.

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Japan to mint five crore Tk 2 coins
span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline ! important; float: none;">Japan will make 5 crore new Tk 2 coins for Bangladesh.  Finance ministry joint secretary Akhlasur Rahman and president of Japan Mint Yoshiake Shinhara signed an agreement in this regard at the Bangladesh Bank headquarters in the capital on Sunday. Japanese Ambassador in Dhaka Shiro Sadoshima and BB governor Atiur Rahman were present on the occasion.

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BTRC to form panel of expert lawyers
span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline ! important; float: none;">Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission would form a panel of expert lawyers to speed up the lawsuits pending against the commission by different mobile phone operators. To this end, the commission would seek applications from lawyers and law firms this week, said BTRC officials.The commission last week had set a number of criteria to appoint the experts. To be a member of the panel an applicant must have an LLB degree and no less than seven years of professional experience. 

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Business travel on a roll, good times for airlinesbr /> Domestic air travel rose 11.58 percent last year on the back of countrywide expansion of business activities and poor conditions of roads and railways. In 2012, some 589,108 people travelled nationally by air, up from 2011's 527,950 passengers, according to data from Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh.“Air travel has registered steady growth last year for two reasons: the higher economic growth and the long tailbacks at roads,” said Imran Asif, chief executive of Regent Airways.

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Supply crunch hikes onion pricebr /> Onion prices shot up as much as Tk 9 a kilogram in the city markets due to supply disruption and escalating prices in India, the main import source.Retailers sold onion at Tk 35-45 a kg yesterday, when a week ago it sold at Tk 28-36, according to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.In some stores and markets, onions are selling at Tk 50 a kg, according to data from the Department of Agricultural Marketing.

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Industrial output growth slows on sluggish exports
Growth in industrial production slowed down in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, compared to the same period a year ago, due to sluggish exports and higher interest rate of bank loans.Production of manufactured goods grew 10 percent in July-September of the current fiscal year, down from 13.4 percent during the same period a year ago, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

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Legacy Footwear, three brokers fined for breaching rulesbr /> Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday fined Legacy Footwear Ltd Tk 5 lakh on charges of breaching trading regulations.The regulator also slapped a fine of Tk 1 lakh each on three stockbrokers -- AB Securities Ltd, PHP Stocks and Securities Ltd and GMF Securities Ltd -- for taking part in suspicious trading.GMF was fined for unusual trading in shares of Paramount Insurance Company Ltd and Global Insurance Ltd, BSEC said in a statement on its website.

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Padma Bridge now without WB help
The government has finally opted for starting the construction of the Padma Bridge project without participation of the World Bank as a major co-financier.Economic Relations Division (ERD) of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) through a statement issued to the press on Friday said the government has decided to begin the construction of the bridge over the Padma immediately to fulfill one of its election pledges. In a separate statement to the press on the day, the World Bank (WB) said, the government of Bangladesh (GoB) on Thursday informed the WB that "it is withdrawing its request of World Bank financing for the Padma Bridge". 

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MF profits down in H1 amid stock depression
A prolonged depression in the country’s stock market continued to take its toll on the mutual fund sector as profits of majority of the funds decreased in the first half of the current fiscal year compared with those in the same period of the previous year. According to DSE data, of the 41 listed mutual funds, profits of 22 MFs dropped in July-December, 2012 compared with those in the same period of the previous year.

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Cabinet div aganist new LC station within 50km of existing one
The Cabinet Division on Thursday recommended that the National Board of Revenue should not set up any new land customs station within 50 kilometres of the existing one and close down inactive LC stations.The division, in a letter sent to the NBR on the day, suggested closing down the LC stations which remain ineffective due to geographical or other reasons. The division made the suggestions on a draft policy on setting up LC stations formulated by the revenue board. ‘Initially, the NBR will declare such LC stations inactive and then, one year later, it will shut those down permanently,’ the division said.

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Mixed reaction to Bangladesh Bank monetary policy
Economists and business leaders gave mixed reactions to the central bank's monetary policy statement (MPS) announced Thursday for the second half of the current fiscal saying that less public sector borrowing will help implement the policy properly, reports BSS. The BB announced the Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) for the second half of the current fiscal year (H2 FY13), aiming at curbing inflationary pressures and ensuring sufficient credit flow to productive sector to attain real GDP growth.

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Bangladesh Bank cuts interest rate on Repo
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has slashed its interest rate on repurchase agreement (repo) and reverse repo by 50 basis points. The rate was cut after nearly four years aiming at boosting fresh investment particularly in productive sectors, officials said. The interest rate on repo auction came down to 7.25% from 7.75% while that on reverse repo was re-fixed at 5.25% from 5.75%. The revised interest rates on both repo and reverse repo will come into effect from February 1^st. The BB's latest move indicates that the central bank is going back to its policy of expansionary monetary measures.
 
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New monetary policy to help stabilize stock market’
Stock market stakeholders have hailed the monetary policy, announced by the Bangladesh Bank (BB) Thursday, saying the central bank's supportive measures will help stabilise the market. They said the BB-announced steps will boost cash-flow to private sector that will ultimately support the stock market. According to the monetary policy, the central bank will reduce all repo rates by 50 basis points with an immediate effect. The BB has also revised its monetary programme with a broad money growth target of 17.7% in June 2013 compared to the MPS target of 16.5% in the first half of the FY 13, and a new private sector growth envelope of 18.5% in June 2013 compared to the original programme of 18.0%, the monetary policy reads.
 
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Monetary policy seeks to attain higher GDP growth
We've announced a balanced monetary policy to minimise excessive volatility of the exchange rate," Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Atiur Rahman said. He was releasing the MPS for January-June period of the fiscal 2012-13 (FY13). The BB governor said, the MPS is designed to ensure that the credit flow is sufficient for productive investment. It will support attainment of the government's FY13 real gross domestic product (GDP) growth target. The policy was framed keeping in view the targeted 7.5% average inflation rate for the current fiscal.
 
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Malaysia to undertake RM 2.4 billion property project in Bangladesh
A special purpose vehicle (SPV) comprising two Malaysian companies would be formed to undertake a RM2.4 billion worth development project in Bangladesh, reported The Star Online (Malaysia).
 
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EU may ban import of some perishable items from Bangladesh
The European Union (EU) has threatened to impose a ban on import of a good number of perishable items from Bangladesh, as the local exporters continued shipment of 'paan' (betel leaf), which is contaminated with salmonella bacteria, according to the EU. The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) organised an urgent meeting on January 13 with all stakeholders to avoid the possible embargo by the EU, Bangladesh's largest export destination of all vegetables, fruits and betel leaf. The total export value of these items accounts for more than USD 135 million per year, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB). Local exporters made shipment of betel leaf worth USD 52 million or more than BDT 4.0 billion per year to the EU, the US and the Middle-East countries.
 
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Deal to import 260,000 tonnes of cotton from India likely
Bangladesh is mulling procuring some 260,000 tonnes of cotton from India annually to feed its booming ready-made garment (RMG) sector, officials in Dhaka said Friday."India has agreed to export some 1.5 million bales, each weighing 170 kilogram, and intense interactions are now going ahead between the textile ministries of both the countries in this connection," Ministry of Commerce (MoC) Secretary Mahbub Ahmed told the FE.
 
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Telecom companies contribute BDT 500.0 billion to national exchequer till May 2012
Telecom industry has emerged as the key contributor for socio-economic development of the country as it is generating huge direct and indirect employments and adding a big sum of money to the national exchequer. The mobile operators are also playing a major role to fulfill the government's vision of making the country an ICT one by 2021. The industry's contribution to the government exchequer stood at nearly BDT 500 billion till May 2012.
 
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Panel sits today to find ways to boost stocks
A panel formed by Dhaka Stock Exchange will sit for talks today to find ways to solve the problems surrounding an ailing stockmarket. “The panel will try to find ways to pull the market out of the current bearish trend,” said an official of the Dhaka Stock Exchange. The recommendations will be sent to the regulators for implementation, the official added. Earlier on January 29, the DSE formed an eight-member committee after a series of meetings with various stakeholders to solve the problems identified by the bourse.
 
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India to supply 250 megawatt to Bangladesh’s national grid from July
Bangladesh would start supplying to the national grid 250 megawatts (mw) of electricity from neighbouring India from July next. The secretaries of both the countries were upbeat over installation of the 1,320 mw coal-fired power plant under a joint venture between the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) of India. The power plant will be built at Rampal in Bagerhat district under the supervision of the newly-established India-Bangladesh Friendship Company.
 
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