TT-Clean: 77.1 | TK BC-Selling: 78.1
TK OD-Sight: 76.88 TK | TC-Selling: 78.1 TK
TT-Clean: 77.1 | TK BC-Selling: 78.1
TK OD-Sight: 76.88 TK | TC-Selling: 78.1 TK
TT-Clean: 77.1 | TK BC-Selling: 78.1
TK OD-Sight: 76.88 TK | TC-Selling: 78.1 TK
Rate last updated: 02/01/2014 11:15:04 AM
The total investment in the country’s Islamic banking sector jumped 19% at the end of December 2017, over the same period of the previous year (2016). Statistics release by the central bank showed that total investments by the Islamic banking sector stood at BDT 2011.0 billion at the end of December 2017, which was BDT 1689.6 billion in the same period of 2016. Islamic banking sector includes eight full-fledge Islamic banks, 19 Islamic banking branches of nine conventional banks and 25 Islamic banking windows of conventional banks in the country. The central bank data also revealed that investment in the trade and business sector was the highest among all the sectors. The ratio stood at around 29% at the end of December 2017. The next two positions were occupied by MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) which stood at 27.5% and 25.3% by the industrial sector.
Foreign direct investment in the country declined by 13.5% to USD 2.0 billion in 2017 from USD 2.3 billion a year ago, showed Bangladesh Bank provisional data. According to the World Investment Report 2016 of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the net FDI inflow in Bangladesh was USD 2.3 billion in 2016. The BB, however, recently trimmed the net FDI inflow figure to USD 1.9 billion for 2016 after it revised the amount down for the July-December period of 2016. According to the latest monthly balance of payment statistics of the central bank, the net FDI was USD 1,013 million in July-December of 2016, down from USD 1.467.7 million declared initially in various documents including time series data and those which were provided to the UNCTAD. BB (Bangladesh Bank) officials said that some companies incurred losses in business, which contributed to the downward revision. Stagnation in domestic private investment and slow progress in business environment are the major reasons for the decreased FDI in the country. According to the BB data, the share of FDI in the form of equity capital is only around one-fourth of the total inflows. The major part of the remaining FDI is mostly in the form of reinvested earnings while a small portion comes as intra-company loans, the data showed. According to a government estimate, the country needs to attract an average annual FDI of USD 6.7 billion to graduate to the upper middle-income status by 2021.
Source: http://www.newagebd.net/article/35271/fdi-drops-to-202b-in-2017
Banks are not taking proper initiatives to boost online transactions by way of cards, said e-commerce entrepreneurs yesterday. At present, the e-commerce industry’s total transactions amount to Tk 1,700 crore a year and of the sum only Tk 400 crore were made through the digital payment system, they said at a roundtable on the third day of the BASIS SoftExpo 2018. Typically, customers, out of habit, pay with cash if they do not get any offer for making payments online, said Zia Ashraf, chief executive officer of Chaldal.com, the leading online grocery seller. Security is a big concern for e-commerce vendors when customers opt for cash-on-delivery. “And banks are not interested in doing anything to change the status quo — it is only our duty.” Ashraf went on to thank the mobile financial service providers for extending offers to customers for making payments through their platform. “Banks are more interested in spending on traditional businesses rather than looking into the future,” said AKM Fahim Mashroor, founder of ajkerdeal.com, one of the leading e-commerce sites in the country. The central bank echoed the same as Mashroor about the banks’ outdated way of thinking. “Most banks are not willing to adopt modern technologies and products,” said Lila Rashid, general manager of the Bangladesh Bank’s payment systems department. It will take a few years to change the scenario of digital payments in Bangladesh, she said. “We offered interoperability on internet banking last November with six banks and three have not made any transaction over the last couple of months,” said Rashid. She also asked banks to place proposals before the central bank if needed and they will seriously consider it for the sake of the country’s digitisation. “It is very unfortunate that the total card number in Bangladesh is about one crore only and the number is not increasing,” said Syed Mohammad Kamal, country manager of Mastercard. Of the total online transactions, 90 percent is happening through the MFS operators, said Ashish Chakraborty, chief operation officer of Software Shop Limited. SM Mainuddin Chowdhury, additional managing director of Southeast Bank, said there are huge issues in issuing a card. The average ticket size of e-commerce purchases is another issue, he said.
Sonali Bank’s classified credits bloated to Tk 137.98 billion in 2017 with its recovery drive dropping to 8.0 per cent as the defaulters allegedly duped the bankers. Sources in the biggest bank of Bangladesh said its loan-recovery rate had been on a fast decline, year on year, at least over the last five years since 2013 as the bad borrowers took recourse to various ploys. The repayment rates have fluctuated sharply between 50 per cent and 8.0 per cent in the five years to the last calendar year, according to official statistics prepared by the state-owned commercial bank — Sonali Bank Limited — which also witnessed a big loan forgery. People at the bank told the FE in the past week that the recovery rate had been dwindling getting caught in long litigation processes as well as dilatory moves by the debtors. They said the default clients submit notices to the courts seeking to go for “mutual arbitration” but, in the end, they backtrack and deprive the bank of getting its money back.
The government is set to exempt banking companies from the purview of Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 as the bankers do not want to be treated as ‘workers’ as they perform white-collar jobs, sources said. Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division has recently approved a proposal, put forward by Financial Institutions Division in this regard, and found ‘the proposal as rational’. However, legislative division suggested that the Ministry of Labour and Employment take steps for amending the section concerned of the labour law to grant banking companies the required exemption. Chapter XV of Bangladesh Labour Act contains the provision of establishment of a Workers’ Participation Fund and a Workers’ Welfare Fund. The companies are bound to pay 5.0 per cent of its net profits accrued in the previous year. While amending Labour Act-2006 in 2013, the government included banking companies in the list of areas where Chapter XV will be applicable. Since then, bank owners and employees have been requesting the government to exempt the sector from the labour law. Bank owners were of the opinion that all the scheduled banks are operating in the country as per Banking Companies Act (BCA) where labour law should not be applicable. They observed that providing 5.0 per cent of net profits of the banks to the workers’ welfare fund, as mentioned in the labour act, will result in profitability drop, depletion of banks’ capital base, decrease in share prices and possible negative impact on the capital market.
Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday submitted strategic partnership proposals from both China and India to the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission for its approval. The stock exchange regulator will give its consent after evaluating the both proposals, said a senior BSEC official. DSE has prepared an evaluation paper on both the investment proposals. A consortium of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange offered to buy 25 percent or 45 crore shares of DSE at Tk 22 each. Another consortium of the National Stock Exchange of India, Frontier Bangladesh and Nasdaq offered to buy the same number of shares for Tk 15 each. According to the evaluation paper, the Chinese party wanted to come with long-term investment without any strings attached, whereas the Indian consortium offered to invest on the condition that it will make its exit after five years.
Source:http://www.thedailystar.net/business/dse-forwards-both-proposals-regulator-1538872
Pubali Bank Limited has recently signed an agreement with Bangladesh Bank (BB), said a statement. Under the agreement, Pubali Bank will be able to utilise Two-Step Loan fund for its customers, provided by Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA). Md Abdul Halim Chowdhury, Managing Director and CEO of Pubali Bank Limited, and Md Rezaul Islam, General Manager of Bangladesh Bank, signed the agreement. Governor of Bangladesh Bank Fazle Kabir, Chief Representative of JICA Bangladesh Office Takatoshi Nishikata, Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank Abu Hena Mohd. Razee Hassan and Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank Ahmed Jamal were present on the occasion.
The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Trade Finance Program (TFP) and Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) on Thursday signed an agreement to provide $10 million in loans annually to support trade in Bangladesh. ADB’s TFP has been operating in Bangladesh since 2004 and currently works with 13 local partner banks. To date, the program has conducted 1,983 transactions, supporting almost $3.1 billion in trade in Bangladesh and benefiting 966 SMEs in a wide range of sectors including food and agricultural goods, commodities and industrial machineries, and capital goods. “We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with Dutch-Bangla by signing this revolving credit facility,” said Santosh Pokharel, TFP’s Relationship Manager for Bangladesh, according to an ADB press release. “The agreement provides additional funding for DBBL to support trade and we anticipate that many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will benefit,” added Santosh. CEO of DBBL Abul Kashem Md. Shirin said, “DBBL has been a partner bank of TFP since 2009 and we are grateful for ADB’s continued trust and assistance in promoting trade development in Bangladesh”.
Source: http://www.theindependentbd.com/post/138710
Adil Raihan, Deputy Managing Director & CSBO of Mercantile Bank Limited and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Chairman (Acting) of The Co-operative Credit Union League of Bangladesh (CCULB) recently signed an agreement at the Head Office of the Bank. Under this agreement, CCULB will work as the national distributor of ‘MYCash’, the mobile financial services of Mercantile Bank Limited.
Source: http://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/public/stock-corporate/news-briefs-21-02-2018-1519143816
IPDC Finance Limited has recently signed an agreement with AAA Finance and Investment Limited for rights issue of shares management at the head office of IPDC Finance Limited. Mominul Islam, Managing Director & CEO of IPDC Finance Limited and Mohammad Obaydur Rahman, FCS, Managing Director, AAA Finance and Investment Limited inked the deal on behalf of their respective companies. Under the agreement, AAA Finance and Investment Limited will work as the ‘Manager to the Issue’ in rights share issuance of IPDC Finance Limited.
Mr. Md. Asaduzzaman Khan has recently been appointed as Managing Director and CEO of National Credit Ratings Limited (NCR), a leading credit rating company of Bangladesh, said a statement. He has replaced Mr. Md. Momin Ullah Patwari, BP, a former secretary to the Government and former Managing Director and CEO of NCR, who shall now act as Advisor to the company. Before joining NCR, Mr. Khan served Industrial and Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IIDFC) Limited as Managing Director since 2008. Before that, he served the Bangladesh Bank, the Central Bank of the Country for 32 years in different capacities, lastly as Executive Director.
Source: http://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/stock-corporate/ncr-gets-new-md-ceo-1519485234
The government is set to take up a BDT 6.3 billion project for much-needed upgrade of the insurance regulator with the view to developing Bangladesh’s insurance sector. Of the total project cost, the World Bank will provide BDT 5.13 billion. At present, there are 78 insurance companies and the project has been taken for better monitoring of the companies to ensure better service for clients. Of the project cost, BDT 910 million would go towards building the IT infrastructure, BDT 790 million for automation, and about BDT 90 million for setting up distance learning center and implementation of the interactive portal of the IDRA. The second component of the project is modernization of the state-owned Sadharan Bima and Jiban Bima Corporation. A big amount, BDT 840 million, has been earmarked for consultancy fees under the project and about BDT 510 million for training about 45,000 people.
Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/insurance-regulator-get-BDT-632cr-upgrade-1539733
Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday submitted strategic partnership proposals from both China and India to the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission for its approval. The stock exchange regulator will give its consent after evaluating the both proposals, said a senior BSEC official. DSE has prepared an evaluation paper on both the investment proposals. A consortium of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange offered to buy 25 percent or 45 crore shares of DSE at Tk 22 each. Another consortium of the National Stock Exchange of India, Frontier Bangladesh and Nasdaq offered to buy the same number of shares for Tk 15 each. According to the evaluation paper, the Chinese party wanted to come with long-term investment without any strings attached, whereas the Indian consortium offered to invest on the condition that it will make its exit after five years.
Source:
http://www.thedailystar.net/business/dse-forwards-both-proposals-regulator-1538872
http://www.newagebd.net/article/35272/dse-seeks-bsec-nod-to-pick-chinese-consortium
http://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/public/last-page/bsec-forms-appraisal-body-as-dse-submits-proposal-1519321675
A business incubator will select 25 small and growing enterprises of the country to provide them with advice and technical support to help set up environment-friendly industrial units. Commercially viable businesses having five to 200 employees and seeking money to go beyond their current geographic, demographic or business boundaries will be accepted for ScaleUp Bangladesh, a 12-month investment readiness accelerator programme. International Finance Corporation (IFC) will be the programme’s key partner along with Grameenphone, British Council, India-based venture capital firm Aavishkaar Venture Management Service, Netherland-based PUM.NL and Climate Business Network Support. The incubator, BetterStories Ltd, states to be concerned with smart technology, strategic consulting and startup ecosystem, aiming to create at least 1,000 leaders by 2021 through green, ethical and responsible businesses. Finance Minister AMA Muhith inaugurated the initiative in the capital’s Brac Centre Inn yesterday.
Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/25-new-ventures-get-boost-1538878
Bangladesh’s budgeting process is least transparent in South Asia as the system lacks sufficient public participation or oversight, says a survey that attributed the lapses to institutional shortcomings. The survey on budget transparency across the world noted that, since 2015, Bangladesh had decreased the availability of budget information by “failing to publish the In-Year Reports online in a timely manner and also by failing to produce the Citizens Budget.” An independent agency styled ‘International Budget Partnership’ has conducted the global survey on budgeting practices in countries and come up with such observations on Bangladesh situation on the basis of scores. Moreover, IBP said in its latest ‘Open Budget Index 2017’, Bangladesh also couldn’t make progress in budget transparency for not making the pre-budget statement available to the public and not producing an audit report. Such deficiencies mean that Bangladesh’s score in budget transparency has decreased drastically — from 56 in 2015 OBI to 41 in the latest 2017 OBI.
The country’s leading trade bodies have requested the government to eliminate multiple layers of taxes or double taxation on dividend to facilitate capital flow for investment and encourage private investment. Dividend income should be taxed only once at a time when it is distributed to individual shareholders, they said in separate letters recently sent to finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith. They also demanded amendment of the income tax law to include a provision so that the corporate entities are not taxed for dividends that they receive from another corporate entity in the same group. The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry and some other trade bodies made the request through the letters. They also forwarded the letter to Prime Minister’s Office, the National Board of Revenue and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority.
Source: http://www.newagebd.net/article/35407/trade-bodies-want-elimination-of-double-taxation-on-dividend
A dispute between two companies over who would act as the local agent for Far Shipping, a Singaporean shipping company, has left many importers in a state of suspense over the delivery of their goods at the Chittagong Port. Sea Marine Shipping Lines, a subsidiary of SHR Group, had been acting as the local agent of Far Shipping since 2014 but the contract expired on January 31. Far Shipping then appointed Marco Shipping, a concern of Karnaphuli Group, as its local agent. But for formal handover, a joint declaration letter needed to be signed by both the local agencies, which Sea Marine Line has refused to do so. The Chittagong Customs House has sent letters to both the agencies to sit down in a meeting to come up with a solution, according to its deputy commissioner Abdur Rashid Miah. But Sea Marine has refused to do that either. Golam Moinuddin, director of marketing of Sea Marine Line, said Far Shipping has dues. “Without clearing our dues, Far Shipping cannot assign any other local agent — it is not legal.” The deadlock has left five vessels of Far Shipping Lines waiting for 5-18 days to get berth at the Chittagong Port, which is longer than the average wait time of 3-4 days.
Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/importers-suffer-agents-dispute-1539730
Cost of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project has more than doubled due to an increase in budgets for its all components, sources said. They said Roads and Highways Department (RHD), leading implementing agency of the project, has already revised the development project proposal (DPP), showing a significant increase in costs from consultancy to procurement stages. “Cost of some components such as salary for the project staff and land acquisition etc has increased more than double,” said a source. For this, he said, revision of the project titled “Greater Dhaka Sustainable Urban Transport (GDSUT)” has been necessary within three years after the first revision in July 2015. According to the latest revision, the total cost of the project has been fixed at Tk 44.41 billion, up by Tk 24.04 billion from earlier DPP. The first revised DPP fixed the project cost at Tk 20.39 billion with the completion target by December 2018. Now the tenure of the project has been extended to June 2020. In the original DPP approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in 2012, the project was scheduled to be completed by December 2016.
Source: http://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/last-page/brt-project-cost-doubles-1519490562
Franglobal, an Indian franchise consultancy firm, intends to bring more than 50 brands to Bangladesh within the next two years along with investment of $39 million and 2,500 new jobs, as the country’s solid economic growth continues to attract global attention. For that end, the company yesterday organised a daylong exposition, which was attended by more than 50 brands from 12 countries, including the US, the UK, Italy, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and India. The exposition was FranGlobal’s first official event in the country after setting up shop here. Speaking at the event, Gaurav Marya, chairman of FranGlobal, said foreign franchisees in Bangladesh are doing very well. “So, we believe this is the opportune time for FranGlobal to enter the Bangladesh market — we are positive about the country.” Bangladesh holds tremendous growth potential to global brands as there is a huge local market. Every third dollar is spent on a franchise in the US, he said. “The same will happen in Bangladesh and it is going to happen very fast.” Marya conducted a session where he discussed the best ways to expand business through franchising and partnering with global brands.
Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/franchise-business-has-great-prospect-bangladesh-1539718
Robi, Bangladesh’s second largest mobile operator, failed to register profit for the second straight year, counting net losses of Tk 280 crore in 2017 despite favourable growth in subscriber base and revenue. The mobile operator had incurred losses of Tk 389 crore in 2016. Robi logged in Tk 6,830 crore as revenue for 2017, up 29.7 percent from a year earlier, driven by its merger with Airtel. Its subscriber base expanded 26.8 percent to hit 4.29 crore at the end of last year, which is 29.6 percent of the market, according to the operator. “Despite encouraging growth in terms of both subscriber and revenue, Robi was unable to register any profit in 2017,” said the operator in a statement yesterday. The operator went on to blame the intense competition around pricing for both data and voice and the “exorbitantly” high taxation regime for its dismal performance in 2017. “With 4G and mobile number portability coming up, we are confident that we can provide significantly better customer experience in terms of data speed and stronger network to our subscribers,” said Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, managing director and chief executive of Robi.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has decided in principle to lower further the minimum 4G internet speed to 7 megabytes per second (Mbps) under pressure from the mobile phone operators. Although the commission earlier decided that the minimum 4G downloading speed would be set at 20Mbps, much lower than what it had planned initially (100Mbps), there was no specification of 4G speed in the draft guidelines. Earlier, on January 1 this year, the commission published the draft QoS regulations, which would be applicable for all access network operators, for public consultation. Although the services are at the very initial stage with the mobile phone operators expanding the network coverage, early users of 4G services have already experienced poor speed in some areas inside Dhaka. Grameenphone served 2.0 million people with one megahertz of spectrum, Banglalink served 1.6 million and Robi served 1.2 million people with the same amount of spectrum. While, Malaysian Celcom Axiata served only 0.2 million people with a megahertz of spectrum, another operator of the country Maxis served two lakh people with one megahertz of spectrum. In Germany, Vodafone served only 0.2 million people or subscribers with a megahertz of spectrum.
Source: http://www.newagebd.net/article/35337/minimum-4g-speed-to-be-lowered-further-to-7mbps
Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday said he will seriously reconsider the existing 15 percent VAT on internet usage in the upcoming budget — a longstanding demand of the industry as it would give digitisation a boost. “I promise to seriously consider the issue in the next budget as it will be the last budget of my career,” Muhith said at the inauguration of the BASIS SoftExpo 2018 held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre. Muhith’s comment came in response to ICT Minister Mustafa Jabbar’s request to withdraw the value-added tax. The country might lose out on Tk 100 crore but it will gain Tk 1,000 crore if VAT upon internet usage is lessened, Jabbar said. “Therefore, as a minister myself, I request the finance minister to consider the amount of VAT on internet usages,” he added. Affordability is a very big concern when it comes to internet usage in Bangladesh and withdrawing or reducing VAT is very important, said TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh. “This is a wonderful decision and this decision will push the economic development,” he added. Withdrawal of VAT or even cuts in the rate will reduce costs for end users, said MA Hakim, president of the Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh. “We are welcoming this decision,” he said, while requesting the government to revisit the revenue-sharing structure as well.
Source: http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2018/02/20/trade-drops-benapole-revenue-income/
Nepal, an import dependent neighbor, has emerged as a potential export destination for Bangladeshi products especially pharmaceuticals, consumers goods and electronics items. According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, exports to Nepal stood at USD 47.4 million in FY2016-17, up by 165%, from the last fiscal, which was USD 17.88 million. On the other hand, import from Nepal is nearly USD 10 million in the same period. According to data from the Nepal Ministry of Commerce, despite being a close neighbor Bangladesh was the 22nd largest source of imports for the country in 2017, far behind countries like South Africa and Australia. Bangladesh currently exports vegetables, fruits, electrical and electronic equipment, motorcycle, beverages, woven and knit garments, plastics goods, pharmaceuticals, furniture, juice and other consumer goods. In 2017, Nepal spent the most on imports of fuel oil, coal, construction material, mobile phones, motorcycles, rice, corn, cooking oil, gold and silver. To meet local demands, Nepal depends largely on imports. India is now dominating the Nepali market. But since Nepal is looking for alternatives to replace Indian goods, Bangladesh has an enormous opportunity to grow. In the last fiscal, Bangladesh earned USD 193,231 from the export of furniture and lighting. There is huge opportunity for Bangladesh to export medicine to Nepal as the doctors especially those who study in Bangladeshi medical colleges prescribe Bangladeshi products. In the last fiscal year, Bangladesh earned USD 2.2 million exporting pharmaceutical products, which shows a rapid growth. An importer of electronics products said they have to pay higher import duty, which is a challenge for expanding market share. She urged governments of both countries to make import easier by reducing import duty and non-tariff barriers. The Bangladesh’s ambassador to Nepal said Bangladeshi products are very price-competitive in Nepal and exporters can take the advantage to grab market share. But, the consumers are not familiar with the products. So, the exporters along with the local partners have to take steps to brand Bangladesh products, he added. On the challenges, there is higher tax in importing some of the goods.
Source: http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2018/02/25/nepals-growing-market-bangladeshi-goods/
| Index Name | Close Value | Value Change | Percentage Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| DSEX | 5,906.98 | ↓2.05 | ↓0.03% |
| DJIA | 25,309.99 | ↑347.51 | ↑1.39% |
| FTSE100 | 7,244.41 | ↓7.98 | ↓0.11% |
| Nikkei 225 | 21,892.78 | ↑156.34 | ↑0.72% |
| Commodity | Close Value | Value Change | Percentage Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crude Oil (WTI) | $ 63.55 | ↑0.78 | ↑1.24% |
| Crude Oil (Brent) | $ 67.31 | ↑0.92 | ↑1.39% |
| Gold Spot | $ 1,328.70 | ↓3.35 | ↓0.25% |
| Exchange Rates | |
|---|---|
| USD 1 | BDT 83.06 |
| GBP 1 | BDT 116.04 |
| EUR 1 | BDT 102.12 |
| INR 1 | BDT 1.28 |
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