Frozen food exporters demand cut in corporate tax

Exporters of frozen food products, especially shrimp, have demanded that the government reduce corporate tax from 32.5 per cent to 15 per cent in the proposed national budget to help the sector recover from a significant fall in international sales. The demand for frozen shrimp and similar luxury food items has fallen drastically in western countries, Bangladesh’s main export market, due to the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic. Not only did this lead to a decline in shipments but also got international buyers, who were mostly European, to either return or cancel several consignments of frozen food items amounting to Tk 460 crore in value. Traders have been exploring Russia and China as potential export destinations over the past few years but the Covid-19 outbreak has laid waste to consumer demand in both nations.Before the Covid-19 pandemic began, the price for a kilogramme (kg) of shrimp was between $12.50 and $13. Now it is down to $10.50 or $11.0.During June, his peak time for sales, Das ships up to 12 containers of shrimp. This is dThis June however Das can at most expect to ship seven containers due to the 30 per cent fall in demand in western countries. For the last five years, the total value of his shipments ranged between Tk 101 crore and Tk 108 crore annually. At this rate, the company might be able to make a little more than half of his usual export earnings at Tk 70 crore through shrimp and other fish by the end of the year. Typically, Modern Seafood exports about Tk 320 crore-worth shrimp each year. This year however, the company would be happy if it makes half of that. Modern Seafood has already lost Tk 25 crore in order cancellations while the company’s single fish farm in Khulna was badly damaged by last month’s cyclone.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/frozen-food-exporters-demand-cut-corporate-tax-1917949

Telecom Companies in a tight spot

The Covid-19 pandemic is taking a heavy toll on the telecom operators, as they saw a 2 per cent decline in their client base in the past two months, according to data from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). In March, Grameenphone, Teletalk, Banglalink and Robi collectively lost about 12 lakh active connections for voice services but witnessed an increase in internet service usage at the same time. In April, with the sales of new connections having considerably slowed, the situation spiralled out of control with all four carriers losing a total of around 24 lakh and 20 lakh users for voice and internet services respectively.Customers will now have to pay Tk 133.25 to avail services worth Tk 100 due to the tax hike. The number of active connections dropped from 16.53 crore in March to 16.29 crore in April, according to BTRC data published on Friday.In April, the number of active voice connections lost by Grameenphone, Robi, Banglalink and the state-owned Teletalk were 9.7 lakh, 8.7 lakh, 4.9 lakh and 73,000 respectively.Although the carriers have endured a declining trend for active connections for a few months now due to regulatory issues, the combined total number of users slumped drastically from 7.65 crore at the end of January to 7.44 crore as of April. By the end of the month, Robi was left with 4.88 crore active voice service users despite being close to the 5 crore landmark back in March. Meanwhile, the number of customers for Banglalink stands at 3.49crore and Teletalk 48.40 lakh. Similarly, the number of active internet connections declined from 10.33 crore in March to 10.12 crore in April. By the end of April, there were a total of 9.31 crore active mobile internet subscribers, 2,000 WiMAX users and 80.84 lakh broadband service users.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/telcos-tight-spot-1917957

Entire stock trading will be automated: BSEC chief

The trading platform of the stock exchanges is being wholly digitalised and automated by the stock market regulator so that all activities can be run without human assistance, said ShibliRubayatUl Islam, chairman of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission. Settling share trade in the platform currently requires manual intervention.Only 2 per cent of beneficiary owner (BO) accounts registered for online trading, according to DSE data. The tax gap between listed and non-listed companies was suggested to be reduced from 10 per cent to 7.5 per cent in the proposed budget for fiscal year 2020-21. The dispute is over the BTRC’s audit claim of Tk 12,579.95 crore in revenue sharing, taxes and late fees accumulated until December 2014 from the mobile phone operator. The capital market needs a strong bond market to increase its depth, said Ershard Hossain, managing director of City Bank Capital. The bond market can be an easy way out for sustainable long-term financing and a source of revenue in the coming days, but initially some incentives need to be provided to popularise it.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/entire-stock-trading-will-be-automated-bsec-chief-1917941