Oil price cut to come after PM’s approval: Finance Minister

The government’s plan to cut oil prices in Bangladesh to boost economic growth is awaiting final approval from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said, reports bdnews24.com. “The Prime Minister’s response is expected shortly.” Muhith is currently in Washington to attend the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB). His comments came during a media briefing following his meeting with IMF Deputy Managing Director Mitsuhiro Furusawa at the organisation’s headquarters on Thursday. The low prices of oil on the world market had previously prompted the finance minister to promise cuts in domestic prices, but they did not come to pass.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/04/22/170625

Anti-gastric medicine market expanding fast: Aggregate market share now worth BDT 12.5 billion

High prevalence of gastroenteritis for unhygienic eating habits alongside consumption of spicy foodstuffs, in expert views, is contributing to the expansion of anti-gastric and antiulcer drugs market in Bangladesh. To bank on a robust market of these drugs in terms of sales, the medicine-makers are now using world’s latest molecules to produce anti-ulcerants. And their market share is also growing fast, according to surveys. In such a situation of ailments related to gastrointestinal disorder — some turn out to be fatal in the end — Bangladesh’s six of top ten sold branded drugs are antiulcer and anti-gastric with their aggregate market share of nearly BDT 12.50 billion. The market share is equivalent to nearly 7.0% of the total medicine market of the country, as of last December, according to US-based pharma intelligence IMS Health. The top-ten pharmaceutical products have nearly 10% share of approximately BDT 177.43 billion worth of total pharma market. Even in 2009, only three gastric and ulcer products were among the top-ten products and antibiotic and pain-killer products used to dominate the top-chart products.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/04/22/170627

Exports of non-apparel products on the decline

Export receipts from some non-apparel sectors dropped in July-March mainly because of a gas shortage in the country, volatile economic conditions in the European Union and the effects of Brexit, according to industry people. Some of the sectors that have potential but witnessed poor earnings in the first nine months of the current fiscal year are frozen and live fish, shrimp, petroleum byproducts, finished leather, specialised textiles, ceramics, bicycles, electronics and terry towel. A volatile political and economic situation in major EU countries and Brexit put a negative impact on Bangladesh’s exports, exporters said. Europe accounts for more than 60% of Bangladesh’s total exports and is the largest destination for exporters. Kazi Belayet Hossain, vice-president of Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association, said shrimp prices declined to USD9 a kg from USD12 last year, due to the economic uncertainty in the EU. Another potential sector terry towel experienced negative growth of 12.79% to bring in USD32.59 million in the period. Export of finished leather decreased 4.79% to USD201.05 million, data showed.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/exports-non-apparel-products-the-decline-1394242

NBR moves to unveil BDT 10.0 billion SIM tax dodging

Government’s revenue authority moves to do a fresh scrutiny of SIM tax payments by three mobile-phone multinationals after smelling irregularities involving BDT 10 billion. Officials said the Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) under the Value Added Tax (VAT) wing of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) decided to audit furnished data and payments of SIM- replacement tax by the telecom operators between 2011 and 2015. A committee comprising representatives of all parties concerned has been assigned to the task of checking files of the three mobile kingpins: Garmeephone, Robi and Banglalink. The panel draws representatives of the VAT wing, the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB), Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Communication (BTRC) and the three phone operators. The committee has decided to conduct a random sampling to examine SIM-replacement data by physically inspecting the relevant accounts of the firms. However, AMTOB leaders stood opposed to the decision, claiming that SIM-replacement issue is a sub-judice matter as previous detection by the VAT wing is still pending with the NBR’s appellate tribunal. Official sources in the VAT wing, however, said they had legal backing and valid grounds to investigate the complaint.

Source:
http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/04/23/170709
http://www.newagebd.net/article/14076/nbr-starts-2nd-phase-scrutiny-of-telcos-sim-replacement-data

4G auction after budget: Finance Minister

The auction of the 4G spectrum will take place after the announcement of the national budget for next fiscal year, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said. The minister spoke after a meeting with Sigve Brekke, president and CEO of Telenor Group, which owns the majority stakes in Bangladesh’s largest mobile phone operator Grameenphone. The Telenor Group chief met with Muhith on a courtesy call on the sidelines of the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings at Washington in the US. Since Muhith raised the allegation of frequent call drops in voice services, Brekke informed the minister that the allocated spectrum for Grameenphone had been divided into two parts– voice and data services. There are unused capacities in data services, while there are over capacities in voice services that result in the call drops, Brekke said. If the regulator gave more spectrums, the Telenor or the Grameenphone would not have to set aside something for data and something for voice services. Muhith said the 4G auction was delaying due mainly to disagreement between the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and the operators on spectrum price. The BTRC wants to set a high price for the spectrum while the operators want it to be low, he said. The BTRC has 15 MHz of unsold spectrum in the 2100 band, 10.6 MHz in the 1800 band and some spectrum in the 900 band that was released from Airtel after its merger with Robi.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/4g-auction-after-budget-muhith-1395148

BPC pursues approval for USD 300 million ITFC loan: Objective: oil import for supply without disruption

The petroleum corporation pursues immediate government approval for a fresh USD 300 million loan from the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) to finance fuel import. A senior official of the state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) said the import of crude oil is necessary for uninterrupted fuel supply. The BPC authorities sent a letter to the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources (MoPEMR) recently for taking necessary steps in this regard. Earlier, the Standing Committee on Non-Concessional Loans had given approval for a total of USD700 million in ITFC credits. The tenure of the loan is six months and the rate of interest (mark-up) 3.90% including 0.20 ITFC administrative charge annually, lower by 0.30% from the previous year’s mark-up rate of 4.20%, according to the BPC data.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/04/22/170623

Petrobangla, Summit Group sign deal for 2nd LNG terminal

A company of Summit group will install a Floating Storage and Re-gasification Unit (FSRU) at Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal, reports BSS. The state-owned Petrobangla signed Thursday a deal with Summit Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Terminal Company in this connection. The Summit would set up the floating storage and FSRU terminal at its own cost having 500 million meter standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) capacity, which would go on operation after 18 months. The Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) has signed the Terminal Use Agreement (TUA) and Implementation Agreement (IA) at its conference room.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/04/21/170537

Footwear market expands fast as demand rises

Footwear market is expanding fast riding on the growing demand from a fashion forward middle class. The increasing purchasing capacity and a rising population are also buoying demand for footwear and encouraging brands to rev up efforts to grab a hold of the market, said industry insiders. Md Ruhul Amin Molla, chief executive of Orion Footwear said the per capita consumption of footwear, including leather, is 3-pairs, which was 1.7-pairs five years back. Orion entered the local footwear market two years ago to bank on this growing market that is dominated by small retail outlets across the country. Molla said the local footwear market that was worth BDT 160.0 billion in 2016 is growing 10-15% a year. Some other players said the market size stands at around BDT 70.0 billion to BDT 80.0 billion. The country consumes 300.0 million pairs of footwear annually, he added. “This is a huge sector that is dominated by the informal market,” he said, adding that the brands are expanding their foothold in the domestic market. The organised sector began to secure a growing market share after some export oriented footwear companies started opening outlets a decade ago, said operators. Earlier, Bata Bangladesh was the lone chain retailer. After the entry of Apex in 2006, others such as Bay, Jennys, Zeil’s, Leatherex, and Lotto also approached to win the hearts of consumers.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/footwear-market-expands-fast-demand-rises-1394254

Deep-sea port at Matarbari to meet growing demand

While the Chittagong seaport will continue to play the leading role, a substantial new port capacity will be needed during the seventh five year plan (FYP) and beyond, a senior official at Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) said here Wednesday. The government had considered it necessary in anticipation of the growing demand for port services emerging from growing income and international trade, CPA member (admin and planning) Zafar Alam told a press briefing at the CPA board room, ahead of the 130th anniversary of the port.

Source: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/04/21/67593/Deep-sea-port-at-Matarbari-to-meet-growing-demand

Bangladeshis highest among foreign tourists in India in March

Number of Bangladeshis is the highest among the foreign tourists visited in India during the month of March. Foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India increased by 10.7 per cent with 0.91 million people visiting the country in March as compared to 0.82 million in the corresponding period the last year, the government said. The share of FTAs was highest from Bangladesh (21.31 per cent), followed by the USA (10.39 per cent), the UK (10.30 per cent) and Russia (4.26 per cent). The share from Malaysia stood at 3.41 per cent, while that of Canada was 3.28 per cent, Germany 3.03 per cent, Sri Lanka 2.91 per cent, China 2.83 per cent, France 2.79 per cent and Australia 2.54 per cent.

Source: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/04/21/67626/Bangladeshis-highest-among-foreign-tourists-in-India-in-March

Rice stocks dip at public warehouses

Rice stocks at public warehouses have fallen to 3.59 lakh tonnes, which is the lowest in six years, owing to less than targeted procurement in the last two seasons and increased distribution. Total food grain stocks stood at 5.46 lakh tonnes, the lowest since fiscal 2009-10, according to food ministry data. The low level of stocks has created worries that millers and traders may cash in on the situation by increasing prices of the staple. Rice prices edged up early this month, as large millers and traders banked on the loss of paddy at the haor regions in the country’s northwest.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/rice-stocks-dip-public-warehouses-1395151

Wheat imports poised to rise

Bangladesh’s wheat imports may go up to 57 lakh tonnes in 2016-17 due to record low prices in the international market and comparatively high prices in the local market, said the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently. The country imported 43.66 lakh tonnes of wheat in fiscal 2015-16, according to data from the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit of the food ministry.
The forecast came after import of the grain rose 45 percent year-on-year to 44.75 lakh tonnes in July-March of fiscal 2016-17. The private sector accounted for 94 percent of the total wheat imports during the period, the ministry’s data showed. The USDA said Bangladesh meets 75 percent of its wheat consumption needs through imports, sourcing lower quality wheat from Russia and Ukraine, and higher quality wheat from Canada, Australia and the US. Citing trade sources, it said about 40 percent of wheat imported was sourced from Russia and 30 percent from Ukraine during 2016-17.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/wheat-imports-poised-rise-1395136

Govt to give incentives to job-creating sectors

The government plans to provide special incentives to those involved in the agriculture and export sectors, and businesses that are creating jobs, according to the chairman of the National Board of Revenue. “The new budget will be more business-oriented and some sectors will be given special incentives as per the advice of the prime minister,” said Md Nojibur Rahman. He made the remarks at a workshop on income tax and value added tax organised by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) at its auditorium in the capital. The new VAT law will be implemented from July 1, said Rahman. “It is a law of high quality and there is scope to provide incentives to businessmen. The new VAT system is mostly online-based,” he added. He said the revenue authority would introduce a mobile app to facilitate instant VAT payment through mobile phones. “We are in talks with Grameenphone to introduce a secure channel for the VAT payment through mobile phones.” The DCCI demanded a cut in the VAT rate to 7 percent from the 15 percent uniform rate planned by the finance minister.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/govt-give-incentives-job-creating-sectors-1395139

Edison Group plans big

Edison, the parent company of mobile handset brand Symphony, hopes to invest a few hundred crore taka in different sectors of the Bangladeshi economy in the next eighteen months, ranging from e-commerce to electrical appliances, says its top executive. “Our target is to increase our presence in many consumer segments,” says the group’s Managing Director Jakaria Shahid. “We aim to have a substantial larger footprint in Bangladesh within a few years.” According to its website, the group’s annual turnover stood at $298 million in 2014, with growth of 21 percent over the previous year. In 2014, the group employed more than 1,000 people.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/edison-group-plans-big-1395145

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