NBFI borrowers can defer repayments till June

Borrowers of non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) will get a fresh repayment deferral support of three months till June 30 this year. Bangladesh Bank (BB) yesterday said such borrowers who were facing trouble in paying instalments during the Covid-19 pandemic would be eligible.The NBFIs’ clients also enjoyed a loan moratorium facility throughout last year. The central bank extended the loan moratorium facility due to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The NBFIs will not be allowed to impose any penal interest, extra fee, commission or charge. The central bank asked the NBFIs to bring the directive into immediate effect. Borrowers were to start paying the instalments from the second quarter. In March last year, the central bank declared a loan moratorium facility for the banking sector, which stayed in effect throughout last year.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/nbfi-borrowers-can-defer-repayments-till-june-2081009

DSE daily turnover jumps to three-month high

Turnover on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) climbed to three-month high on Tuesday as enthusiastic investors, mostly institutional ones, put fresh stakes on stocks amid eased lockdown worries. Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 12.99 billion on the country’s premier bourse, in a further rise by 86 per cent over previous day’s tally of Tk 6.97 billion. It happens to be the biggest single-day transaction since January 25, this year, when the turnover totaled a record amount of Tk 15.85 billion. However, block trade contributed 31 per cent of the day’s total turnover as some 27 companies worth Tk 4.02 billion came from the block trade. Grameenphone (Tk 1.24 billion), Provati Insurance (Tk 1.27 billion) and United Power (Tk 1.25 billion) dominated the block trade board.SEX, the benchmark index of the DSE, soared 71.86 points or 1.34 per cent to settle at 5,421. DSEX added more than 257 points in the past six consecutive sessions.Most of the sectors posted gain with cement saw the highest return of 4.10 per cent, followed by financial institutions with 2.70 per cent, power 1.90 per cent, engineering 1.50 per cent, pharma 1.40 per cent and banking 0.70 per cent. On the other hand, general insurance sector faced marginal correction of 0.50 per cent after soaring 5.90 per cent in the previous day.The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended higher with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI -soaring 214 points to settle at 15,685 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX rising 130 points to close at 9,463. Of the issues traded, 133 advanced, 76 declined and 28 remained unchanged on the CSE.

Source: https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/stock-corporate/dse-daily-turnover-jumps-to-three-month-high-1618935081

Grameenphone recovering momentum with strong market execution

Grameenphone Ltd reported total revenues of BDT 34.81 billion for the three months of 2021, registering a 3.7 per cent annual de-growth. The company acquired 1.7 million new subscribers during the same period, ending the period with 80.70 million (8 crore 7 lakh) subscribers, a 7.2 per cent year over year growth. 41 .17 million subscribers, or 51.7 per cent of total subscribers, are using internet services. During the first quarter of 2021, Grameenphone Ltd acquired 10.4 MHz spectrum. Capex investment stood at BDT 3.61 billion (excluding license & lease) for network coverage. Grameenphone’s total number of sites stands at 16,852. The company has paid BDT 27.32 billion equaling 78.5 per cent of its total revenues, to the national exchequer in the form of taxes, VAT, duties, fees, 4G license and spectrum assignment in the first three months of 2021.

Source: https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/stock-corporate/grameenphone-recovering-momentum-with-strong-market-execution-1618935238

Nagad reaches 40m users’ landmark

Nagad, the fastest-growing mobile financial service of this kind in the world, has surpassed the 40 million users’ landmark, recently. The digital financial arm of Bangladesh postal department has gone past Tk 4.0 billion mark of the daily transaction. Nagad crossed the landmark of 10 million (one crore) customers just 10 months after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the service on March 26, 2019. It took six months to reach the next 10 million subscribers and another seven months needed to raise the number of users from 20 million to 30 million. It took less than two months to add the last 10 million customers.Thanks to all of the innovative services, the volume of transactions on Nagad has been increasing as expected from the very beginning. It crossed Tk 10 billion mark in January 2020. At one of the events at the time, SajeebWazed Joy, information and communication technology adviser to the Primer, set a target of Tk 2.0 billion in daily transaction volume within the next one year. However, daily transaction volume doubled in December of the same year. The daily transaction crossed Tk 3.0 billion in March, and in one month, it crossed Tk 4.0 billion last week.

Source: https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade-market/nagad-reaches-40m-users-landmark-1618934639