Bangladesh keen to sign FTA with Malaysia, says finance minister

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday said that Bangladesh is keen to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Malaysia.Kamal came up with the statement during a bilateral meeting with a Malaysian delegation headed by Malaysian Deputy Finance Minister DatoIndearMohaShar Abdullah, in Manila in the Philippines as part of the Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), reports BSS.During the meeting, the finance minister also urged the Malaysian side to expedite the process of signing the FTA, said a finance ministry press release.Welcoming the decision of the Malaysian government for allowing Bangladeshi workers in all sectors of their country, Kamal requested the Malaysian Deputy Finance Minister to recruit more manpower from Bangladesh.Referring to the signing of the MoU between the two countries on the import of LNG from Malaysia, Kamal sought the cooperation of the Malaysian government to import LNG as per the requirement of Bangladesh.Noting that Malaysia is an important country for attracting more FDI for Bangladesh, he said that since September 2022, the total FDI from Malaysia in Bangladesh’s telecom sector reached $788 million.

Source: https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade/bangladesh-keen-to-sign-fta-with-malaysia-says-finance-minister-1664371851

Bangladesh Bank sets cost ceiling for short-term trade finance in forex

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has set the all-in-cost ceiling for short-term permissible trade finance in foreign exchange. “Given the global market trends, it has been decided to set all-in-cost ceiling per annum at SOFR + 3.50 per cent for short-term trade finance in foreign exchange,” said a BB circular on Wednesday. All other applicable instructions in this regard shall remain unchanged, reports BSS citing the circular. 

Source: https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/economy/bangladesh-bank-sets-cost-ceiling-for-short-term-trade-finance-in-forex-1664366601

NFBIs demand withdrawal of cap on deposit interest

The non-bank financial institutions have demanded withdrawal of the 7 per cent interest cap on deposit.They came up with the demand at the first meeting of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s standing committee on non-banking financial institutions, held at the FBCCI office in Dhaka today.As per the instruction given by Bangladesh Bank, NBFIs cannot offer more than 7 per cent interest on deposit, which is lower than the banks offer to their clients, the committee said.Therefore, this circular puts the NBFIs at unfair competition with the banks. The central bank’s loan moratorium facilities are also applicable only on banks and thus these policies are discriminatory to the country’s NBFIs, members of the committee added.

Source: https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/economy/bangladesh-likely-to-get-120b-to-150b-loan-support-from-adb-over-next-five-years-1664287055