Exports rise slightly in August

Earnings from merchandise shipments in August increased slightly by 3.80 percent to $4.78 billion, mainly riding on apparel exports as all the other major sectors staged a poor performance last month. Three important sectors, including leather and leather goods, jute and jute goods and home textiles, which earned over $1 billion last fiscal year, staged a very poor performance. Although inflation is going down in the major export destinations in Europe and North American countries, including the US, bank interest rates are still high. The shipment of goods like apparel, footwear and other fashion items will not be robust this year too ahead of Christmas, as consumers are still passing a hard time for the bank interest rates. For instance, China’s exports fell for the third month in a row in July, plunging by 14.5 percent year-on-year in dollar terms. This was the biggest drop since February 2020, when the pandemic began, The Telegraph reported last month. Earnings from merchandise shipments in August last year stood at $4.60 billion, according to data from the state-owned export promotion agency of Bangladesh. In the July-August period, the export grew by 9.12 percent year-on-year to $9.37 billion.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/news/exports-rise-slightly-august-3411181

Bank interest rate spread hits 40-month high

The interest rate spread – the difference between deposit and lending rates – hit a 40-month high of 3.29% last July when the monetary policy was unveiled for the second half of the year, creating a scope for banks to increase their lending rates by more than 1%. Bankers expressed their satisfaction, saying that a spread of at least 3% is required for a bank to cover its running costs comfortably. According to data from the Bangladesh Bank, banks received deposits at an average interest rate of 4.46% in July and lent the funds at 7.75% interest. A higher spread of 4.07% was recorded in March 2020, when the interest rates on deposits and lending were 5.51% and 9.58%, respectively.

Source: https://www.tbsnews.net/economy/banking/bank-interest-rate-spread-hits-40-month-high-694826

 Mr. Shamim Ahmed re-elected as BPGMEA president

Shamim Ahmed has been re-elected as the president of the Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BPGMEA) for a one-year term (2023-2024). BPGMEA election board chairman Abdur Razzaque, accompanied by other members of election board Hafez Harun or Rashid and Abul Khair, announced the results after the election was held at the association’s head office in Paltan yesterday. As per the order of the ministry of commerce, seven new directors were elected to the seven vacant posts of the board of directors of the BPGMEA on September 2.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/news/shamim-re-elected-bpgmea-president-3411086