Tax receipts rise 18pc on political calm

Tax receipts rose 18 percent year-on-year to Tk 49,874.68 crore in July-October, spurred by taxmen’s efforts, political stability and increased imports. Tax collection soared 20 percent to Tk 13,439 crore in October from the same month last year, according to data compiled by Bangladesh Bank that cited preliminary statistics from the National Board of Revenue. The NBR is yet to release its latest collection data. “We had a healthy beginning. Various indicators of the economy advanced positively. A reflection of that will be seen in all areas,” said NBR Chairman Md Nojibur Rahman, citing economic growth at over 7 percent last fiscal year. Rahman expects growth will be faster at the end of the fiscal year.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/tax-receipts-rise-18pc-political-calm-1329334

Mandatory e-export process from December 26

The National Board of Revenue is going to make the electronic export mechanism, also known as e-EXP, mandatory for all exporters from December 26. Under the system, customs officials will check the authenticity of the export permit form (EXP) issued by banks in favor of exporters with information provided in the bill of export through its automated Asycuda World System. Customs officials will not process the bill of export if the exporters do not provide EXP information in the bill of export, said an order issued by the NBR on December 7. Officials said that the NBR took the initiative to make the export system fully automated and check the incidences of fake export by using fake EXP. Under the e-EXP mechanism, Bangladesh Bank will directly upload the EXP issued by commercial banks in favor of exporters for every export consignment on the online system of the revenue board, Asycuda World System. According to the order, the NBR has introduced Asycuda World System at the customs houses as part of making customs procedures automated. Under the system, export- and import-related data are checked online for customs purpose. The BB has already started real-time upload of EXP on the NBR system, it said. Officials said that the customs offices would complete pilot programme of e-EXP activities by December 26 for mandatory use of e-EXP system. They said that under the system exporters would have to include 6-digit EXP number and date of EXP issuance in the electronic bill of export for synchronisation in the Asycuda World System. Asycuda World System will detect the mismatch, if there is any, in the EXP or bill of export, they said. They said that there were many cases of use of fake EXP by dishonest businesses, which they (businesses) did for laundering money, whitening black money and receiving cash incentives from the government.

Source: http://www.newagebd.net/article/4770/mandatory-e-export-process-from-dec-26

BPC has to use profit to repay debt to govt

Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) ought to deposit its profit to government exchequer as ‘repayment of loan’ until a debt burden of Tk 263 billion is defrayed, according to an official order. The ministry of finance (MoF) issued a letter to the BPC through the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) last week to this effect.A senior MoF official told the FE that the step was taken as the state-run petroleum corporation had ‘ignored’ its previous instructions for providing Tk 30 billion as a prerequisite for according state guarantee for ITFC credits.

Source: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2016/12/13/56131/BPC-has-to-use-profit-to-repay-debt-to-govt

Petrobangla to get Tk 10b govt loan to settle NBR debt

The government is packaging a Tk 10 billion conditional loan for Petrobangla to pay part of its huge VAT and SD debts to the national exchequer, officials said. By official count, the state corporation owes some Tk 223.58 billion to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) on account of unpaid VAT (value-added tax) and SD (supplementary duty) for a period between the fiscal year 2009-10 and January 2015. But the loan will be given for paying SD-VAT arrears to the central tax authority for February-October period of this calendar year, they said.

Source: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2016/12/12/56125/Petrobangla-to-get-Tk-10b-govt-loan-to-settle-NBR-debt

Gas price to go up from Jan 1

The government has backtracked on its decision to cut prices of fuel oils now while it has given consent to raise prices of natural gas with effect from January 1, said officials. State minister for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid told New Age on Monday that the government would not reduce the prices of fuel oils in near future as the prices in the international market had increased. Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission chairman Md Maksudul Haque said that the commission would announce the increased prices of natural gas in December with effect from January 1. ‘We have received the government’s nod in this regard,’ he said. ‘The decision of hiking gas prices could be avoided had the government exempted Petrobangla from paying the taxes of international oil companies in Bangladesh,’ Maksud said. The salaries and allowances of the government officials had been increased raising the cost of gas sup plies, he added. The energy commission last time raised the prices of natural gas by 26.29 per cent on an average at consumer level with effect from September 1, 2015.

Source: http://www.newagebd.net/article/4746/gas-price-to-go-up-from-jan-1

BTRC likely to launch QoS drive on telecom operators early next year

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission is planning to launch a drive against mobile phone operators’ quality of service early next year after the poor service quality issue came up in a recent public hearing. The commission is currently working on the outcome of the public hearing held by the BTRC in the capital Dhaka on November 22 to know the subscribers’ opinion on the matter, telecom regulator officials said. The telecom regulator started a QoS drive in September last year to cover 100 spots under 45 upazilas of 15 districts following a trend of increasing call drop, poor network coverage and unsatisfactory customer care support. The BTRC also conducted an in-depth customer experience survey along with the drive but the results of the drive were never made public. The commission, however, supposed to publish a ranking of the mobile phone companies as per commission’s QoS directive. A recent BTRC data showed that in May-October period the commission received 2,187 complaints from the subscribers only about the service quality of the six mobile operators — Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi, Airtel, Citycell and state-run Teletalk. The total number of complaints during the time was 7,561 in 10 other categories where quality of service was the topper. The quality of service or QoS is related to call drops, network coverage and network congestions and response time to subscribers, BTRC officials said. The mobile phone subscribers in the public hearing blasted the country’s mobile phone companies for poor service quality, deficient network coverage and annoying telemarketing.

Source: http://www.newagebd.net/article/4773/btrc-likely-to-launch-qos-drive-on-telcos-early-next-year#sthash.XGQSebyh.dpuf

Grameenphone’s sponsorship deals breached internal guidelines

Grameenphone broke with its internal guidelines in 11 of 250 sponsorship agreements, including one with the police, the mobile operator’s parent company Telenor said in a statement Tuesday after an internal audit. The first time Telenor’s internal audit uncovered unacceptable sponsorships at Grameenphone was in 2013. The most serious breach was the sponsorship of a sports tournament. Meanwhile, a Grameenphone spokesperson later in the day told The Daily Star “some deviation in the sponsorship approval process were uncovered during regular internal audits and have been fully addressed by the relevant internal functions within both Grameenphone and Telenor.” “We are confident that the measures taken as a result of these findings will strengthen our internal processes while ensuring event stricter adherence to Grameenphone’s policies,” he said. The case was reported to Sigve Brekke, who at that time was head of Asia and chair of Grameenphone’s Board of Directors. The company initiated several measures, including a review of the sponsorship guidelines and the establishment of a sponsorship committee to approve all agreements. In 2016, Telenor Group Internal Audit conducted a compliance review of the new guidelines and uncovered a new set of unacceptable sponsorships. The agreements included sponsorships of sports tournaments, Bangladesh police’s jubilee celebrations, the refurbishment of their canteen as well as financial support to a phone book publication for the police, according to the statement.

Source:
http://www.thedailystar.net/business/gps-sponsorship-deals-breached-internal-guidelines-audit-1329505
http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2016/12/13/telenor-grameenphone-sponsorships-breached-internal-guidelines/

Coca-Cola’s Kinley hits Bangladesh drinking water market

US-based Coca-Cola, a multinational soft drinks maker, on Monday launched Kinley, its packaged drinking water brand, in Bangladesh. Kinley is a water brand available in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and it is now being launched in Bangladesh, a Coca-Cola news release said on Monday. Kinley’s distribution will start in Dhaka, and gradually roll out through the country. A 500 milliliter bottle of Kinley will be retailed at BDT 15, the release said. Coca-Cola Bangladesh managing director Shadab Khan said, ‘Kinley is a brand trusted around the region, and we are excited to bring it to the consumers in Bangladesh.’ ‘Our internal research has indicated that packaged drinking water in Bangladesh is a fast growing category and today is considered the second largest in the Non-Alcoholic Ready to drink beverage category in Bangladesh after sparkling products,’ he said. Another multinational company, PepsiCo, has already been retailing its water brand Aquafina in Bangladesh. Apart from Aquafina, a number of local brands of water are also available in the country. The local brands, among others, include MUM of Partex Group, Fresh of Meghna Group, Pran of Pran RFL Group and Jibon of City Group, Acme of ACME Laboratories and Shanti of Water Supply and Sewerage Authority.

Source:
http://www.newagebd.net/article/4776/coca-colas-kinley-hits-bdesh-drinking-water-market#sthash.D4hIKa8J.dpuf
http://www.thedailystar.net/business/coca-colas-kinley-drinking-water-launched-1329301

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