Govt has a new headache. It’s the high interest rates on T-bills and bonds

The interest rate on government Treasury bills and bonds, the main instruments for bank borrowing, doubled in the last one year — a development that will fuel budgetary expenditure and may discourage private sector credit, both of which are already sources of concern. Yields on Treasury bills and bonds have increased by 3 to 5 percentage points in the last year and a half. They now range between 7 to 9 per cent depending on the tenor of the instrument, according to central bank statistics. For one-year Treasury bill, the weighted average interest rate was 3.40 per cent in December 2018. A year later it was 8.04 per cent. The two-year Bangladesh Government Treasury Bond, another borrowing instrument, had interest rate of 4.33 per cent in December 2018, which soared to 8.80 per cent. The high interest rate of Treasury bills and bonds tempted banks to be conducive towards the government’s huge bank borrowing demand. In the first half of the fiscal year, the government’s domestic borrowing reached Tk 49,020 crore, which is 63 per cent of the full-year target. The government set a target to borrow Tk 77,363 crore from domestic sources in fiscal 2019-20 to meet the budget deficit. Net borrowing from savings instruments in the first half of fiscal 2019-20 was eight times lower at Tk 3,257 crore from a year earlier, according to data from the Bangladesh Bank. In December last year, the government did not borrow any money from savings certificate; rather it made repayment of Tk 408 crore. The amount of such liquidity increased to Tk 106,101 crore in December last year from Tk 67,601 crore at the beginning of 2019. In the first six months of the fiscal year, the government’s bank borrowing increased eight times to Tk 43,587 crore, according to central bank statistics.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/govt-has-new-headache-its-the-high-interest-rates-t-bills-and-bonds-1865407

Second satellite to be launched by 2023

The government is going to take action plan to set a target for launching the second satellite of Bangladesh, said Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mostafa Jabbar. The government is going to set a target for launching a second satellite to the orbit by 2023,” he told the House while responding to a starred question made by Anwar Hossen Khan of Lakshmipur-1 constituency. On May 11, 2018, Bangabandhu Satellite-1, the first geostationary communications satellite of Bangladesh, was launched from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, USA. Thales Alenia Space, a French company, designed and built the satellite, which already underwent several test runs. Falcon-9, a brand new rocket, carried the satellite into the orbit. For Bangladesh, this has potentials to bring a new chapter in terms of technological advancement. The satellite will bring uninterrupted telecommunication system in Bangladesh.

Source: https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/stock-corporate/second-satellite-to-be-launched-by-2023-1581176322

BD achieves unprecedented success in all sectors

Bangladesh witnessed unprecedented successes in all sectors under her leadership to transform the country into a developed nation by 2041, they said while taking part in the discussion on the thanksgiving motion on the President’s address to the Jatiya Sangsad. Referring to the country’s achievements in different development indexes in the last one decade, he said, Bangladesh is now progressing towards becoming a developed country by 2041 leaving its neighbours behind in the indexes. Other MPs, taking part in the discussion, thanked the President for his time-worthy speech, saying that President Abdul Hamid in his 163-page speech has projected the government’s success in all sectors in the last 11 years under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina and outlined the government’s future plans for transforming the country into a developed and prosperous one by 2041.

Source: https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/stock-corporate/bd-achieves-unprecedented-success-in-all-sectors-1581176307