Corporate tax payment climbs up in July-October

Corporate tax payments by most large companies went up significantly in the first four months of the current fiscal, with four private commercial banks and three mobile companies topping the list. Official sources said the seven companies paid the highest amount of corporate income tax in the July-October period of the fiscal year (FY) 2016-17 among top 50 taxpayers under the Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) of the National Board of Revenue (NBR). HSBC, UCB, Standard Chartered and Citi Bank NA are the four banks among the top ten large taxpayers while Grameenphone, Robi Axiata Limited and Banglalink are the three mobile-phone operators. The others among the top-ten corporate taxpayers are Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution (T&D) Limited, US-based Chevron Oil and Gas company and American Life Insurance Company. GP paid the highest amount of corporate income tax worth BDT 2.20 billion in the July-October period of FY 2016-17. However, the company paid BDT 661.0 million in FY 2015-16. Banglalink also paid higher amount worth BDT 264.0 million against BDT 247.0 million in the same period in 2015-16. Tax payment by Citi Bank NA came down significantly. The bank paid BDT 20.0 million during July-Oct period this year against BDT 447.0 million in the corresponding period of last year.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/01/02/160931

Moving forward beyond 2017

GLOBALLY, 2016 has been an unprecedented year. Brexit, Trump, rise of populism, refugee crisis and terrorism will continue to define the political and economic scenario of the world in 2017. Inside the country, a number of positive as well as challenging developments will shape the dynamics of Bangladesh’s journey in 2017. As most big economies are still struggling to recover from slow growth, Bangladesh’s major economic boost will have to come from within the country. Stability in Bangladesh, both economically and politically was strong in 2016. This has helped in achieving higher growth of gross domestic product that crossed 7 percent in fiscal year 2016. Industry played the main role in higher GDP followed by the services sector. Low petroleum prices in the global market helped inflation rates to stay low since Bangladesh spends a significant amount on petroleum products. Export earnings increased at a higher rate than imports and export-GDP ratio increased in FY2016 while import-GDP ratio declined. Higher export of readymade garments contributed to this growth.

Source:
http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/macro-mirror/moving-forward-beyond-2017-1338796
http://www.thedailystar.net/op-ed/economics/bangladesh-and-the-new-economic-world-order-1338775
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/2016-good-2017-be-better-1338604

2017 to be more eventful for telecom

The year 2017 looks set to be a milestone year for the telecom sector with the planned launch of the country’s first communication satellite and the rollout of fourth generation mobile services. The immediate past year was no less eventful. The year saw the landmark merger of Robi and Airtel, completion of biometric re-registration of SIMs and the legal tussles with Citycell, the country’s oldest operator. The six operators re-registered a total of 108.5 million SIMs until the deadline of May 31, and at the stroke of midnight blocked about 25 million unverified SIMs. The long-drawn-out merger of Robi and Airtel was completed in November to create the country’s second biggest mobile operator. The merger fee was BDT 1.0 billion and the spectrum charge came to about BDT 3.5 billion. The telecom regulator shut down the country’s oldest mobile phone operator, Citycell, on October 21 last year for failure to clear dues of BDT 4.8 billion. After partial payment and an order from the Supreme Court the company was allowed to operate again but found no customers. The year also saw market leader Grameenphone be slapped with a fine of BDT 300.0 million for providing unauthorized services. Bangladesh also started exporting bandwidth to India in 2016. The country met with a setback in the form of global ICT Development Index, where it slipped down two notches to 14 out of 175 countries. The government also took the initiative to digitize other sectors of the economy and allocated more than BDT 83.0 billion in fiscal 2016-17 for the purpose.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/2017-be-more-eventful-telecom-1339039

Living costs in city rise 6.5%: Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB)

The cost of living in Bangladesh rose 6.47% in 2016 from the previous year due to hikes in house rents and some essential food items including rice, pulses and sugar, a consumer rights campaigner said yesterday. The Consumers Association of Bangladesh or CAB also found that the prices of food and services rose 5.8% in the just concluded year. The CAB prepared the report taking into account the costs of 114 food items, 22 essential commodities and 14 utility services. The increase in the living cost however did not take into consideration the real expenditure for education, health and transport. The increase in 2016 is 0.09 percentage points higher than in 2015, when the cost of living rose 6.4%. The prices of all varieties of rice increased 2.87% on average, while the prices of all kinds of pulses soared 10.0% on average. The prices of imported garlic soared 72.06% — the most in 2016. The prices of locally produced garlic, an essential cooking ingredient, rose 47.0%.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/living-costs-rise-647pc-1339051

Tannery shifting delayed again

The government has given Hazaribagh tanners three more months to relocate their factories to Savar Tannery Industrial Estate, as the tanners again missed the deadline — December 31– for doing so. In a statement yesterday, the industries ministry said no raw hides would be allowed to enter Hazaribagh after January 31. The decisions came as neither the government nor the tanners have finished their respective construction work at the tannery estate. Earlier, the ministry had set several deadlines for shifting the factories to Savar from Hazaribagh but the tanners missed all of those.

Source:
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/tannery-shifting-delayed-again-1339054
http://www.newagebd.net/article/6082/fine-realisation-from-errant-tanners-becomes-irregular

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