Important Business News Extracts – January 12 2017
Bangladesh Bank cuts mobile banking ceiling to check scams
The central bank cut down transaction ceiling on mobile banking to check illegal financial operations through misusing the quick-fire mobile financial services (MFS). Under the restricted provisions, daily maximum transaction limit on cash-in came down to BDT 15,000 from BDT 25,000 while maximum cash-out limit to BDT 10,000 from BDT 25,000. And the frequency of transactions has also been limited to twice a day for the first instead of five and as many times for the second instead of thrice a day. Besides, monthly maximum cash-in limit has been slashed to BDT 100,000 from BDT 150,000 while maximum monthly limit on cash-out came down to BDT 50,000 from BDT 150,000.
Country’s mobile banking transaction stood at Tk 1.89 trillion during the first 10 months of the just-concluded calendar year (2016). Latest statistics available with Bangladesh Bank revealed the figure which was 35 per cent higher than Tk 1.40 trillion at the same period of 2015. During the period under review, second quarter (April-June) of the year experienced highest quarterly transaction worth Tk 598.46 billion. Mobile banking is known as a system that allows customers of any bank or financial institution to make their financial transactions using a mobile phone.
ACC recovers BDT 3.6 billion swindled BASIC Bank loans
Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Iqbal Mahmood disclosed on Wednesday that a sum of BDT 3.6 billion of the swindled loans was deposited to BASIC Bank after its recovery since the Commission went into action. At the same time, the authority of the Bangladesh Small Industries and Commerce (BASIC) Bank Limited rescheduled many loans amounting to BDT 30.4 billion to avert any further possibility of financial fraudulence, he said.
The country’s overseas job sector is largely dependent on less and semi-skilled workers mainly in the absence of necessary initiatives from the government and private manpower recruiters, sector insiders have said. They said the government should make a database of skilled workers and also introduce e-migration system to enhance sending skilled workers. Less and semi-skilled workers do not get desired wages and are also vulnerable to abuses in many ways, they also said.
The World Bank (WB) has cut down Bangladesh’s projected economic growth to 6.8% in the current fiscal, citing two cardinal causes. Internal security challenges and sluggish external demand are the factors the multilateral development financier assigned to the projected deceleration of the growth. Its Bangladesh growth forecast is 0.4% points lower than government target of 7.2% growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in the current financial year (FY), 2016-17.
Teletalk signs deals with Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent for network expansion
State-owned mobile phone operator Teletalk has teamed up with NOKIA and Alcatel-Lucent-Shanghai Bel to spread out its network under a modernisation and expansion project. To this end, Teletalk on Wednesday struck two separate deals with NOKIA and ALSB for package-2 and package-3. Teletalk managing director Gias Uddin Ahmed, NOKIA South Asia Market Unit Head Nicolas Bouverot and NOKIA Networks CT Country Head Roland Reynier inked the agreements in presence of state minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim at posts and telecommunications division. NOKIA is entrusted with implementing the package-2 with USD 18.0 million while ALSB would carry out the package-3 involving USD 14.1 million.
US ferrous scrap shipments to Bangladesh increased sharply by 204 per cent, according to a report by www.recyclinginternational.com. Bangladesh imported 291, 836 tonnes of ferrous scrap from the US in the first 11 months of 2016 compared to 96, 045 tonnes in the corresponding period of 2015.
With a fifth of the country’s yearly jute exports at stake following India’s imposition of anti-dumping duty on import of jute products from Bangladesh and Nepal, a national jute advisory committee meeting yesterday decided to engage immediately with India for lifting the duty. The meeting, held at the textiles and jute ministry, also decided that the duty issuance would be discussed during prime minister’s upcoming visit to India.
The award is given by the KLIA management, Malaysia based on the highest numbers of passengers carried between Kuala Lumpur and Southeast Asian regions, said Shakil Meraj, general manager (PR) of Biman. Biman Country Manager for Malaysia Mohammed Salahuddin received the award recently from YB Dato’ Seri Liow Tiong Lai, minister of transport, Malaysia, at a grand award ceremony held in Kuala Lumpur.