Huge Tax lost for illegal Foreign Employees: BIDA

The government is losing millions of dollars a year in taxes from the foreign nationals who are working without taking any work permit in Bangladesh, according to Bangladesh Investment Development Authority [BIDA]. It is mandatory for every foreigner to take prior permission from the state-owned investment promotion agency to serve any public and private company in Bangladesh. But of late, different private and public entities have been found not complying with the rule, BIDA mentioned in a letter sent to every ministry, department and agency of the government and different trade bodies. According to industry insiders, the country has around 5 lakh foreigners in different ministries, projects and private companies. But only 1 lakh of them have registered with BIDA. Every year, the foreigners send abroad over $5 billion, according to government agencies. Different development projects of the government are recruiting skilled workers mainly from India, China, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, the UK and Germany. Recently, the number of illegal foreign workers have increased manifold. The government is losing the income tax from the employees and it is also squeezing the job opportunities for domestic skilled workers and fresh university graduates. Many foreign employees have been drawing $10,000 and $12,000 as their monthly salary, they are showing their income in local currency mainly to evade tax, industry people.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/huge-tax-lost-illegal-foreign-employees-bida-1811644

Eight FIs being traded below Face Value

The shares of eight companies of the financial institution sector came below face value for a long time. Some of these companies reported losses in latest quarterly reports and annual reports for the year ended on December 31, 2018. Of the companies, the shares of the Bangladesh Industrial Finance Company [BIFC] have been traded below face value since April 8, 2018. The company’s share price came down below face value of Tk 10 and closed at Tk 9.60 each on April 8, 2018. According to DSE information, the company incurred loss for last three years including 2018. The company reported a loss of 2.07 per share for April-June 2019 as against the loss of Tk 1.65 per share for April-June 2018. The price of the shares declined for several periods but failed to cross the face value of Tk 10. The company reported EPS of Tk. 0.81 for the year ended on December 31, 2018 against the loss of Tk 5.72 per share for the same period of the previous year. The shares of Premier Leasing & Finance have been traded below face value since June 26, 2019

Source: http://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/stock-corporate/eight-fis-being-traded-below-face-value-1570635704

BD Economy still least competitive

Bangladesh has slipped two spots, dropping to the 105th as competitive economy in an index produced by the World Economic Forum [WEF]. Last year, Bangladesh ranked the 103rd out of 140 countries, scoring 52.1. The country’s competitiveness has declined in 10 out of 12 pillars, according to the report unveiled by the Centre for Policy Dialogue on behalf of the Forum in Dhaka on Wednesday. The country has done well in only two pillars-product market and health-though the overall score of Bangladesh has remained unchanged at 52.1 in 2019 like in the last year. The country’s position is 109th for institutions; 114th for infrastructure; 108th for ICT adoption; 95th for macroeconomic stability; 93rd for health; 117th for skills; 119th for product market; 121st for labor market; 106th for financial system; 36th for market size; 121st for business dynamism; and 105th for innovation. The global competitiveness index means the ability of a country to achieve sustained high rates of economic growth in per capita GDP. Bangladesh’s per capita income now stands at US$1,744. The report said the 10-year average annual GDP growth stands at 5.9 per cent while the five-year average FDI inward flow as percentage of GDP is at 1.1 per cent. The CPD said institutions and governance are the weakest areas in the business competiveness, where majority of indicators have deteriorated. Singapore has topped the 2019 ranking, toppling the United States as the most competitive economy. Hong Kong and the Netherlands made a significant improvement in their rankings by reaching the third and fourth positions respectively. Meanwhile, most of the south Asian countries have lost their previous positions except Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Source: http://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/first-page/bd-economy-still-least-competitive-1570639184

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