$

TT-Clean: 77.1 | TK BC-Selling: 78.1
TK OD-Sight: 76.88 TK | TC-Selling: 78.1 TK

TT-Clean: 77.1 | TK BC-Selling: 78.1
TK OD-Sight: 76.88 TK | TC-Selling: 78.1 TK

£

TT-Clean: 77.1 | TK BC-Selling: 78.1
TK OD-Sight: 76.88 TK | TC-Selling: 78.1 TK

Click to Close

Rate last updated: 02/01/2014 11:15:04 AM

Important Business News Extracts September 25 2016

Banks’ deposits soar despite small returns

Banks’ deposits grew by a handsome amount last fiscal year despite small returns further pared down by inflation. Deposits grew 14.1% to BDT 8,583.3 billion in the year to June 30, whereas the weighted average interest rate on deposits fell about 1.2% during the period. The interest rate was only 5.5% in June, whereas inflation then was below 6%. This means, if inflation is taken into account, the savers are not getting any returns against their deposits. People have been depositing their money with banks as they do not have any better schemes to park their funds in, said a central bank official. Over the last fiscal year, deposits with the state-owned commercial banks grew 16.4%, private banks 13.8% and foreign banks 8.2%, according to central bank statistics.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/banks-deposits-soar-despite-small-returns-1289293

Thrust on financing power projects through stock market

The brokers association of the premier bourse will hold a program today (Sunday) to highlight the importance of the capital market for financing the country’s power projects. The leaders of the DSE Brokers Association said the program will mainly focus on two issues along with discussing overall potentiality of the capital market for financing the power projects. Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, will attend the program as chief guest, whereas M. Khairul Hossain, chairman of the securities regulator, will remain present as special guest. The program titled ‘Financing Power Projects of Bangladesh through Capital Market’ will be held at a city club. Ahasanul Islam Titu, president of the DSE Brokers Association, said at the program they would put press on logical distribution share of the Titas Gas along with discussing the ways of raising local fund for the power projects.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2016/09/25/152448

Traffic Congestion: Tk 20,000cr loss to economy a year

Traffic congestion in the capital eats up around Tk 20,000 crore a year, an expert said yesterday, quoting a government report. Some 32 lakh business hours are also lost to the curse every day. Prof Akter Mahmud of Jahangirnagar University’s Urban and Regional Planning department made the comments, citing the Revised Strategic Transport Plan (RSTP) of 2016, at a programme in the capital’s LGED auditorium. Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC), an independent think-tank, and state-owned Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics jointly organised the two-day event, titled “Urban Poverty: Challenges and Solutions Conference”, in partnership with the World Bank and the UNDP. Prof Mahmud presented a paper on the challenges of mass transport during the day’s second session titled “Urban Poverty: Access to Services”. The session was chaired by Prof Sekandar Khan, vice-chancellor of the East Delta University.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/tk-20000cr-loss-year-economy-1289203

A major shift in household income survey

The government has made a major shift from annual estimates to quarterly ones in conducting this year’s household income and expenditure survey (HIES), a top official of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics said yesterday. Also, division-level estimates will be expanded to district-level estimates, said Dipankar Roy, project director of the survey, BBS. “This is a major shift to understand poverty at regional level,” Roy said at a programme styled ‘Urban poverty: Challenges and solutions conference’, held at the LGED auditorium in Dhaka. Power and Participation Research Centre, an independent think-tank and state-owned BBS jointly organised the two-day event in partnership with the World Bank and United Nations Development Programme. Mustafa K Mujeri, executive director of Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development, chaired the session. Urban areas of four divisions — Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi — are further stratified into ‘urban’ and ‘city corporation’ strata to capture variability of city samples efficiently in the upcoming HIES, Roy said. Quoting the preliminary results of a survey on slums in Dhaka city, Monica Yanez-Pagans of the WB’s poverty global practice department said non-monetary dimensions are the main reasons for poverty in urban slums instead of monetary ones.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/major-shift-household-income-survey-1289287

Urban poverty on the rise: WB

The number of urban poor in Bangladesh rose about 33 percent to eight million between 1992 and 2010, the World Bank said yesterday. However, the number of rural poor decreased from 55 million to 46 million during the period, said Ming Zhang, sector manager for urban South Asia at the WB. The quality of life of the urban poor is also worse than that of the rural poor, he said in his presentation at the inaugural of a two-day international conference on urban poverty. The Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) jointly organised the programme in the city’s LGED auditorium in partnership with the WB and United Nations Development Programme.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/urban-poverty-the-rise-wb-1289299

China proposes feasibility study on free-trade agreement with Bangladesh:

Dhaka sees little benefit from trade pact
China has proposed a joint feasibility study on a bilateral free-trade agreement (FTA) to be signed with Bangladesh. Trade officials in Dhaka, however, find such pact not so beneficial to the country, officials said. In a recent letter to the ministry of commerce (MoC) the Chinese embassy in Dhaka requested the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for launching feasibility study on the proposed trade pact. In the draft MoU China said the feasibility study should be comprehensive and cover sectors of common interests. A senior trade official told the FE the issue of FTA with China was discussed in a meeting last month at the MoC. The meeting concluded with the opinion that Bangladesh would not sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with any country until 2025, before losing facilities it enjoy as a least developed country (LDC). He said signing FTA with China will cause a significant revenue loss for Bangladesh that imports substantial volume of goods from the former.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2016/09/25/152483

Bharat Petroleum seeks higher premium for diesel export to Bangladesh:

Proposes to use lorries pending pipeline building
India has proposed to export lorry-loads of diesel to Bangladesh from Numaligarh refinery of the state-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) on a regular basis, pending a joint pipeline. Officials said BPCL recently sent in a proposal to Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) on supply of around 5,000 metric tons (mt) of diesel per month by tank lorry from Siliguri. A senior BPC official said the exporter sought a premium of USD 8.3 per barrel to Mean of Platts Arab Gulf (MoPAG) diesel assessments on cost-and-freight (CFR) basis meaning the price would be above USD 8.3 per barrel from the international benchmark price of this fuel oil. BPC has yet to decide on the diesel import on tank lorry from the Numaligarh refinery in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, said the official. He said the premium would be a crucial issue in taking decision on import of diesel from the BPCL. The petroleum corporation, meanwhile, imported some 2,200mt diesel by rail from the Numaligarh refinery in March under a ‘goodwill gesture’. BPCL had supplied the consignment of diesel, having 0.03% sulphur content, at Parbatipur inside Bangladesh. BPC had to pay a premium of USD 7.0 per barrel to MoPAG diesel assessments on CFR basis to the Indian petroleum corporation.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2016/09/25/152481

Local and Global Stock Indices

Index NameClose ValueValue ChangePercentage Change
DSEX4,665.35↑5.2↑0.11%
Dow Jones Industrial Average4,680.31↑14.96↑0.32%
Nikkei 22516,754.02↓53.6↓0.32%
FTSE 1006,909.43↓1.97↓0.03%

World Commodities

CommodityClose ValueValue ChangePercentage Change
Crude Oil (WTI)*$44.48↓1.84↓3.97%
Crude Oil (Brent)*$45.89↓1.76↓3.69%
Gold Spot*$1,337.560.490.04%

Major Currencies Exchange Rates Movement in Last Seven Days

exchange-sep-25

*CURRENCIES AND COMMODITIES ARE TAKEN FROM BLOOMBERG.

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM

EMRANUL HUQ

MANAGING DIRECTOR & CEO OF DHAKA BANK LIMITED

Dear Valued Patrons,

At the very onset, let me express my heartiest gratitude for allowing us to serve you and I also wanted to reach out to you directly with an assurance that Dhaka Bank is fully equipped to support you during this difficult time.

Last couple of weeks ago we all were living in a peaceful condition, performing our daily tasks freely and perfectly. Entire economy and business environment was also in a good shape, until COVID-19 put a forceful stoppage to the overall life style and economy of the world. We all know that social distancing and cleanliness are the keys to prevent this pandemic. Hence, we urge your conscious effort to limiting public interaction and suspending wherever possible.

YOUR SAFETY MEANS EVERYTHING TO US
In this current situation, Dhaka Bank and its employees are beside you where we are fully online, either working from home or at our offices under a robust Business Continuity Plan (BCP) to serve you with limited branch banking and a full-fledged alternate delivery channel services.

WE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOUR BANKING NEEDS
Our state of the art Mobile App, Dhaka Bank GO (Click https://bit.ly/2WVfieu) and Internet Banking - Dhaka Bank Direct gives you the freedom of banking online anytime from anywhere. You can check the balance and transfer money to any designated Banks including any Dhaka Bank or bKash Account, make utility bill payments and mobile top-up through our Mobile App and Internet Banking Services. Our ATMs are also running efficiently with availability of sufficient cash for your convenience where you can make cash withdrawals whenever the need arises. Mentionable, the withdrawal of cash from any ATMs within Bangladesh with Dhaka Bank Debit Cards are absolutely free of charges up till April 30, 2020 (Dhaka Bank will bear the cost). Our corporate customers can also use our completely safe and secured online platform Dhaka Bank C-Solution for Payments, Inter Bank Fund Transfers, etc.

Moreover, to fulfill your urgent requirement, we have a limited no. of branches up and running by ensuring all kinds of precautionary and safety measures for you.

GET IN TOUCH IF YOU ARE IN EXTREME EMERGENCY
In case of extreme emergency and facing difficulties in conducting banking transactions, please let us know through our 24/7 Contact Center number 16474 (or, dial +8809678016474 for ISD/Overseas Calls). We are always with you to combat your difficulties.

WE WILL FREQUENTLY UPDATE YOU
As you know we are going through a critical phase and the situation is novel to all of us. We are getting lot of new information from various sources everyday about COVID-19 which will be shared at www.dhakabankltd.com.

Thank you for your trust and continued support to us. I firmly believe that jointly we will be able to combat this situation and win against all the odds.

Please stay home, stay safe and take care of yourself and family.

Best regards,

Emranul Huq
Managing Director & CEO
Dhaka Bank Limited

×