The first quarter of the current fiscal year saw the country consolidate its balance of payment surplus on the back of high inward remittance and low import bills.

The surplus stood at $1.11 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2012, according to data from Bangladesh Bank.

A deficit of $99 million was recorded in the same period last fiscal year.

Import spending in the first three months of the current fiscal year increased by only 1.98 percent, while remittance increased by more than 19 percent.

As per a BB official, the decrease in export growth accounts for the fall in import bills, as a big chunk of import spending is earmarked for the export-oriented garment factories.

Exports grew by 1.34 percent in the first three months, due to the slowdown in the Eurozone and the US.

Another reason for the lower import spending is the decrease in food imports, the official said.

Since both of export and import growth fell, there was more or less no year-on-year change in trade deficit.

The current account balance in the first quarter was $135 million surplus, while it stood at $8 million deficit in the same period last fiscal year.

The BB official further said there is no pressure on the balance of payment this fiscal year as the foreign exchange reserve has been hovering around $11 to $12 billion, equivalent to four months' import bill.

As per global standards, foreign exchange reserve equal to three months' import bill is adequate.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/10th-Dec-12

Stocks opened the week with downward pressure yet again, thanks to investors' selling spree in anticipation of a bear run.

DGEN, key market tracking index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), finished the day at 4,018.06 points, after dropping 48.18 points or 1.18 percent.

Trading at the premier bourse started an hour late at 11:30 am due to technical fault.

“This problem will not re-occur again as we have already rectified it once and for all,” a DSE official said.

The bourse observed active sell pressure from the very beginning and to end the day in the red.

“The bourse got another blow by way of a countrywide eight-hour long road blockade. Most of the securities from every sector suffered from price corrections amid increased political violence during recent periods,” said IDLC Investments in its daily market commentary.

IPOs attracted investors' interests the most. For instance, Envoy Textile which debuted today obtained a 23.47 percent turnover, added the merchant bank.

“Market traded with bearish momentum all through the trading session. Although the current economic scenario is sluggish, forthcoming financing prospects and improving economic indicators suggest long-term prosperity” said LankaBangla Securities in its market commentary.

The stockbroker added: “Investors are discounting the fact that the financing prospects of Padma Bridge have become bleak again due to the World Bank and the government failing to reach an agreement.”

Turnover, however, remained almost flat compared to the previous session at Tk 213 crore, with 5.18 crore shares and mutual fund units changing hands on the premier bourse.

Losers beat gainers by a huge margin of 214 to 37, with 13 securities remaining unchanged on the DSE floor.

All the major sectors posted losses on the day: non-bank financial institutions dropped 1.89 percent, followed by power 1.65, banks 1.56 percent, telecommunications 0.72 percent and pharmaceuticals 0.46 percent.

Envoy Textile was the most traded stock of the day, thanks to its transaction of 80.21 lakh shares worth Tk 50.16 crore.

The company also was the biggest gainer of the day, posting a 106 percent gain.

The Jamuna Oil Company was the worst loser of the day, plunging by 27.64 percent.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/10th-Dec-12

US Assistant Secretary of State Robert O Blake speaks at a symposium on South Asia women's entrepreneurship, at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in the capital yesterday. Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, seated left, was also present.

The small and medium enterprises that are run by women guarantee faster economic growth, but access to finance remains a major barrier to women entrepreneurship, said Melanne S Verveer, US ambassador-at-large for global women's issues.

Verveer spoke at South Asia Women's Entrepreneurship Symposium that began yesterday in Dhaka to create cross-border linkages among women entrepreneurs in the region.

Some 120 participants from 11 South and Central Asian countries attended the event to discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by women-owned SMEs.

"SMEs are the engines of economic growth. It is a fact that women-run SMEs drive economic growth and create jobs. This is true in my country and it is true around the world," Verveer said at the event at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel.

The US Department of State organised the symposium attended by participants from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

"If you want to drive GDP, the best investments that can be made are women-run SMEs," Verveer said.

But access to finance acts as a major challenge for women entrepreneurs to grow, she said.

She also said microcredit has lifted millions of poor women around the world out of poverty and enabled them to earn, support families and pay back the loans.

"Yet the significant gender gap to finance remains painfully acute as it affects what we might call the missing middle of the small and medium enterprise sector, which is mostly women-run and has the best growth and job creation potential," said Verveer.

In addition, barriers like a lack of access to markets, training, mentors and technology act as impediments to women entrepreneurship.

Women also often confront discriminatory regulations and a lack of inheritance and property rights, she said.

Verveer also stressed investing in girls' education and favoured women's representation at the policymaking level.

"As your businesses grow, we are confident you will speak out against corruption when you see it. As leaders in businesses, we know that you will also work to strengthen democratic institutions and civil society," said Verveer.

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said the government has enacted a number of new laws for women and children and adopted a gender-responsive budget.

The government has framed 'women development policy' to ensure equal opportunity for men and women.

The government also took various initiatives to promote women entrepreneurship.

The government has kept 10 percent of small enterprises' fund for women entrepreneurs at Bangladesh Bank and ensured preferential treatment to them at commercial banks, she said.

"Strong networks among women entrepreneurs will certainly enhance their ability," said the foreign minister.

She said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has joined a global initiative by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Under the initiative, women's representation in Bangladesh's parliament will be raised to 30 percent from present 20 percent, said Dipu Moni.

US Assistant Secretary of State Robert O Blake said the summit will help women entrepreneurs foster cross-regional collaboration and build multilateral connections.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/10th-Dec-12

Muhammed Ali

United Commercial Bank Ltd (UCB) will begin mobile banking this month.

"We are going to launch this state-of-the-art technology in the third week of this month (December) aiming to broaden our efforts on financial inclusion," the newly-appointed Managing Director of UCB Muhammed Ali told the FE in an interview recently.

He said he is quite upbeat to consolidate the UCB's position in the banking sector of the country through delivering 'professionally sound and competent services' for the growing number of clients of the bank.

" As a new comer, I am taking the stocks of everything in my new working zone and after assessing the situation, I will adopt my strategy in compliance with the rules and regulations of the banking sector," Mr Ali said.

"I don't believe in short-term gain, rather I do believe in sustainable businesses accomplished on the basis of good governance and diversified pools of services," he added.

Putting a thrust on developing the bank's human resources (HR), he said there remains lot of scope to upgrade the bank's position through utilising the talents.

The MD said that adoption of various IT-enabled services will give the bank lucrative dividends.

"The adoption of modern IT-enabled services made us a real-time online bank and we are optimistic to go further to strengthen UCB's contribution to the development of rural economy through performing better in the SME financing," Mr Ali said.

"The bank is also trying to focus on green banking considering the effect of climate change. Now we only approve projects having the environment-friendly provisions considering the protection of humanity from pollution," the UCB MD said.

"As part of green banking we are trying to operate a branch using solar energy and also making aware the customers avoiding paper-based banking, Mr Ali also said.

News: The Daily Financial Express/Bangladesh/9th-Dec-12

The World Bank (WB) has commended Bangladesh and the Maldives for adopting schemes to boost the resilience of their peoples against global warming, while the Doha climate conference ended without reaching an accord to raise a $100 billion fund annually by 2020 -- a general pledge that was made three years ago.

Bangladesh and the Maldives, two of the most vulnerable nations to global warming, are becoming front runners for climate change impact adaptation, the WB said in a statement.

"Both the countries have long recognised that they must take on climate change adaptation to meet their development objectives," the statement issued on Friday quoted WB Vice President for Sustainable Development Mr Rachel Kyte.

Over the last decades, the government of Bangladesh has invested more than US$10 billion to make the country less vulnerable to natural disasters, the WB statement said.

The Maldives with the financial assistance from donors has also been implementing a four-year-long multi-million dollar Strategic Plan of Action since FY 2009-10.

"Bangladesh and the Maldives have established a multi-donor trust fund to channel international climate finance to domestic priorities. Early indications are that this approach is a success," Mr Kyte added.

The coastal Bangladesh and the Maldives, the state with numerous islands in the Indian Ocean, have taken schemes to boost climate resilience among the peoples by building infrastructure funded mainly by their respective national exchequers.

The countries are also utlising whatever amount they get from the international climate fund.

The statement was issued from the WB headquarters in Washington, summing up the observations of the relevant environment ministers of both the countries, made in Doha, during their deliberations at the annual United Nations Climate Summit which was scheduled to end yesterday (Saturday) following an extension of a day in a bid to reach a deal.

The two-week-long Doha event was organised to show case the proactive responses of extremely vulnerable nations toward climate resilience as the nations are beginning to experience the early impacts of global climate change.

News: The Daily Financial Express/Bangladesh/9th-Dec-12