Inward remittances fell 2.43 percent to $1.08 billion in March compared to a month ago, but the overall growth in the first ten months of the current fiscal year reached near 11 percent.

During the period, more than $1 billion was remitted from abroad by Bangladeshi migrant workers every month, except September and November, according to data from the central bank.

In March, remittances stood at $1.1 billion.

However, remittances increased by 10.41 percent to $10.61 billion in the first ten months of the current fiscal year.

The banking regulator projected that remittance earnings will be worth around $13 billion in the current fiscal year, which will have a positive impact on the country's balance of payments, a Bangladesh Bank official said.

The official said a good flow of remittances has already made the foreign currency reserve and exchange rate stable in recent times.

The exchange rate in the inter-bank foreign exchange market hovered around Tk 82 against the dollar last month, which was more than Tk 85 a month ago.

The BB official said multilateral donor agencies, including some analysts, apprehended that the foreign currency reserve would come down to $9 billion but still the reserve is more than $10 billion.

According to the central bank statistics, the forex reserve was $10.19 billion yesterday.

The BB official also said, as remittance inflow was good, the pressure on the current account balance eased to some extent despite a fall in foreign aid.

In the beginning of the fiscal year, the surplus in the current account balance was much less. But now the situation is improving gradually.

According to the BB statistics, the current account surplus was $681 million in nine months from July to March though the amount is lesser than that during the same period last year.

During the same period last year, the current account surplus was $999 million.

An official of National Credit and Commerce Bank said the remittances not only fuelled the reserve, but also kept rural economy vibrant.

The official of the private bank said the relatives of the expatriates spend the remittances in the rural areas, contributing to the country's gross domestic product.

An official of Agrani Bank said, as oil prices are on the rise, the Gulf Cooperation Countries have increased construction and other economic activities, which in turn boosted demands for migrant workers.

He also said some Arab states are now witnessing political stability after conflicts in the region.

The rebuilding activities following the prolonged unrest are leading to a revival of demand for Bangladeshi migrant workers in the Middle East countries.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 4th May 2012

The online export monitoring system introduced at Bangladesh Bank has ensured fast realisation of export proceeds that helps drive the growth of foreign currency reserves, officials said yesterday.

The central bank launched the online monitoring system in November 2011, replacing the manual system.

The repatriated export value was $4.35 billion against the total export value of $4.630 billion until April, according to a monitoring report.

“The online export monitoring system software builds up a real-time centralised database which provides a clear picture of export receipts,” Governor Atiur Rahman said.

Bangladesh Bank used to analyse the overall export situation after getting the paper-based export information or data from different banks.

“It takes long time to get a real picture of export proceeds in the manual system," Rahman said.

“It's now a matter of a minute to get the export proceeds in the online system," he said.

In the online system, the BB receives export information from banks online through a series of checkpoints and analyse data to monitor exports.

Deputy Governor Nazneen Sultana said the online system enables the central bank to monitor the repatriated export value which is, in fact, helping increase the foreign currency reserve.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 3rd May 2012

Earnings by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) grew by 17.2 percent in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, thanks to a strong drive to collect revenues from both the public and private sectors.

The tax administrator will have to collect Tk 30,000 crore in the next three months to meet the target for the entire fiscal year.

An NBR official said they hope to earn more than the required amount in the next three months to reach the goal.

He also said they collected Tk 500 crore more than the target in the first nine months.

According to NBR statistics, revenue earnings in the July-March period were Tk 62,261 crore against a target of Tk 61,857 crore.

The NBR official said they had a collection target of Tk 91,870 crore for the entire year.

But the "resource committee" of the finance ministry at a recent meeting chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith decided to reset the target in the revised budget.

The target for the entire year may be increased by Tk 500 crore-Tk 1,000 crore, said the official, asking not to be named.

The successes of the current year may encourage the NBR to set the next year's target at Tk 1,12,000 crore, 22 percent more than this year's estimated earnings.

In the next three months, revenue worth Tk 3,400 crore will come from Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation alone, he said.

Besides, there is a possibility of earning Tk 742 crore as SIM (subscriber identity module) tax from the mobile operators, the NBR official added.

He also said Alternative Dispute Resolution has been introduced recently to fast-track resolution of tax-related cases out of court, which will spin off revenue of another Tk 100 crore.

He said the NBR has intensified its tax collection drives and is not sparing even the public sector companies.

The official said stern action has been taken against state-owned mobile phone company Teletalk, compelling the operator to commit to pay its dues every month.

The tax administrator also froze the account of the state-run mobile operator as it failed to pay dues in time, said the official.

Besides, the NBR has formed two taskforces to speed up revenue collection. The taskforces have detected tax evasions by a good number of big companies. Revenue worth around Tk 2,000 crore may be realised from them, the official said.

He said, due to the steps they achieved big successes in realising income tax and local-level value added tax.

In the first nine months, growth in income tax was 25 percent and VAT at the local level increased by 20 percent. However, revenue earnings rose by only 10 percent at the import level.

The official said, both the government and the Bangladesh Bank have taken various steps to discourage import of unnecessary goods to ease pressure on the foreign currency reserve. As a result, growth in revenue earnings at the import level is somewhat lower, he added.

The official said the NBR may set an ambitious target in the next fiscal year also. Already the resource committee meeting has made a projection of revenue target for the next year.

The NBR official said the target may be increased by 22 percent over the current fiscal year's earnings and set at Tk 1,12,000 crore.

He said a new VAT law is likely to be introduced in the next fiscal year, and so they are hopeful of meeting the next year's target also.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 30th April 2012

The central bank has taken a measure to ease liquidity pressure of the primary dealers (PDs) through devolving a certain portion of fund under its each auction, officials said Tuesday.

Under the step, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) has taken 38 per cent of total fund of both treasury bills (T-bills) and bonds auctions on its own account.

"The new provision of devolvement relating to the government-approved securities will continue till the end of the current fiscal year (FY)," an executive director of the BB told the FE Tuesday.

He also said the central bank has introduced the new provision of devolvement since April 1 aiming to ease liquidity pressures on the country's money market.

"The liquidity pressures on PDs will be eased during the ongoing fourth quarters (Q4) of FY12 compared with the Q3 following the new devolvement provision," the central banker said.

The central bank has taken the latest measure against the backdrop of rising bank borrowing target by the government recently to finance the budget deficit of the current fiscal year ending June.

Under the revised target, the government can borrow Tk 279 billion from the country's banking system against the original budgetary target of Tk 189.57 billion.

Besides, the BB has restructured the auction amount of both bonds and T-bills at the ratio of 50:50 instead of 92.5: 7.5 earlier to minimise fund mismatch of the PDs.

Financial Express/Bangladesh/ 26th April 2012

The central bank has warned banks against excess flow of consumer credit that might lead to create instability in the economy.   Banking Regulations and Policy Department (BRPD) of Bangladesh bank (BB) has issued a circular in this regard on Wednesday.

“The BB found that some banks have excess consumer loans and less credit to the productive sector. It might lead to unfavourable situation in the economy,” reads the BB circular.

In the circular, the BB has asked all the scheduled banks to tighten credit flow to non-productive sector and ensure adequate credit to the productive ones.

The central bank won’t allow any bank to approve cumulative consumer loans above the average credit ratio of total assets, reads the circular.

The Independent/Bangladesh/ 26th April 2012