Exporters for single digit bank rates, source tax cutHigh rates is a major impediment to investment in the country: Murshedy→ staff correspondent
  Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) president Abdus Salam Murshedy yesterday urged the government to bring down bank interest rate to single digit and reduce income tax at source on exportable goods at 0.25 per cent instead of proposed 1.5 per cent.

Providing 16-18 per cent interest for borrowing money from banking system is now a major impediment to investment in the country. Moreover, proposed increase in income tax by 2.75 times at source on exportable will fuel this impediment,” he said at a post-budget press conference at a city hotel.

Murshedy said the tax at source should be fixed at 0.25 percent considering the weak infrastructure and current international market so that the export sector can survive in the global competitive market.

He demanded the government for reducing furnace oil and diesel prices and re-fixing those at Tk 26 and Tk 30 per litre respectively as the electricity crisis still exists in the country.

The former BGMEA president Murshedy urged the government to give tax free import facility for capital machinery, dying, chemical and other raw materials for textile and apparel sector.

He also called upon the government to allocate money for establishing a packaging institute terming it is very important for increasing the country’s export volume.

He proposed withdrawal of VAT (value added tax) on place and installations of export-oriented units, which is now 15 percent.

On tax holiday facilities, he said the tax holiday facilities should be given for next five years instead of two years for rapid industrialisation and creating new entrepreneurs.

Murshedy called upon the government to take budgetary measures for the workers of readymade garments factories and introducing rationing system for them.

“Over a crore workers are engaged in the sector. We urge the government to bring the workers under the rationing system so that they can get rice, pulse, ata, sugar and edible oil at affordable price,” he said.

Murshedy sought cash incentives for the exporters to encourage them in contributing more to the national economy.

NRB (Non Resident Bangladeshi) president Shekil Ahmed demanded for the provision of investing undisclosed money in the capital market for the betterment of the country’s economy.

“It is very difficult to raise investment by keeping 48 to 50 per cent money, termed undisclosed, out of the economy. So, the government should allow the money in some important sectors including share market,” he said.

Bangladesh Gray and Finished Fabrics Mills and Exporters Association president M Harun Ur Rashid, Silk Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh president Alauddin Ahmed and representatives of other export organisations were present.

News: Daily sun/ Bangladesh/ Jun-20-2011

Bangladesh Bank has introduced the full-pledged treasury functions at its Barisal branch on Sunday, 20 years after opening the branch.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman, through a tele-conference, inaugurated the treasury functions during a special ceremony held at the local branch in the morning.

The BB Governor in his inaugural speech said Bangladesh Bank has already started electronic fund transfer system and opened help desks at BB branches and introduced mobile banking system which would soon cover all branches and regions having access to cell phone connectivity.

Treasurers today have to contend with entities that operate in a myriad of geographies, currencies, banks and accounts. Through starting treasury activities, the BB Barisal branch has been dignified as a full-pledged branch of the central bank, the BB Governor said.

Golam Mustafa, general manager of BB Barisal branch, presided over the function while Sudhir Chandra Das, BB executive director, formally opened the treasury section by cutting a ribbon on behalf of the BB Governor.

Mustafa Kamal, divisional controller general of accounts, Md Osman Gani, joint director (accounts and and budget) of BB, Sahadat Ali, deputy general manager of Sonali Bank, and other high officials and local bankers attended the function.

Speakers at the function said historically, treasury functions were expected to monitor cash positions and corporate spending.

Monitor liquidity positions for both long and short term financing, dictates credit ratings, outside credit lines and debt issue, mitigate risks by deploying all the checks and balances also be done by treasury branch by developing modern technology based speedy banking, they mentioned.

News: Daily sun/ Bangladesh/ Jun-20-2011

Bangladesh Bank (BB) was elected as vice chairman of Asia-Pacific Regional Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) for the tenure of 2012-2014. According to organisation's rule, the BB would takeover the charge of chair of APRACA for the regime of 2014-16 after completion of the 2012-2014 tenure as vice chairman.
Bangladesh won the electoral race defeating central banks of Malaysia, Korea and Sri Lanka, said a BB press release issued on Sunday.

News: The Independenty sun/ Bangladesh/ Jun-20-2011

The US dollar rallied this week, mainly driven by risk-aversion investments at a time when eurozone countries were mired in a deadlock over solutions to the worsening Greek debt crisis.

Reflecting its view that there’s a significantly higher likelihood of one or more defaults of Greek debt, Standard and Poor’s on Monday downgraded Greece’s sovereign rating by three notches from B to CCC, marking it the lowest rating the agency give to a country currently.

But the euro only dipped slightly against the greenback during Monday’s trading as concerns over the US economic prospects offset the Greek debt worries.

As EU members failed to agree on a new Greek bailout plan at a meeting held Tuesday in Brussels, the bloc’s single currency retreated broadly in the next day’s trading session.

As the meeting turned out, the main division ran between the European Central Bank and Germany. While the bank opposes any form of Greek debt restructuring or other moves that could be perceived by the market as default, Germany hopes to restructure Greek’s debts and bring in private participation.

In addition to the lack of unity among Greece’s lenders, a 24-hour strike in Greece against the government’s new austerity plan also pushed the investors to sell euros, which resulted in euro’s nearly 2-per cent decline against the dollar in Wednesday’ s trading session, to the lowest level in a month.

However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), another lender, weighed in Thursday, saying Greece can count on its help if it continues to reform its economy. European Union economics commissioner Olli Rehn also said he is confident that eurozone

would finally agree to pay the next installment of loans to Greece over the weekend.

A consensus on Greece bailout seemed more likely amid reports on Friday that Germany backed down and agreed not to involve private investors. The euro recovered slightly on Friday. For the whole week, it lost 2.6 per cent to 1.431 against the dollar.

Meanwhile, the market was still haunted by worries over US economic recovery as the US Commerce Department reported Wednesday that retail sales slipped 0.2 per cent in May, the first time in 11 months and a separate report from the Labor Department said producer prices rose 0.2 per cent in the same month.

On Thursday, the Labor Department said the consumer price index climbed a seasonally adjusted 0.2 per cent in May, and the core rate of inflation, which excludes food and energy costs, rose 0.3 percent, the fastest pace since July 2008, showing that the inflation was spreading more widely.

The Empire State index fell to -7.8 in June from 11.9 in May, according to the Empire State manufacturing survey released Wednesday by the New York Federal Reserve. The negative figure suggested that manufacturing activities deteriorated sharply in New York region, raising concerns about slowdown in manufacturing sectors.

The dollar index, which is regarded as the best gauge of its performance against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.3 per cent to 74.983 this week.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar dipped 0.3 per cent as the Japanese central bank decided Tuesday to keep its key interest rate unchanged in a range of zero to 0.1 per cent after its two-day monetary policy meeting.

As for other currencies, the dollar gained 1.6 per cent against the British pound and 0.7 per cent against the Swiss franc this week.

News: Daily sun/ Bangladesh/ Jun-19-2011

Eastern Bank Ltd (EBL) signed a short term rollover loan agreement with International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Bank Group. Mr. Ali Reza Iftekhar, Managing Director & CEO of Eastern Bank Ltd and Mr. Kyle F. Kelhofer, Country Manager of IFC signed the agreement on June 14, 2011 for the respective parties. EBL Deputy Managing Directors Mr. M. Fakhrul Alam and Mr. Muklesur Rahman and other senior executives of both EBL & IFC were present during the signing.

This is first time such an agreement signed between EBL & IFC. Under the agreement EBL will obtain foreign currency funds from IFC to support the customers’ requirements with respect to import-export transactions, trade finance, working capital requirements and related areas from it’s offshore banking unit (OBU). EBL has offshore banking operations since 2004 along with a wide network of branches, delivery channels, valued customer base and state of the art information technology facilities. EBL has been working closely with IFC, World Bank Group as a partner bank in the Global Trade Finance Program (GTFP) since 2005. EBL has also been awarded by IFC as the Most Active GTFP Issuing Bank in South Asia 2009-2010 and the Most Active Issuing Bank in Agribusiness Sector in South Asia 2010-2011.

Source: EBL Website