The World Bank Vice President Isabel Guerrero's scheduled visit to Dhaka has been postponed due to her preoccupations in the global lender's headquarters in Washington.

Guerrero will visit Bangladesh in coming months, but the timing is not yet confirmed, WB Dhaka office's Communication Officer Mehrin A Mahbub told The Daily Star.

Mehrin said the WB vice president routinely visits countries of South Asia as part of her duties. Guerrero's initial plans for a South Asia tour in November have been postponed due to senior management meetings in Washington this month, she said.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/16-Nov-12

Reforms in the state-owned banks will dominate the discussion between the government and an upcoming mission of the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF team led by David Cowen, the lender's mission chief for Bangladesh, Asia and Pacific Department, will arrive in Dhaka on November 27 on a two-week visit.

An official of the finance ministry said the mission will hold a final discussion on how much the government has fulfilled the lender's conditions tagged with releasing the second instalment of $1 billion loan.

After detection of irregularities, including the Hall-Mark scam, in the state banks, the global lender asked the central bank to conduct a special "diagnostic examination" in these banks.

The IMF earlier submitted a detailed plan about the examination to the central bank. The IMF mission will want to know about the status of its implementation.

To discuss the visit of the IMF mission, the lender's representative in Dhaka Eteri Kvintradze met Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday.

The IMF team will hold talks with the government on issues such as financial soundness indicator, deposit mobilisation and liquidity situation in the state banks.

The new VAT law, amendment to Banking Companies Act, and subsidy on petroleum, fertiliser and electricity will also figure prominently at the discussions.

The IMF delegation will also hold meetings with the officials of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

They will discuss the update on the Padma bridge financing, as well.

The IMF approved around $1 billion loan under its Extended Credit Facility in April and its first instalment worth $140 million has already been released.

Though the second instalment was scheduled to be released in November, the finance ministry official said it may be delayed as the government is yet to fulfil the conditions of the lender.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/16-Nov-12

Md Anisul Haque has recently been elected as the chairman of Social Islami Bank Ltd (SIBL).

The election took place at the bank's board meeting on Tuesday, the bank said in a statement recently.

Haque is a director of Hamdard (Waqf) Bangladesh and has also served SIBL as a founder director on behalf of Hamdard.

On the day, Sk Mohammad Rabban Ali and Sayedur Rahman were elected as vice-chairmen.

Also a founder director of SIBL, Ali is the managing director of Rabbani Trading Company Ltd, Shamlon Industries, Shama Poly Yarn Industries where Rahman is the managing director of Lodestar Fashions Ltd, Mid Asia Fashion Ltd and Jessore Fishery.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/16-Nov-12

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) would provide $25 million in loan to Pran Group, one of the country’s largest foodstuff-manufacturing companies, for building three food plants.

The ADB Wednesday signed an agreement with PRAN Group to help the company build three food manufacturing plants, said a press release.

“The new plants will collect as much raw material as possible from local farmers, and thus will help boost agricultural growth,” Martin Lemoine, Investment Specialist of ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department said.

“The majority of Bangladesh’s poor still live in rural areas, and agriculture remains their main source of employment and income,” he added.

PRAN has set up Sylvan Agriculture Limited to build a liquid glucose plant in Olipur, 120 kilometers northeast of Dhaka, and a flour mill producing fortified flour and a frozen of food processing plants, both in Danga, 30 kilometers east of Dhaka.

The new plants are scheduled to complete by 2015. The three plants will cost $35.8 million to build. The rest of the fund will be provided by Chowdhury family, PRAN’s largest shareholders.

The plants will directly employ around 1,000 workers, and provide indirect employment for about 50,000 farmers who will supply maize and wheat to the plants under a contract farming model.

The management of Sylvan has committed to recruit at least 30 percent women workforce.

The investment, ADB’s first private sector agribusiness loan since 1985 and first private sector loan in Bangladesh since 2004, is part of its efforts to promote productivity and competitiveness in Bangladesh’s agriculture and food processing sectors.

The project will help boost country’s agribusiness sector, strengthen food value chain, increase food exports and improve food security and nutrition in Bangladesh. The project would play a crucial role in providing market linkages between farmers and food processing and export markets in the country.

Sylvan will have an annual production capacity of 45,000 tonnes of liquid glucose, 90,000 tonnes of flour and 180 million units of flour-based frozen foods and its annual sales is expected to exceed $50 million by 2016.

PRAN, with 29,000 employees, earns $450 million from sales including $70 million exports annually.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth and regional integration.

Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region. In 2011, ADB approvals including co-financing totaled $21.7 billion.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/16-Nov-12

M. Farid Uddin, Managing Director of Rupali Bank Limited, inaugurates ‘Automation of Foreign Remittance System’ of the bank at the bank’s premises in Dhaka Thursday.

The state-owned Rupali Bank Limited has initiated Automation of Foreign Remittance System through web-based remittance software.

M. Farid Uddin, Managing Director of the Bank inaugurated 'Automation of Foreign Remittance System' in Dhaka Thursday, said a press release.

Remittance Department of the Bank organised the programme at the Bank's premises.

While speaking, managing director said the Bank was facing various problems due to absence of automation activities. From now on, customers can collect remittance from all branches of the Bank, he added.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/16-Nov-12