After nearly two years, the central bank yesterday resumed the auction of its 30-day bill to mop up excess liquidity from the money market, Bangladesh Bank (BB) officials said.

According to BB data, three foreign commercial banks -- Standard Chartered, HSBC and Citibank NA -- bought the BB bills worth Tk 180 crore against 9.40 percent interest rate.

Along with three foreign banks, local Dutch-Bangla Bank participated in the auction. A total of six bids worth Tk 455 crore were received, of which, three bids worth Tk 180 crore were accepted.

BB data showed the previous auction of the 30-day BB bill was held on November 29, 2010 when no institutions participated in the auction due to a severe liquidity crisis .

“The situation (liquidity crisis) has eased recently. So, we can expect that banks and non-banks will participate in the auction,” said a BB official.

The official said the BB resumed the bill to mop up the surplus liquidity from the money market to help the foreign exchange market become stable.

“More liquidity in the market could make the local currency depreciate against the US dollar,” he said.

From now on, the auction of 30-day BB bill will be held every Monday in a week, he said.

BB usually holds bidding to sell government treasury bills and bonds every week to help the government borrow from the banking sector.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/13-Nov-12

Citibank NA, Bangladesh on Friday honoured some individuals who significantly contributed to the development of Bangladesh and received international recognition for their outstanding work, at the bank's 200th anniversary celebration in Dhaka.

Citi Bangladesh celebrated the bank's 200th anniversary with clients, stakeholders, regulators, civil society and community partners at a hotel in Dhaka on Friday.

The bank honoured individuals who contributed significantly to the development of Bangladesh, according to a statement of the bank yesterday.

Recipients of the honours included: Sir Fazle Hasan Abed for being conferred Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 2010; Latifur Rahman for Oslo Business for Peace Award in 2012, and Ramon Magsaysay awardees: Tahrunnesa Ahmed Abdullah, Zafarullah Chowdhury, Reverend Father Richard William Timm, Angela Gomes, Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed, Matiur Rahman, and AHM Noman Khan.

The other Bangladeshi Magsaysay award recipients -- Prof Muhammad Yunus, Mohammed Yeasin and Rizwana Hasan -- could not attend the event.

Sir Abed, who is also the founder and chairperson of BRAC, presented the keynote paper on financial inclusion, and Latifur Rahman, chairman and chief executive officer of Transcom Group, spoke on ethical business practices.

Rashed Maqsood, managing director and Citi country officer, and Terence K Cuddyre, Citi cluster head of Bangladesh, Brunei and Sri Lanka, were also present.

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

Bangladesh yesterday sought withdrawal of the 17.5-percent duty on garment exports to Turkey as the tax measure has hit the country's sales to the European nation, officials said.

The call came at the opening day meeting of the Fourth Bangladesh-Turkey Joint Economic Commission at the Economic Relations Division (ERD) in the city.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith, who co-chaired the opening session of the meeting, told reporters that he also raised the duty issue in a meeting with the 15-member Turkish delegation led by its Labour and Social Security Minister Faruk Celik.

Turkey will also give Bangladesh a $300 million credit for oil import, the finance minister said.

"Our garment export [to the country] has gone down because of the duty. The issue will be discussed at the commission's meeting," Muhith said.

He said, following the imposition of the tax measures, which came effective in July last year, the eagerness of Bangladeshi trade bodies faded a bit about the export potential to the Europe's one of the growing economies.

"We had thought that people-to-people contact will expand following the opening of the air-link. But it has not happened," said Muhith.

Ankara imposed the duty on import of garment items from developing countries, which was zero earlier, as a temporary measure to protect its local industry.

Bangladesh exported knitwear products worth $124 million and woven items worth $231 million in 2011-12.

The sales of knitwear items were, however, $272 million and woven items were $245 million in 2010-11 in the export basket of $518 million, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

The country's apparel exports to Turkey fell by 9.21 percent to $90.72 million in the July-September period of the current fiscal year, according to the EPB.

The Turkish side said the two countries would have to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) before Ankara could withdraw the tax measure for Bangladeshi garment exporters.

Turkey is now trying to get the membership of the European Union. So, the country will require permission from the European Commission if it wants to sign the FTA, said the Turkish side.

The two sides will discuss further on the issue today, according to an official who attended the meeting.

Muhith also said the two-day meeting aims to cement both political and economic ties.

"We have both deep political and economic relations with Turkey. We have talked about various needs for cementing our relations."

He said there are exchanges in the education sector. Protocol is needed here for equivalence, said Muhith who led the Bangladesh side in the meeting.

Muhith said, under the $300 credit line from EXIM Bank of Turkey offered to Bangladesh for oil import, there is a need to fix a counterpart bank in Bangladesh to use the credit.

State-run Bangladesh Development Bank Ltd might be chosen as the counterpart bank, he said.

At the meeting, the government also sought opportunity to export its good quality pharmaceutical products to the country, as Bangladesh's manufacturers are already shipping drugs to 83 countries in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa and have surplus capacity to cater other markets.

The two sides also discussed formation of joint trade committee, preferential trade agreement under Developing-8 bloc, investment, Turkish official

assistance to Bangladesh, manpower export, food security, health, shipbuilding, water management, energy, civil aviation, tourism, small and medium enterprises, agriculture, fisheries and livestock and cultural cooperation.

Emine Sendil, deputy director general (agreement) of Turkey, and Arastoo Khan, additional secretary to the ERD, led the technical sessions of the meeting.

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

Engr. Md. Ruhul Matin, President of Cadet College Club Limited, inaugurates an ATM booth of MTB at CCCL premises at Gulshan in city recently.

Mutual Trust Bank (MTB) Limited opened its 123rd ATM booth at Cadet College Club Ltd (CCCL) at Gulshan in city recently.

Engr. Md. Ruhul Matin, President of CCCL inaugurated the ATM booth, said a press release Sunday.

Rashed A Chowdhury, Vice President of CCCL and Vice Chairman of MTB, former CCCL presidents Taneem Hasan, Shafiqur Rahman Munna, and Khandker Badrul Hasan, MTB Managing Director and CEO Anis A. Khan, Additional Managing Director Md. Ahsan-uz Zaman and senior officials of both the organisations were also present.

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

Md. Shafiqur Rahman, Managing Director (CC) of SIBL, deputy managing directors AMM Farhad and Mohammad Mohashin Miah, seen at a foundation training course at Training Institute of the Bank in Dhaka recently.

Social Islami Bank organised a foundation training course for its 8th batch probationary officers.

The foundation training course of the Bank was held at the Training Institute of the bank in Dhaka recently, said a press release Sunday.

Md. Shafiqur Rahman, Managing Director (CC) of the Bank inaugurated the training course as chief guest.

Deputy Managing Directors AMM Farhad and Mohammad Mohashin Miah, Principal of Training Institute Abu Sadek Md. Sohel, head of HR Md. Akhter Hussain were present.

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