The country's overall trade deficit widened by over 17 per cent to US$ 5.701 billion in the first eight months of the current fiscal year (FY '12) following higher import of petroleum products, officials said Monday.

"Higher import of fuel oil has widened the overall trade deficit during the period under review. But it might ease slightly in the coming months because of a falling trend in import of food grains along with unnecessary luxury items," a senior official at Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.

The overall trade deficit rose to $ 5.701 billion in July-February of the FY '12 from $ 4.859 billion during the corresponding period in the previous fiscal, according to the central bank statistics.

During the period, export earnings stood at $ 16.006 billion against the import payments of $ 21.707 billion.

Import of food grains such as rice and wheat, in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs), witnessed a negative growth of 36.83 per cent to $ 704.01 million in the period from $ 1.11 billion of the corresponding period last fiscal.

The import of fuel oils increased by 49.63 per cent to $ 3.00 billion in the first eight months of FY '12 from $ 2.00 billion of the same period in the previous fiscal, the BB data showed.

The central banker also said the BB has already advised the commercial banks to make credits available to the priority sectors, including the productive ones, in line with the newly announced monetary policy.

On January 26 last, the BB unveiled a 'restrained' monetary policy aiming to bring down inflation to single-digit from the current level of over 10 per cent through discouraging credit flows to unproductive sectors.

The country's current account balance decreased by nearly 32 per cent to $ 681 million in the period under report from $ 999 million in the same period of the previous fiscal.

However, the overall balance of payments (BoP) has recorded a deficit of $ 516 million during the period under review from $ 222 million in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal.

The overall BoP entered the negative territory in FY '11 after a decade due to widening of the trade gap, lower growth of remittances and deficit balance in the financial account.

Financial Express/Bangladesh/ 17th April 2012

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has asked all scheduled banks to introduce advance technology to help central bank scan daily transactions in the commercial banks. According to BB, the latest move of the central bank is aimed at identifying suspicious transactions in order to check money laundering and terrorist financing. 

“The objective is to monitor all monetary transactions originating from alternate delivery channels such as ATM, KIOSKS, POS, E-Commerce, Internet Banking and Mobile Banking offered by the banks,” reads a circular issued last week by the BB’s Department of Currency Management and Payment Systems.

Speaking in details, an official of the concerned department said a single switch that would be connected to the National Payment Switch (NPS) could allow the BB headquarters to see all the transaction reports instantly.

According to the circular, the banks will need to be en-link with the NPS through which the central bank could monitor all monetary transactions originating from alternate delivery channels.

The BB suggested that the banks develop child switch at respective bank headquarters which would connect banks to the NPS, which would act as mother switch.

The circular reads: “Banks those have their own transaction switching system or share others’ system or planning to install their own system are advised to take necessary preparation to build up a single interface with the NPS to comply with the BB directives.”

The NPS will support transactions made through cards or account number (direct debit or credit), clear and settle electronic transactions through the settlement accounts of all the scheduled banks maintained with the central bank, it reads.

The Independent/Bangladesh/ 17th April 2012

Field research and photography work of four young employees of HSBC on ‘Butterflies species of Bangladesh’ went on display at a week-long exhibition at the Drik Gallery in the capital city.

The exhibition was formally inaugurated on Sunday by Asaduzzaman Noor, MP in presence of Andrew Tilke, HSBC Bangladesh CEO and other eminent personalities.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 17th April 2012

Prime Bank is going to launch Platinum Card and biometric smart card "Prime Cash" this month to bring the unbanked people of urban and rural areas of the country under inclusive banking.

"We are also going to start Phone Banking this year and will open 12 new branches across the country."

Managing Director of Prime Bank Limited Md. Ehsan Khasru said this while addressing a press conference organised on the eve of 17th anniversary of the Bank at a city hotel. Additional Managing Director M. Reazul Karim, Deputy Managing Directors Muhammad Yasin Ali, Kanti Kumar Saha and Md. Tabarak Hossain Bhuiyan and other senior officials of the Bank were present at the press conference.

Md. Ehsan Khasru spoke about the Bank's successes, current activities and future plans on the eve of celebrating 17th anniversary of the Bank. He shed light on the Bank's business successes at home and abroad, achievements of awards like SAFA, ICAB, etc. as the Best Bank. Besides, the Bank achieved the credit rating by CRISL to ST-1 in the short term and AA+ in the long term.

He said, Prime Bank has taken a number of steps to increase the remittance flow and various SME loans to make the national economy stronger. To ensure a wide and maximum use of information technology Prime Bank introduced Internet and Mobile Banking this year. Besides, the Bank launched school banking "My First Account" for the school going students.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 17th April 2012

Prof. Abu Nasser Muhammad Abduz Zaher, Chairman of IBBL presides over the 29th AGM of the Bank in the city recently.

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) has declared 25 percent stock and 7 percent cash dividend for the year 2011.

This dividend was approved at the 29th Annual General Meeting of the Bank held at Islami Bank Tower in the city recently, said a press release.

Presided over by Prof. Abu Nasser Muhammad Abduz Zaher, Chairman, Board of Directors of the Bank the meeting was attended by foreign and local directors including Dr. Abdulhameed Fouad Al-Khateeb, Jeddah, KSA, Mohammad Adnan Midani, Representative of Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah, KSA and Mohammad Abdullah Al-Jalahma, Representative of Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 17th April 2012