Zahur Ullah, Chairman of ONE Bank Limited, and Farzana Chowdhury, vice chairperson of the Bank, among others, seen at the 13th annual general meeting of the Bank in the city recently. The Bank declared 30 per cent stock dividend and also held the 5th extraordinary general meeting.

Financial Express/Bangladesh/ 1st April 2012

The country’s apex trade body president AK Azad has sought US envoy’s mediation to melt down the ice that was frozen on Padma Bridge construction issue between Bangladesh and the World Bank (WB).

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry made the request before the US ambassador Dan W Mozena at an Annual General Meeting of the International Business Forum of Bangladesh, held at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel on Saturday.

Azad said misunderstanding between Bangladesh and WB is going on regarding the financing of the Padma Bridge construction.

“WB is a good friend of Bangladesh,” he said and added that misunderstanding could be removed through talks.

WB wanted to provide soft loan to erect Padma bridge on the river Padma but things got difficult as the lending agency reportedly found “wrong doing” in the process of survey.

WB’s soft loan is mostly needed for infrastructure development and for the country’s rapid industrialization, the FBCCI president said.

“As being a business leader, I want to reduce the gap between Bangladesh and the WB,” he added.
Azad called upon the US ambassador to work together for overcoming any misunderstanding between Bangladesh and the WB.

The Daily Independent/Bangladesh/ 1st April 2012

Finance Minister AMA Muhith leaves for Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, on Sunday night to attend the 37th Annual IDB Group Meeting. Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Badruddin Ahmed Kamran and Senior Secretary of the Economic Relations Division (ERD) Iqbal Mahmood will accompany the Finance Minister.

The Finance Minister will attend the first working session of the IDB Board of Governors on April 3 at the Corinthia Hotel Khartoum and is likely to hold meetings with the Finance Ministers of Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

Later, in the afternoon, Muhith will attend the IDB 23rd Annual Symposium on ‘Fostering Inclusive Development in IDB Member Countries’ and is likely to hold meetings with IDB president and Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Ali Babacan at the same venue.

The Finance Minister will also attend the 2nd  working session of the IDB Board of Governors on the same day.

The Daily Independent/Bangladesh/ 1st April 2012

An economist yesterday warned the government of “uneasiness” in the banking sector.

“It seems the banking sector is facing some uneasiness, particularly nationalised commercial banks,” said Binayak Sen, research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).

“For them, problems are piling up,” Sen said. “We have to be cautious right now. The cash recovery of NCBs is low. In most cases, the recovery is being shown through rescheduling. The operating profit exists only in books.”

Sen urged the government to be stringent about issuing permission for new banks.

He spoke at a seminar that focused on socio-economic development in the first three years of the grand alliance in power, organised by the ruling Awami League at the auditorium of the Bangladesh Medical Association in Dhaka.

Sen said it was not wise to allow banks to get involved in the capital market. It was a wrong decision, he added. "A limit has been enforced now, but it should have been done earlier."

He said tax exemption for large investors was not proper in respect of social justice and growth.

"I still think that proper steps should have been taken against people who were found guilty in the report submitted by the Ibrahim Khaled-led panel after an investigation,” Sen said. “There should not have been any compromise on the issue.”

Sen said the country's tax-GDP ratio should be increased by mobilising resources from domestic sources to take the investment-GDP ratio to 32 percent from 24 percent now.

"Otherwise, we will not be able achieve 8-8.5 percent economic growth to take Bangladesh to a middle-income country," he said.

"Steps have been taken, but they are not sufficient. Bangladesh has still the lowest tax-GDP ratio in South Asia," Sen said.

Keynote presenter Mashiur Rahman, economic affairs adviser to the prime minister, said it would not be possible to run the economy without long-term accountability.

"In the past, our economic policies addressed only immediate and short-term challenges. We have now made mid-term and long-term policies. We should not deviate from this."

He said it is a matter of pride that the country's reliance on foreign aid is on the wane. "But the government has to borrow from the banking sector to finance the budget deficit, which can squeeze credit flow to the private sector."

"We have to look at whether we are failing to spend foreign aid due to our limitation in implementation,” Rahman said. “We cannot borrow from the banking sector or the central bank excessively.”

"The government should enhance its capacity to use foreign aid," Rahman said.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith said the economy of Bangladesh reached a level different from 2008.

The government was unable to spend much of the $14 billion foreign aid in the pipeline, he said.

"We could spend only $2.5 billion. If we can spend more, our investment will go up. However, the capacity of spending of our ministries has increased 30 percent."

Bangladesh's exports might grow by 14 percent in the current fiscal year, Muhith said. "If it is 14 percent then I would say it is still commendable, given it is based on the high growth of 40 percent we achieved in the last fiscal year."

Moazzem Hossain, editor of The Financial Express, said Bangladesh would not be totally immune to the persisting global economic crisis, as 40 percent of the country GDP is linked with international business and trade.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 1st April 2012

The 29th annual general meeting (AGM) of Pubali Bank has been postponed because of an injunction by the High Court.

The Bank said its board decided to postpone the AGM after the court issued the order on March 21. The AGM was scheduled to be held yesterday.

The HC issued the rule after Safi Ahmed Chowdhury, who wanted to contest the election to the Bank's Board of Directors, filed a petition seeking a stay on the AGM. Pubali violated the mandatory provisions of retirement of directors and to elect them at the AGM, according to the petition.

Senior lawyer Rokanuddin Mahmud appeared on behalf of the petitioner.

It appears that the petitioner has reason for seeking the stay on the meeting, the HC said. "Therefore, this court is inclined to pass an interim order."

After the injunction was issued, the Bank postponed its sixth extraordinary general meeting citing unavoidable circumstances. The EGM was set for yesterday.

"The new date, time and venue for holding the 29th AGM and the sixth EGM will be notified later on," said Pubali Bank in a posting on the Dhaka Stock Exchange website on March 28.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 1st April 2012