A K M Shameem, Principal of MTB Training Institute, inaugurates the Bank’s 79th ATM booth in Jessore recently.

Mutual Trust Bank Limited (MTB) recently opened its 79th ATM booth in Jessore.
AKM Shameem, principal of MTB Training Institute, formally inaugurated the booth as chief guest, said a press release.

Head of MTB Wholesale Banking Syed Rafiqul Hossain, the Bank’s senior official Liaquat Ali, local business man Zaman, physician Saiful Islam and journalist Mobin Khan, among others, were also present at the function.

A K M Shameem said MTB is committed to provide modern banking services to the customers.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 11th March 2012

City Bank Chairman Rubel Aziz yesterday handed over a Bangladeshi flag to mountaineer Wasfia Nazreen, who leaves country today for her Mount Everest Expedition.

Wasfia Nazreen, a Bangladeshi mountaineer, is set to leave country today to climb to the summit of the Earth's highest Mount Everest as her third expedition after having reached two other highest peaks of two continents.

City Bank Limited has joined the Mount Everest Expedition of Wasfia as its Platinum Sponsor while Renata Limited and Kazi Farms Limited are Gold Sponsors, says a press releas.

A ‘flag-off’ ceremony was held at City Bank Centre banquet hall in the city yesterday on the occasion.
Rubel Aziz, City Bank’s Chairman, handed over a flag of Bangladesh to Wasfia at the function, which she will carry to the summit.

Wasfia will traverse the mountain from South side, the classic route taken by Edmund Hillary, which is considered the more difficult route than the North side.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 11th March 2012

Hike in prices and increase in the demand for fuel oil are the main reasons behind inflation, the Bangladesh Bank believes. ”Basically hikes in prices of necessities in the international market and fuel oil in local market, along with increased demand for fuel oil, appear to be the main reasons for inflation,” the central bank says in a recent report on the economy. 

According to the report, the average inflation rate in the past 12 months ending in January was 11.59 per cent; while the rate was 10.91 per cent on a point-to-point basis. The inflation rate for an average of past 12 months had been 9.04 per cent in January last year, with point-to-point inflation at 8.14 per cent. According to the central bank, the import of all the products except fuel oil has dropped in the first seven months (from July to January) of the current fiscal. 

In that time, the number of L/Cs (letters of credit) opened to import rice has decreased 73 per cent, to import capital machineries fell 33.22 per cent and to import industrial raw materials, dropped 9.32 per cent from the previous financial year. On the other hand, the number of L/Cs opened to import fuel oil has increased a staggering 93.23 per cent, the central bank revealed. Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, however, said the government was trying to keep the inflation rate at a tolerable level. 

On March 4, he presented a report in parliament titled ‘Budget 2011-12: Implementation, Progress, Income-Expenditure Trend and Macroeconomic Analysis of the 1st Quarter (From July to September)’. In the report, he said the average inflation rate in those three months was 11.41 per cent, which had been 7.6 per cent during the same period last fiscal.

The rate was seeing an upturn, he said and reasoned food inflation as the cause. The inflation of commodities, other than foods, also put pressure on the general inflation rate, Muhith said. The report reads that the hike in prices of fuel oil and food in the international market, additional flow of loans and limitations of supply were fuelling inflation. However, the prices of fuel oil have dropped in the international market. 

According to International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast, the prices of fuel oil would come down at $100 per barrel by end of 2012. The finance minister’s report expressed hope that the bumper production of Boro crops and the possibility of satisfactory growth in the agriculture sector will play a positive role in reducing the possible inflation pressure in the current fiscal. 

”The good news for us is that we do not need to import rice. With the reserve rice, I don’t think that we will need to import anymore in the next few days,” former adviser to the caretaker government A B Mirza Azizul Islam told bdnews24.com. ”Our (the country’s) inflation now basically depends on fuel,” he added. He said prices of fuel oil have experienced hikes several times in the tenure of the incumbent government.

“The demand for fuel oil has also increased due to its usage at the power plants.” ”Fuel oil is such a commodity whose price hikes impact almost all other commodities including transport cost. The same thing is  happening here,” he added.  

The Indepedent/Bangladesh/ 10th March 2012

Default loans of 47 banks rose to Tk 29147.67 crore at the end of the year 2011, Bangladesh Bank (BB) statistics revealed. The central bank in its latest inspection report identified the defaulters of the 47 banks and asked the respective management of the banks to accelerate the recovery drive. 

The sectors of the top defaulters are textile and clothing industry, agro-based industry, jute, power, tannery, paper mills, shipping, electrical manufacturing, tea estates, construction, and trading, according to the report.The state-owned Sonali Bank has the largest amount of default loans, which is around Tk 5705 crore.

The bank’s total loans and advances stood at Tk 31,895 crore. In percentage point ratio the default loan is 17.89 per cent of its total loans and advances.Among the specialised banks, Bangladesh Krishi Bank remains in the second place by holding default loans of Tk 3893.85 crore while that of the Bangladesh Development Bank Ltd is Tk. 1308.48 crore, and the Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank is Tk 1268.95 crore.

Among  the private banks, the default loans of National Bank Ltd. is Tk 1058.75 crore while that of ICB Islamic Bank is Tk 814 crore, Southeast Bank’s Tk 663 crore  and Uttara Bank’s Tk 606.54 crore.  On the other hand, eight foreign banks together holds default loans of around Tk 672 crore. Standard Chartered Bank remains top of the list with Tk 351.93 crore default loans while HSBC and Citi Bank NA have Tk 82.18 crore and Tk 31.11 crore respectively.

Till 31st December 2011, the banking sector’s total loans and advances stood at Tk 369,901 crore of which the amount of classified loans (CL) is Tk 22,644.16 crore.The CL of the four state-owned banks together is Tk 9170.75 crore while that of four the specilised banks (BDBL, BKB, RAKUB and BASIC Bank Ltd) is Tk 5645.27 crore.

Thirty private banks together had CL worth Tk 7202 crore and that of the eight foreign banks is Tk 626 crore.The BB data show that the CL with the public sector totals Tk 848 crore while the remaining amount is with the private sector.

The Independent/Bangladesh/ 10th March 2012

Dr Ahmed Al Kabir, Chairman of Rupali Bank Limited, speaks at the Khulna divisional managers’ conference-2012 at the conference room of Hotel City Inn in Khulna recently.

The state-owned Rupali Bank Limited has organized divisional managers’ conference-2012 of Khulna held at the conference room of Hotel City Inn in Khulna recently.

Among others, Sheikh Serajul Hoque Farazi, director, Deputy Managing Director A K M Ashraf Uddin Khan, General Manager Syed Abu Asad, were present on the occasion.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 10th March 2012