A performance evaluation meeting of managers and field staffs of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB) of Joypurhat and Gaibandha zones was held in Bogra on Saturday.

Abdul Khaleque Khan, General Manager of Rajshahi Division, presided over the meeting, said a press release.

Md Mofazzal Husain, Managing Director of RAKUB attended the meeting as chief guest while Md Abu Hanif Khan, Deputy Managing Director and Md Habibur Rahman, General Manager of Rangpur Division were present as special guests.

A total of 49 branch managers and field staffs of the two zones took part at the meeting.

During the meeting, Md Mofazzal Husain suggested some guidelines to managers and field staffs of the bank for achieving the business target in the current financial year

News:Daily SUN bangladesh/12-May-12-2013

The central bank of Bangladesh projected the payment obligation in the dollar currency against imports in the power sector at $1.0 billion for the four-month period from November last, official sources said.

The payment obligation has been set against import of capital machinery, and petroleum oil and the purchase of electricity from rental power plants, which are joint ventures with foreign companies.

Experts fear a negative impact of it on the dollar rate in the local money market, if such big payments coincide with other payments in the greenback.

The government has to pay $1.014 billion for a period of four months, as is projected by the import monitoring section of Bangladesh Bank's (BB) Foreign Exchange Policy Department (FEPD).

The expected payment obligation for the months of November, December, January and February is as follows: $ 124.18 million for importing capital machinery, $ 743.31 million for importing petroleum oil and $ 147.12 million for purchasing electricity from rental power plants run on joint venture with foreign companies, according to the BB statistics.

The annual import costs in the power sector are equivalent to about one-third of the hard-earned remittances expatriate Bangladeshis send home, official sources said.

The total remittance inflows stood at $12.85 billion in the last financial year (2011-12) against $11.65 billion received in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. But a large portion of it or about one-third was spent on imports in the power sector, especially for the rental power plants, they also said.

The government needs more or less $ 5 billion a year against the payment obligation for imports in the power sector to generate electricity, a BB official said.

But the power supply in the country did not improve to any significant level, though the government raised power tariff several times in the country.

A former BB official said the higher payment obligation or import payments might push up the demand for dollar widening its gap with the greenback's supply and thus it might raise the dollar price in the local money market.

News: The Daily Financial Express/Bangladesh/15th-Dec-12

China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), a state-owned firm of China, has shown interest to implement the $325 million single-point mooring (SPM) project at deep sea to supply crude oil directly to Eastern Refinery Limited and improve the unloading facility at the outer anchorage.

The CMEC expressed its interest through a letter sent to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina through its Bangladesh chapter chief representative Zhong Guangzhou on December 3.

“Since Islamic Development Bank (ADB) is not willing to finance the increased cost, we will arrange the full fund on soft terms to implement the project,” the CMEC Bangladesh chief said.

“The soft loan, at a flat interest rate of 5.1 percent to be arranged by CMEC would save nearly $144 million of interest over the project period,” he offered. It was feared that the SPM project might be on hold as the external resources division looks for donors’ aid to implement the scheme.

The Economic Relations Division (ERD) sought more donor funds to implement the project as its cost now stands at $325 million, rising from $129 million,” Project Director GMA Afzal told earlier.

The project aims at facilitating hassle-free petroleum transportation from oil tankers to the ERL near Chittagong port through underground pipeline.

SPM cost increased as the ERL would require installing tank terminal, pump and pipelines permanently instead of direct pumping from tanker, the PD told daily sun.

The refinery would also install 103-kilometre pipeline instead of 77 kilometres between Matarbari of Kutubdia in Cox’s Bazar and Anwara in Chittagong.

In the development project proposal, the government initially estimated $129 million to install the terminal in 2010.

Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation initiated the project to handle crude oil from Kutubdia Island to the refinery to ensure the unloading of crude oil and finished products safely and in a cost-effective way. It was also aimed at tackling oil pilferage and reducing time for oil supply across the country.

The IDB assured to provide $129 million as a soft loan for the project. The rest was supposed to come from the BPC and other donors.

The BPC would not need to rely on other countries for handling imported oil after establishing the terminal, another ERL official said.

The state-run corporation would also be able to save Tk 4.5 billion to Tk 5.0 billion per year by reducing pilferage from transportation of oil as well as reaching at the break-even point within 15 years after setting up the terminal, he added.

Once built, the terminal would be able to handle 120,000 tonnes of oil per month, officials said.

A BPC official alleged that the installation was delayed as a number of businessmen, blessed with some ruling-party leaders, are controlling the loading and unloading of petroleum products.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/13th-Dec-12

The central bank has revised note refund regulations after 36 years considering massive changes in security features of notes and peoples mentality. From now on, Bangladesh Bank (Note Refund) Regulations -1976 is repealed and all commercial banks are asked to settle claim of charred, damp, deformed and decomposed notes under the revised regulations, said a BB circular on Tuesday.

The revised regulations may be called the "Bangladesh Bank (Note Refund) Regulations – 2012 with immediate
effect, it said.

It also reads that the BB board made the regulations prescribing the circumstances in, and the conditions and limitations, subject to which the value of any mutilated or imperfect note may be refunded as of grace.

On general provisions in relation to all claims, the revised regulations says no claim in respect of a note alleged to have been lost, stolen or wholly destroyed shall be entertained.

No claim in respect of a note shall be entertained by the prescribed officer unless such a note is identified as a genuine note. No claim in respect of a note which has been deliberately cut,  torn, defaced, altered or dealt with in any other manner, not necessarily by the claimants, enabling the use of the same for making of a false claim under the regulations or otherwise to defraud the bank or  the public shall be entertained.

On disposal of mutilated note, no claim in respect of a mutilated note shall be entertained unless the single largest piece of the note presented is more than 50 per cent.

On disposal of obliterated, mismatched, altered and damp notes: a claim in respect of an altered, mismatched or fully obliterated note shall be rejected.

News: The Daily Independent/Bangladesh/12-12-12

Stocks opened the week with downward pressure yet again, thanks to investors' selling spree in anticipation of a bear run.

DGEN, key market tracking index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), finished the day at 4,018.06 points, after dropping 48.18 points or 1.18 percent.

Trading at the premier bourse started an hour late at 11:30 am due to technical fault.

“This problem will not re-occur again as we have already rectified it once and for all,” a DSE official said.

The bourse observed active sell pressure from the very beginning and to end the day in the red.

“The bourse got another blow by way of a countrywide eight-hour long road blockade. Most of the securities from every sector suffered from price corrections amid increased political violence during recent periods,” said IDLC Investments in its daily market commentary.

IPOs attracted investors' interests the most. For instance, Envoy Textile which debuted today obtained a 23.47 percent turnover, added the merchant bank.

“Market traded with bearish momentum all through the trading session. Although the current economic scenario is sluggish, forthcoming financing prospects and improving economic indicators suggest long-term prosperity” said LankaBangla Securities in its market commentary.

The stockbroker added: “Investors are discounting the fact that the financing prospects of Padma Bridge have become bleak again due to the World Bank and the government failing to reach an agreement.”

Turnover, however, remained almost flat compared to the previous session at Tk 213 crore, with 5.18 crore shares and mutual fund units changing hands on the premier bourse.

Losers beat gainers by a huge margin of 214 to 37, with 13 securities remaining unchanged on the DSE floor.

All the major sectors posted losses on the day: non-bank financial institutions dropped 1.89 percent, followed by power 1.65, banks 1.56 percent, telecommunications 0.72 percent and pharmaceuticals 0.46 percent.

Envoy Textile was the most traded stock of the day, thanks to its transaction of 80.21 lakh shares worth Tk 50.16 crore.

The company also was the biggest gainer of the day, posting a 106 percent gain.

The Jamuna Oil Company was the worst loser of the day, plunging by 27.64 percent.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/10th-Dec-12