Local poultry farmers at a seminar has sought government support for rescuing the sector from collapse.
Due to various mismanagements in the industry, the once-vibrant sector is now struggling hard for survival, they said.

They urged the government to introduce vaccine and other necessities like poultry insurance, bank loan with lower interest rates and tax exemption on poultry feed for removing the obstacles and smooth operation of the industry . 
The poultry stakeholders made the comments Wednesday at a seminar in city on 'Crises in Poultry sector: Immediate action'. 

Abdul Latif Biswas, minister of Fisheries and Livestock, was the chief guest at the programme. M A Sattar Mandol, member, Planning Commission, former Bangladesh Bank Governor Farash Uddin Ahmed, Moshiur Rahman, convener of Bangladesh Poultry Industries Coordination Committee and entrepreneurs from poultry sector, among others, were present in the seminar. 

On the entrepreneurs demand, Abdul Latif Biswas assured the farmers and said he already has taken some steps in this connection and others measures will be taken immediately.

He said Fisheries and Livestock Ministry already has taken decision in principle to introduce much-talked-about avian influenza vaccine with a view to eradicating the disease from the country.

"We have formed a committee with eight experts to give a report on the bird flu situation in the country," said the minister adding the committee has been given 72 hours (from last Monday) to submit the report to the ministry.

"At first we will use the avian influenza vaccine experimentally then it will be used widely", he added.

He also said he will hold discussions about bank loan, insurance and tax measures with the finance ministry before passing of the next budget (2012-13).

The ministry has strictly prohibited import of eggs from bird flu-affected countries so that the local firms remain safe from the disease, he said. 

Multinational companies are grabbing the industry gradually and this should be discouraged immediately, said Mousiur Rahman while presenting the keynote paper.

Farash Uddin Ahmed said poultry and crops insurance is very expensive and for this reason the insurance companies are not interest in it.

Therefore, the government should make special arrangement for the industry in this connection, he added.
He also suggested that the poultry farmers be provided with loans from the micro credit organisations at low interest.

The poultry entrepreneurs also sought duty waiver on import of poultry feeds. 

They said though the government has given tax holiday to the sector the import of poultry feed has been brought under 5.0 per cent duty.

The Financial Express/Bangladesh/ 7th June 2012

International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Bangladesh Bank (BB) jointly organised a workshop to share the experiences of how foreign banks and non-financial banking institutions are responding to the non-financial services the small and medium enterprises (SME) need. The joint workshop was held at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in the city on Wednesday.

Sukumar Sinha Choudhury, general manager of BB, in his welcome address, said, the IFC is giving full supports to the BB.

Joint initiative is essential for more development, the central bank official said.

The joint workshop was also attended by Arsalan Alfred Ni, regional IFC SME ventures coordinator, Nasar Khan, access to finance team of IFC Bangladesh, Michel Botzung, global product specialist, farmers and SME training of IFC, Devrim Ziya Tavil, director (SME Banking) of Turkish Economy Bank), Pronav Toshniwal, marketing manager of ICICI Bank of India, Reazuddin Mosharaf, managing director of Windmill Education Services Ltd. and senior officials of the distinguished local banks.

Speaking at the workshop, Arsalan Alfred Ni talked about on the demand of SME financing.About 80 per cent business people of Bangladesh needs SME loan, he said.  Therefore, the local banks and non-bank financial institutions should focus on diversifying their activities to the important areas, particularly the farmers; because they are not getting sufficient SME loans from the banks.

Michel Botzung gave his speech on why banks in emerging markets are increasingly providing non-financial services to the SME.With the local banks, Devrim Ziya Tavil, director (SME Banking) of Turkish Economy Bank), and Pronav Toshniwal, marketing manager of ICICI Bank of India, shared their experiences on providing non-financial services in Turkey and India respectively.

The Independent/Bangladesh/ 7th June 2012

BRAC Bank Wednesday launched a campaign to encourage its customers go green by subscribing to e-statements.

BRAC Group’s chief financial officer and BRAC Bank’s director SN Kairy officially launched the ‘Go Green with e-statement campaign’ in presence of BRAC Bank managing director and chief executive officer Syed Mahbubur Rahman and other senior officials of the Bank on occasion of the World Environment Day.

Customers of BRAC Bank who switches to e-statement will get up to 10 percent discount on plants, solar home systems, silk and hand-made recycled paper products at BRAC Kanon.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 7th June 2012

Finance Minister AMA Muhith will announce the national budget in parliament today amid daunting challenges to meet a lofty revenue target, facing huge deficit and managing subsidies to fulfill the IMF conditions against a $1 billion credit to overcome macroeconomic pressures.

The budget for 2012-13 fiscal will be placed in parliament amidst boycott by the main opposition BNP.

Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia earlier alleged that the Awami League-led government has prepared the budget on political considerations to finance the next general election.

The upcoming budget will be the fourth and last implementable budget by the grant alliance government and it would focus mainly on the ways to satisfy the voters ahead of the next general election due in 2014, experts said.

The finance minister comes under intensified pressure this time as most of the macro-economic indicators currently remain in negative territory while the country’s economy has been facing many internal and external shocks due to stock debacle, lack of infrastructure and the much-talked-about Euro-zone crisis, an official of the Finance Division said.

The finance ministry, despite repeated knocks, has not received any green signal from the Prime Minister’s Office to reduce the overall size of subsidies in the upcoming fiscal as per the conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The ministry wanted belt-tightening measures on subsidy to agriculture, electricity, petroleum products and loss-making state-owned enterprises to improve the country’s macro-economy situation, which remains under pressure in the outgoing fiscal.

Sources said the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked the concerned authorities to plan the budget in a manner so that it casts no negative impact on the ruling party’s vote banks for the next general election. The PM also wants to keep the budgetary measures on subsidy intact in the next budget.

As per its extended credit facility (ECF) programme, international lender IMF has tagged a number of conditions to the credit, which include automatic price adjustment of fuel oils, removal of tax concessions and enacting VAT law in the upcoming fiscal.

In the budget planning, the minister will have to maintain a balance between the government’s election pledges and satisfaction of its vote bank along with restoring macroeconomic stability and achieving more inclusive growth.

In these circumstances, Muhith may take some unpopular decisions to adjust fuel prices, raising taxes and VAT and setting a non-NBR revenue target increased to Tk 150 billion in the next fiscal from the current revised budget, economists said.

They also viewed that the main challenges in the next fiscal year would be to bring substantial local and foreign investments into the country to rein in rising inflation.

Common people expect that the budget would unveil some fresh measures to contain inflationary pressure while the business people want to see more business-friendly steps to boost trade and employment generation.

Dr Akbar Ali Khan, former adviser to a caretaker government, told daily sun that not only controlling high food inflation, but also looking after the non-food inflation like house rent and transport fares would be a major task of the finance minister in the next fiscal.

As per the IMF conditions, the government will have to increase energy prices by December this year. So, it should take measures to control inflation in the first place, he added.

The finance ministry should concentrate more on revenue earning from local sources and improve relation with the development partners to bring more foreign loans, Akbar Ali added.

Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of Policy Research Institute, told daily sun that high inflation remains a great concern as most the people are living below poverty line in the country.

Any change in subsidy volume will push up inflation rate essential prices, taking the people under poverty line to more vulnerable situation, he added.

The upcoming budget will introduce fresh Value Added Tax (VAT) policy as per IMF recommendations. As a result, the tax net would spread its wings, sources in National Board of Revenue (NBR) said.

Under the new VAT policy, NBR will impose minimum 1.5 to maximum 9 percent VAT in services and sale. At present, the rate is 6 percent.

Besides, a big reform in the income policy will be announced in the next budget with an increased tax at source at 1 percent from existing 0.70 percent, sources in NBR said.

NBR officials said the government may allow undisclosed money in only four sectors - real estate, stock market, infrastructure bond and establishment of new banks and investment by director of banks in their respective banks.

Meanwhile, the surcharge on personal wealth or assets (movable and immovable) exceeding Tk 20 million will also continue next fiscal alike the outgoing fiscal year.

But, NBR is unlikely to reduce taxes on SIM (Subscribers Identification Module) cards and mobile phone calls with a view to increasing its revenue income but 2 percent tax on talk time will be proposed, finance ministry officials said.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 7th June 2012

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) China has got approval of Chinese central bank to be a market maker for direct trading of local currency RMB and Japanese Yen in the inter-bank market.

With this approval, HSBC becomes one of the first market makers for the direct trading of RMB and Yen in China's foreign exchange market, according to an official statement of the bank.

HSBC China launched its RMB-Yen trading on Friday last, aiming to bring liquidity to the market.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 6th June 2012