Md. Mahmudul Hoque, Chairman of Jamuna Bank Limited, presides over the 11th Annual General Meeting of the Bank at the Officers' Club in Dhaka,

Jamuna Bank Limited declared 23 percent bonus dividend to its shareholders for the year 2011.

The announcement came at the 11th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Officers' Club in Dhaka, said a press release on Monday.

Md. Mahmudul Hoque, Chairman of Jamuna Bank Limited presided over the meeting.

Al-Haj Nur Mohammed, Chairman of Jamuna Bank Foundation, chairman of Audit Committee of JBL Md. Tazul Islam MP, other directors of the Bank and shareholders were present.

A large number of shareholders of the Bank unanimously approved the 23 percent bonus share at the annual general meeting.

Md. Mahmudul Hoque, Chairman of JBL said, "Jamuna Bank always honour the rules and discipline of Bangladesh Bank, SEC, DSE and CSE."

The Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 29-May-2012

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, seen at a contract signing ceremony at Biddyut Bhaban in Dhaka Monday.

The long-coveted deal to install the Shiddhirganj 335-MW combined cycle power plant project was signed on Monday, eying on narrowing the mounting demand-supply gap of power.

Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB) Ltd, a concern of Bangladesh Power Development Board, sealed the deal with Spain-based joint-venture company comprised of ISOLUX Ingenieria SA and Sumsung C&T Corporation.

Officials hoped that the gas-based power plant would be 50 percent more efficient in terms of energy consumption compared to conventional ones, also helping to minimise the cost of power generation.

Total cost in the project is $339.18 million, of which the World Bank is providing $221.10 million. The government and EGCB Ltd will provide the rest to complete the project within the next 30 months.

With the new power plant, the share of power generation from quick rental power plants will come down to 7 percent of the country’s total power generation by 2016 from existing 21 percent, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said while speaking on the deal signing function as chief guest.

He said power consumption in the country has increased in recent years due to high economic growth, widening the demand-supply gap.

Energy Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, State Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources Eng Muhammad Enamul Huq, Power Division Secretary Abul Kalam Azad, World Bank Country Director Ellen Goldstein and chairman of EGCB Ltd Nilufar Ahmed were also present at the function.

EGCB company secretary Kazi Nazrul Islam, ISOLUX Managing Director Jose Garrido and Samsung C&T Corporation General Manager Sungki Na signed the contract for their respective companies.

Terming the project as a “life support project” for the country’s power sector, Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said, “It is indeed a very auspicious occasion for us.”

The combined cycle power plant will contribute much to energy efficiency along with cutting fuel costs for power generation, Tawfiq said, adding that power will be a key issue in maintaining the country’s economic growth rate over six percent.

He said the government has been able to increase power generation up to 5,500MW, from around 3,500MW, after taking office.

During the period, the government had to give two millions new connections while the demand for power at industrial units also increased manifolds, Tawfiq added.

World Bank Country Director Ellen Goldstein said the Shiddhirganj power plant will be the most inexpensive and most reliable power plant in Bangladesh.

She also hailed the bidding and procurement process of the project.

The WB country director called for creating a level playing field in the sector to attract more foreign private companies to invest in Bangladesh’s power sector. Earlier, the WB had committed to provide $221.10 million to implement two units of peaking power plant at Siddhirganj, each with capacity of generating 150MW of electricity.

But it later disagreed on a proposal to procure equipments from German firm Siemens over graft allegations. The WB then proposed the government to turn the project into a 335-450MW combined cycle one and assured to provide the total fund required for the project.

According to officials, state-owned EGCB invited a tender in October 2010 for the 300-450MW Siddhirganj power plant.

The project, undertaken in 2004, was delayed due to a long procedure of tendering and re-tendering as the authorities failed to satisfy the WB.

A tender was first invited in 2009 when it was a 300-MW peaking plant project. But the EGCB had to cancel it in response to a WB suggestion.

Later, as per Power Division’s instructions and World Bank’s suggestions, the EGCB upgraded the project to a 335-450MW combined cycle power plant and floated a tender in November 2010.

The Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 29-May-2012

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will upgrade the UNCTAD software by September next year to make the system more robust against underinvoicing in external trade, NBR officials said.

Underinvoicing is an illegal practice to dodge the correct duty on imported products by quoting an incorrect price.

The move comes in response to a claim from a former central bank governor that the country was incurring huge revenue losses due to NBR's failure to detect under-invoicing.

The Daily Star/ Bangladesh/ 29-May-2012

A group of retail investors staged protests in front of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to intervene in the market for the sake of stability.

They demonstrated for the 12th time this year, protesting an unusual fall in share prices.

Small investors, under the banner of Bangladesh Share Investors' Association (BSIA), took to the streets, seeking a final solution to the stockmarket troubles.

The benchmark General Index of Dhaka Stock Exchange finished the day at 4,645 points, after falling 70 points or 1.48 percent.

Investors urged the SEC to take action to stop directors' aggressive sell-offs. They also asked the regulator to give one month to sponsors and directors to comply with the mandatory share holding directive of SEC.

Mizanur Rashid Chowdhury, president of BSIA, said the regulator should remove those directors, who have shares below 2 percent, from the boards of their companies.

“It is apparent that participation of investors dropped significantly, as they were apprehensive about the ongoing writ petition issues on minimum shareholding and adopted a 'wait-and-see' approach,” IDLC Investments said in its daily market commentary.

Turnover rose 6.16 percent to Tk 183 crore, compared to the previous day. A total of 0.059 lakh trades were executed with 3.9 crore shares and mutual fund units changing hands on the Dhaka bourse.

Lafarge Surma Cement continued to be the most traded stock for the second consecutive session with a turnover of Tk 16.49 crore followed by Grameenphone with Tk 88.9 crore in turnover.

Purabi General Insurance was the biggest gainer of the day, as it posted an 8.25 percent rise.

First Security Islami Bank featured among the top ten losers after the adjustments made for its record date on Sunday.

Of the 258 issues that traded on the DSE, 200 declined, 35 gained and 23 issues remained unchanged.

All sectors declined: non-bank financial institutions lost 2.79 percent, banks 1.16 percent, power 1.31 percent, pharmaceuticals 1.09 percent, and telecoms 0.74 percent.

The Daily Star/ Bangladesh/ 29-May-2012

Qatar has proposed to invest its currency worth of $1.8 billion in the Bangladesh Bank.

The central bank will share profits with the Gulf nation from investing the fund abroad, a high official said.

Bangladesh received such a proposal from abroad for the first time in 25 years.

The proposal was made Sunday when a 10-member team led by Qatar's assistant minister for international cooperation affairs met BB officials in Dhaka.

BB officials had a detailed discussion with the Qatari delegation on the investment proposal.

The Qatari team enquired about the BB's foreign currency reserve (around $10 billion now), where the BB makes investment abroad and how much profit it gets against those investments.

The BB official told The Daily Star that the central bank makes a handsome amount of profit every year from the investments it makes abroad.

The investment of BB's reserve ranges from one day to one month or more. As a result, the rate of interest varies.

The official said the profit to be given to Qatar will be determined on the basis of the time for which it deposits the money with the BB.

He said Qatar will convey its final decision regarding the investment during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to that country from today.

The BB official also said, if Qatar deposits the money with the BB, its reserve will increase and it will have a positive impact on the balance of payments.

The official said it will also bring a better result regarding Bangladesh's country rating.

He said, after 1987 this is the first time Bangladesh got such a proposal. Before 1987, some Middle East countries invested small amounts of money with the central bank of Bangladesh.

The BB official also said Qatar makes investment of a huge amount of money abroad. The country has offered to invest a small part of it with the BB as a symbol of Muslim fraternity.

The Daily Star/ Bangladesh/ 29-May-2012