Vegetable prices soar as transport costs rise

The price of all vegetables soared up at the retail markets of the city on Friday.

Market insiders said increased transportation costs reflected in the price of vegetables at both wholesale and retail markets.

They said the cost of transporting vegetables from rural farms to the wholesale markets increased following a rise in price of fuels used by trucks. 

The owners of trucks raised the fare for transporting vegetables at their wish after the government had increased the price of CNG gas and other fuels.

Price of all vegetables went up by at least Tk 5 to Tk 10 per kg at the city's kitchen markets over the last week.

On Friday, tomato was retiled at Tk 30 to Tk 32 per kg, up by Tk 5 over past week at the Polashi Bazar.

Green Papaya (pepe) was retailed at Tk 20 to Tk 25, up by Tk 5 per kg over the week and Jhinga was sold at Tk 30 to Tk 35 up, by Tk 10 per kg at the Kawran Bazar kitchen market.

Snake gourd (chichinga) was retailed at Tk 35 to Tk 40 per kg up by Tk 10 over the last week, aubergine was sold for Tk 30 to Tk 40 per kg, up by Tk 5 and green chilly was retailed at Tk 40 per kg, up by Tk 5 over the previous week at Kawran Bazar.

Wholesalers said that they had to pay Tk 2,000 to Tk 2,500 extra over the charge for one trip after the prices of fuel were increased to transport vegetables by trucks from different rural areas to the capital city.

Abul Kalam, a wholesaler at Kawran Bazar kitchen market said the cost of transportation by truck increased by around Tk 2,500 per trip from the northern region of the country.

'The cost of transportation by truck per trip stood at average Tk 9,000 this week from the areas near the capital including Narsingdi, Manikganj, Munshiganj and Mymenshing,'he said.

Nur Mohammod, another wholesaler at Kawran Bazar said, 'The wholesalers had to pay the extra money demanded by truck-owners for transporting the purchased vegetables as those. And we were forced to pay because these are perishable items. The pressure ultimately goes onto the consumers.'

But the retail price of sugar has decreased a little over the last week in the capital.

On Friday, the prices of almost all other essential commodities, including rice, remained unchanged in the city market compared to the previous week.

At Kawran Bazar kitchen market on Friday, sugar was being retailed at Tk 58 to Tk 60 per kg, down by Tk 2 over the week.

The price of coarse rice at Polashi kitchen market on Friday ranged between Tk 30 and Tk 34 per kg, medium-grade rice between Tk 36 and Tk 40 and the fine varieties of rice between Tk 38 and Tk 50 per kg, posting no change over the week.

The price of loose flour, however, declined by Tk 2 per kg over the week. It was selling at Tk 26 to Tk 28 on Friday.

But the price of packaged flour remained unchanged at Tk 33 to Tk 34 per kg.

 The potato price has eased by Tk 2 per kg over the week to stand at Tk 9 per kg on Friday.

On Friday, loose soya bean oil was selling at Tk 103 to Tk 106 per litre, super palm oil at Tk 94 to Tk 95, and packaged soya bean oil at Tk 115 per litre at the city markets.

The imported varieties of onion were being retailed at Tk 20 to Tk 22 per kg on Friday, but the prices of local varieties have decreased by Tk 2 per kg over the week and they were selling at Tk 22 to Tk 26 on the day.

 On Friday, the local variety of red lentil was being sold for Tk 90 to Tk 95 a kg and the Nepali variety for Tk 96 to Tk 102 per kg.

Beef was being sold on the day at Tk 250 to Tk 260 per kg and broiler at Tk 125 to Tk 130 per kg.

Source: New Age

Call money rate on the rise again

The inter-bank call money rate rose to 12 percent on Thursday due to liquidity shortage in different banks.

The Bangladesh Bank injected Tk 2,068 core in the money market under a repurchase agreement (Repo) on Thursday.

BB also provided Tk. 6470.72 crore as liquidity support facility to the primary dealers.

The call money rate or the interest rate which a bank charges on other banks for lending money for a short period, ranged between 10 percent and 12 percent on the previous day, although the call money rate eased in the last four months after an abnormal rise in December last year.

Bankers said the liquidity pressure was created as Bangladesh Bank (BB) did not provide the required amount of liquidity support to the commercial banks.

BB data shows the weighted average rate of call money was 8.16 percent on 16 May and 6.69 percent on 28 April.

A senior official of a private bank said, 'The call money rate has increased slightly due to inadequate liquidity support through repurchase agreement auction by the central bank.'

A BB official said that the Repo auction will continue in line with the existing monetary policy and the upward trend of call money rate may continue next week.

The Repo rate is the interest rate at which the central bank lends money to commercial banks.

The central bank had earlier selected 15 PDs — 12 banks and three non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) — to handle government securities in the secondary market.

The inter-bank call money rate recorded an unprecedented rise at 190 percent on 19th December last year due to the enforcement of the new cash reserve requirement (CRR) rules for the commercial banks to contain inflation.

Earlier, the call money rate increased up to 150 percent in 2006.

Source: New Age

Increased trucking cost keeps rice price high

The price of coarse rice has remained unchanged over the past one week, despite an increasing supply of the newly harvested Boro rice, as millers stopped reducing the price any further following a rise in trucking cost caused by the recent fuel price hike.

The wholesale price of coarse rice had declined by more than Tk 100 per maund [37.3 kilogram] over the previous two weeks with the newly harvested Boro stocks hitting the market.

On Wednesday, BRRI-28 variety of rice was selling at Tk 1,290 to Tk 1,310 per maund at Babubazar wholesale market in the capital. Its price stood at Tk 1,350 a maund three weeks back.

The price of newly harvested Pari rice at Babubazar ranged between Tk 1,250 and Tk 1,260 per maund on Wednesday, down from Tk 1,400 a maund three weeks ago.

Unsorted Guti variety of rice was wholesaling at the market at Tk 1,100 to TK 1,120 per maund on the day, against Tk 1,250 a maund three weeks back.

'In the past week there has been no change in coarse rice price at this market,' said Altaf Hossian, a Babubazar wholesaler on Wednesday. Altaf and other wholesalers of the market told New Age that millers from northern districts had made no price cut of coarse rice in the past week.

Altaf said, 'May be they are offsetting the increased cost of trucking by keeping the coarse rice prices high.'

Another wholesaler, Bulbul Ahmed, however, said, 'The coarse rice price has remained high because the millers are stockpiling unhusked rice.'

A number of Babubazar traders said the price of coarse rice was not seeing any sharp fall as harvest and supply of Boro rice to market were yet to reach their peak.

Hafez Belal, a miller at Shantahar, told New Age, 'Coarse rice price has remained somewhat stable here over the past week.'

He said truckers were charging higher fares to transport rice from North Bengal mills to wholesale markets across the country following the price hike of diesel and CNG.

A number of millers in North Bengal told New Age that truckers had increased their fare by at least Tk 1,000 for each consignment.

'The increased fuel cost has raised the cost of carrying paddy from rural markets to mills and of transporting rice from mills to markets and thus impacting the rice prices,' said Sabuz Mia, a miller.

The consumers at retail markets said the price of coarse rice had not declined as expected, although the new stocks of rice had already begun to hit the market.

On Wednesday, coarse rice of BRRI-28 and Pari varieties was retailed at Tk 35 to Tk 36 per kilogram, sorted Guti variety at Tk 37 to Tk 38 per kg, and unsorted Guti at Tk 32 to Tk 33 per kilo at Karwan Bazar kitchen market in the city.

Bangladesh Truck and Covered Van Malik Samity general secretary admitted that trucking cost from Naogaon to Dhaka had increased by Tk 500 to Tk 1,000 per trip. 'Individual owners are now setting the trucking fare as the government has not done it yet,' he added.

Source: New Age

Bad weather blights mango output prospect

Mango farmers in various parts of the country are concerned by the large number of green mangoes that have been torn from the trees by the recent nor'westers and hailstorms.

The unfavourable weather follows the earlier attack by leaf hoppers which had caused many green mangoes to fall before ripening properly.

Mango farmers told New Age that the dropping of green mangos from the trees would reduce production, particularly in the mango growing districts like Chapainawabganj, Jessore, Kushtia and parts of Rajshahi district.

Deputy director (fruits and vegetables) SM Emdadul Hoque, of the Department of Agricultural Extension's food crops wing, agreed that the production of mangoes would be slightly less than expected, but not considerably because mango trees have been unaffected by bad weather in Dinajpur, parts of Rajshahi and some other districts.

'Mango production will not be satisfactory in my area this year as almost half of the fruits fell from the trees before ripening,' said Shaheruzzaman, a farmer from Sheikhpura village under Keshabpur upazila.

Abdus Samad of Balubagan village under Chapainawabganj Sadar upazila said that mango trees in his area had initially blossomed well, but many of the mangoes had become victims of the attack by leaf hoppers.

He said that they generally use insecticides once a season but they were forced to apply it three times this year, but it had no effect. 'Around 80 per cent of the mangoes had already dropped.'

The New Age correspondent in Jessore reported that mango growers in the district and adjacent areas were disheartened due to the low production.

'Mango production has saddened me this year as it is almost half of that of the previous year, and mangoes are still falling,' said Selim Reza of Buinkara village under Abhay-nagar upazila in Jessore.

 The office of the deputy director of the DAE in Jessore, however, could not give any information on mango production.

'We don't keep the records of mango production,' said an official of the department.

The New Age correspondent in Chapainawabganj reported that mango production is likely to suffer a setback this year due to the unfavourable weather.

According to the DAE office in Chapainawabganj district, this year there are 18,87,806 mango trees on 23,070 hectares of land in the district, and a total of 1,72,000 tonnes of mango was produced from 22,500 hectares of land in 2010.

Source: New Age

MCCI suggests thorough reform of capital market

The Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry has proposed six remedial measures for restoring stability in the capital market and ensuring its healthy growth.

In its quarterly review on the country's economic situation, the premier chamber suggested that the government institute a thorough reform of the system in the capital market by framing the necessary short-term, mid-term and long-term rules and regulations after discussion with all stakeholders.

The government should quickly offload the shares of the selected profitable state-owned enterprises as it promised earlier, said the chamber.

The multinational companies operating in Bangladesh should be asked to enlist themselves in the country's stock exchanges, said the MCCI. 'Such enlisting is compulsory in the neighbouring countries.'

MCCI observed that the Dhaka Stock Exchange and the merchant banks would have to be more active to attract more private issues to the market.

It said that the Dhaka Stock Exchange might persuade the big listed companies to offload a bigger percentage of their shares to meet the growing demand for shares in the market.

Strengthening the market's regulatory mechanism and making it more transparent and accountable is crucially important to increase public confidence in the stock market, MCCI pointed out.

Its review said that in the January-March period, there were mixed performances in Bangladesh's economy with healthy growth in agriculture, strong recovery in the export sector, but decline in foreign aid inflow and remittance.

'Output performance in agriculture has continued to remain healthy, thanks to good weather and favourable government and central bank support for the sector,' said the MCCI.

The rise in private sector credit and the increased volume of letters of credit opened in recent months indicate that manufacturing activities are on the rise, it added.

Despite the installation of some additional generation capacity and some increase in electricity production, the power situation has not improved much in the period.

The average deposit rate increased faster than the average lending rate, said the review which acknowledged the concern of a section of the business community over withdrawal of the lending limit and the increased cost of capital.

The MCCI stressed the need for meeting the challenge of inflation, in particular to contain the prices of food items, and increasing the supply of power.

Source: New Age

BGMEA, BKMEA oppose BTMA’s demand to govt for incentives

The Bangladesh Textiles Mills Association on Tuesday demanded 'special incentives to protect the local factories from being shut down' in the wake of the drastic fall of yarn prices in the international market.

But the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association opposed the demand for increasing the incentive against exports to 15 per cent from the existing five per cent at a meeting in the secretariat.

The textiles and jute minister, Abdul Latif Siddique, while presiding over the meeting said that all the three organisations should sit together to devise a mechanism that will enable them to face the ups and downs in the international market prices.

He, however, said that the situation was not bad enough for the government to provide special incentives to the backward industries in the export-oriented apparel and yarn sector.

'India is selling yarn at the price of cotton…The government should give us special incentives to protect the local backward industries against this sort of dumping which is having an adverse impact on our spinning and textile mills,' said BTMA's president, Jahangir Alamin.

He said that the industries were also being hit hard by the shortage of gas and electricity.

'It is very sad that everyone in the industrial sector wants to operate in a free style. You must discuss your problems together and come to a solution for survival in this competitive situation,' the minister told the meeting.

He said that Bangladesh was taking advantage of cheap labour here in the readymade garment sector.

BKMEA's president Selim Osman, opposing the demand for increased incentive, called upon the textiles mill owners not to increase or decrease the prices of yarn in keeping with the global scenario. 'Let us all sit together and negotiate,' he said.

He said the textiles mill owners made a lot of money when they abruptly increased the price of yarn to seven dollars a kilogram from four dollars a few months back.

Many spinning mill owners stocked yarn at that time to make more money, but the price has now come down to 4.6 dollars, said representatives of the BGMEA and BKMEA. A total of 256 textile mills out of 350, according to BTMA, are export-oriented.

Source: New Age

Tax lawyers demand increase in tax-free income ceiling

Leaders of the Bangladesh Tax Lawyers Association on Tuesday proposed that the National Board of Revenue should raise the ceiling of tax-free income to Tk 3 lakh from Tk 1,65,000 and increase the rate of tax on income exceeding the proposed ceiling.

BTLA leaders placed a set of proposals in a pre-budget meeting at the NBR office. The meeting was presided over by NBR chairman Nasiruddin Ahmed.

The association proposed a multi-layer income tax structure, suggesting 7.5 per cent tax for income of Tk 3 lakh above the proposed ceiling, 15 per cent for the next Tk 3 lakh, 25 per cent for the next Tk 5 lakh, 35 per cent for the next Tk 5 lakh and 40 per cent for more than that.   

BTLA secretary general Kamrul Alam Chowdhury said the government should reduce the value added tax from 15 per cent to 5 per cent.

Kamrul said the increase of direct tax would reduce accumulation of black money as well as purchasing power of a section of people. A decreased purchasing power of the section of people would check the rising inflation, he said.

He suggested that the gain tax on selling of land and other property be increased to 2 per cent in the rural areas and 5 per cent in the urban areas from existing 1 per cent and 2 per cent respectively.

The professional body suggested that by reducing tax at a considerable rate the NBR should attract the undisclosed but legally earned money to be invested in mass employment generating industry.

The BTLA demanded that the NBR withdraw the provision of imposing 5 per cent tax enforced by the clause 158 (2) of Income Tax Law in case of submitting second appeal as it is inhuman and contradictory to people welfare law.

The lawyers urged the NBR to withdraw the provision of imposing value added tax on the services provided by the lawyers. The government reinstated the suspended provision by the finance bill in 2007.

NBR income policy member Aminur Rahman, first secretary Apurba Kanti Das, BTLA president Golam Sarwar, former presidents Abdul Mazid and Abdullah Shahadat Khan, and for secretary general Gias Uddin Chowdhury were present in the meeting.

Source: New Age

Chinese co to invest $2.52m in Mongla EPZ

Bora International Limited, a Chinese Company, will set up a rubber-sheet manufacturing industry in Mongla Export Processing Zone.

This fully foreign owned company will invest $2.515 million in setting up their unit and manufacture rubber-sheet items. The company will also create employment opportunity for 1,239 Bangladeshi nationals.

An agreement to this effect was signed between Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and Bora International Limited on BEFZA Complex in Dhaka recently.

Md Moyjuddin Ahmed, member (investment promotion) of BEPZA, and Peng Tian, managing director of Bora International Limited, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

Major General ATM Shahidul Islam, executive chairman of BEPZA, Md Shawkat Nabi, secretary, AZM Azizur Rahman, general manager (investment promotion) and other officials of the BEPZA were present at the signing ceremony.

Source: New Age

Dhaka Regency Hotel celebrates International Mother's Day

Dhaka Regency Hotel and Resort yesterday celebrated the 'International Mother's Day' as elsewhere in the country and the world. The hotel offered a set of unique and surprise lunch buffet and complimentary foot massage to the clients to mark the day.
Source: The Daily Star (May 9, 2011)

Harun reelected as Asia Insurance chairman

Leading business-leader Yussuf Abdullah Harun has been reelected as the chairman of Asia Insurance Ltd, the company said yesterday.

The former president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) was reelected at the 83rd meeting of the board of directors at Hotel Sonargaon in the city on May 5.

Source: The Daily Star (May 9, 2011)

Best brands crowned

Nokia was recognised as the best brand in Bangladesh for the second consecutive year and Lux and Grameenphone came out as second and third best brand respectively at the Best Brand Award 2010 programme on Saturday.

Bangladesh Brand Forum (BBF), a private organisation, hosted the event to recognise these brands at a gala event at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel .

BBF and Nielsen Bangladesh have jointly been initiating the award to promote branding.

Nokia, in the mobile handset category, took the top prize as the number one brand. Nokia is a global company with a majority share of the Bangladesh market.

The top 20 best brands for 2010 are Nokia, Lux, Grameenphone, Sunsilk, Parachute, 7-Up, Sony, Close Up, Fair and Lovely, Wheel powder, Banglalink, Rupchada soyabean, Teer atta maida suzi, Pepsodent germi check toothpaste, Maggie noodles, Clear, Teer soyabean, Lifebuoy, Wheel power white, Pepsodent toothpowder.

Syed Ferhat Anwar, chief advisor of BBF, artist Preema Nazia Andaleeb, Khalid Hasan, managing director of Nielsen Bangladesh, and Shariful Islam, founder of BBF, attended the function.

Source: The Daily Star (May 9, 2011)

Automated clearing house starts in Barisal

The central bank has launched an automated clearing house in Barisal yesterday for faster settlement of transactions and payment systems as part of its move to digitalise the banking system.

Twenty-six branches of scheduled banks in Barisal came under the online system of Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (BACH) at Bangladesh Bank (BB).

The system is expected to reduce the settlement time significantly -- from three days to only two hours.

"We moved one step ahead of many other countries by introducing BACH," said BB Deputy Governor Murshid Kuli Khan, who was the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony.

The UK Department for International Development (DFID) funded $8.5 million to implement the BACH.

He said the new BACH system will mainly benefit the business firms and the remittance earners

Under the new automated system, banks will not need to send their cheques physically to the clearing house. They can do it online using machine readable cheques.

However, the banks can also drop their cheques at the BACH where the machine can take image and data of 300 cheques per minute.

Source: The Daily Star (May 9, 2011)

BB gets HC ruling on Grameen Bank interest

The High Court yesterday ruled upon Bangladesh Bank to explain within four weeks why it should not directed to regulate interest rates charged by Grameen Bank to ensure that the rate is not oppressively high.

The bench of Justice Farid Ahmed and Justice M Shawkat Hossain issued the rule after hearing a writ petition filed by Barrister Masood R Sobhan, a lawyer of the Supreme Court.

The lawyer filed the petition in the form of public interest litigation on Saturday, saying the Grameen Bank realises 27 to 30 percent interest from its borrowers, which, he claimed, is higher than the rate of interest charged by any other commercial bank.

He appealed to the court to direct the BB to re-fix the interest rate of Grameen Bank in consistence with other banks.

Masood also sought directions from the court to direct the central bank to fix a 3 percent interest along with the establishment cost for lending money by Grameen Bank.

The central bank governor, the finance secretary and Grameen Bank have been made respondents to the rule.

Barrister Fatema S Chowdhury appeared for the petitioner.

Source: The Daily Star (May 9, 2011)

MCCI urges trade friendly taxation

Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) yesterday proposed the government take trade and industry friendly taxation measures to assist the productive sectors in the budget for fiscal 2011-12.

The chamber asked for simple, flexible and business friendly amendments to any tax and revenue law in its pre-budget meeting with the chief of National Board of Revenue (NBR) at his office.

"Experiences say that stringent rules and regulations do not help increase revenue. Rather, business friendly and flexible laws ensure better revenue generation and collection," said MCCI President Amjad Khan Chowdhury at the meeting.

The chamber also suggested the government provide a comprehensive package of fiscal measures to support the productive sectors and raise sufficient revenue to meet its growing expenditure and check the budget deficits.

MCCI urged the government to contain inflation and enhance budgetary spending on infrastructure, education, health and social services, which will boost the country's growth potential, create employment and cut poverty.

The MCCI called for measures for fiscal concessions, including income tax, customs duty and value added tax (VAT).

The tax exemption limit for individual taxpayers, now Tk 165,000, should be raised to Tk 250,000, it said.

MCCI proposed a continuation of tax holiday and inclusion of more members from potential sectors in such schemes.

When a company raises its share capital at a value in excess of the face value, the company shall be taxed on the premium over face value at a rate of three percent. "We strongly recommend revoking this provision. It should be noted that in advanced countries like the US and EU, there is no tax on premium over book value," Chowdhury said.

He proposed not to charge the income tax on any new equity other than net income.

The chamber said reduction in the highest rate of tax will encourage the individual being assessed to declare higher incomes than what they do now and hence minimise tax evasion.

Therefore, the chamber suggests that the highest rate of income tax for individuals be reduced from 25 percent to 20 percent.

Source: The Daily Star (May 9, 2011)

Imports hurt local poultry

The government is allowing the import of eggs and chicks from India although the local poultry industry suffers losses because of surplus production, alleged egg and chick raisers yesterday.

Presently, 1.5 crore pieces of eggs are produced daily against a demand for 1.3 crore pieces. The weekly production of day-old chicks (DOC) of layer and broiler has also exceeded demand. This had lead to a fall in prices of layer and broiler DOC used to produce eggs and meat.

Currently, breeders hatch 70-75 lakh pieces of broiler DOC and 5-5.5 lakh pieces of layer DOC a week against a weekly demand of 60-65 lakh and 3.5 lakh, they claimed at a discussion at National Press Club organised by Breeders Association of Bangladesh.

Breeders said excess supplies have led to a fall in the prices at the hatchery gates. Poultry farmers suffer in the face of rising production costs, mainly due to a spike in feed prices, they added.

''The industry incurs a loss of Tk 5-10 crore daily. It is not understood how the government allows eggs and DOC imports,'' said Breeders Association President Kazi Zahedul Hasan.

Hasan's remark came after the government permitted two firms to import one crore pieces of hatching eggs and day-old chicks from India and other countries.

Breeders also cited OIE-World Organisation for Animal Health and the organisation embargo on the import of eggs and live bird from an avian influenza affected country.

Hasan, also managing director of Kazi Farms, said India is an avian flu affected country.

''It's just not comprehendible how the government allows eggs and live bird imports from a bird-flu stricken country.''

Meanwhile, the prices of eggs and broiler chicken fell below the prices of a year ago.

Poultry retailers in Dhaka now sell a kilogram of chicken meat at Tk 120-125, which was Tk 125-135 a year back. Prices of four-eggs slipped 4 percent to Tk 23-24 from last year.

Breeders and poultry industry stakeholders linked the fall in prices to surplus production from a rise in investment in the sector.

Breeders and industry stakeholders said allowing imports would hurt the local sector further, which employs 60 lakh people.

Md Abdur Razzaque, president of World Poultry Sciences Association, Bangladesh, said the outbreak of avian influenza has already caused losses to the tune of Tk 700 crore.

Source: The Daily Star (May 9, 2011)

Potato exports surge on subsidy boost

Potato exports surged 71 percent to 16,570 tonnes in the first ten months (July-April) of the current fiscal year, exceeding the total quantity of the tuber exports last year, according to the Plant Protection Wing of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).

The buoyancy in exports came after the government, in February, promised to double cash subsidy for potato exports to 20 percent to help farmers recover from losses caused by a slump in prices amid a bumper harvest this year.

Exporters linked the rise in exports to the government assurance of raising the subsidy. The opening of export opportunities to new markets -- Russia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka -- also facilitated the export boom, they added.

''To bolster the exporters' confidence, the government should issue circulars immediately in line with its promise of raising cash subsidy and maintain the upbeat trend,'' said Md Jasim Uddin, chairman of Bangladesh Cold Storage Association.

The exporters said the increased demand for the tuber for exports along with storing of 35 lakh tonnes of potato at cold storages, has helped the prices rebound.

On month-on-month basis, the prices of potato rose 16.67 percent to Tk 9-Tk 12 a kilogram in the city markets, according to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

Plant Protection Wing data showed that 9,687 tonnes of potato were mainly shipped to Malaysia and Singapore in the fiscal year 2009-10. Along with these markets, this year, exports have started to such new markets as Russia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

SA Quader, managing director of Agri Concern Ltd, said a fall in output in Europe, especially in Russia, has accelerated the demand for potato from South Asian countries including India and Pakistan.

''A vacuum has been created on the global market. Russia has suffered a shortfall of 40 lakh tonnes because of drought,'' said Quader.

The exporters are looking for new markets as farmers had a production glut through the second year. Last year, farmers bagged 81 lakh tonnes of potato. The current year's production is expected to exceed the last year's level.

''We are also trying to export to South Africa,'' added Quader, urging the government to fulfil its promise of giving 20 percent cash subsidy.

According to the exporters, the vast exports of the tuber crop are usually done in the February-April period.

Source: The Daily Star (May 5, 2011)

Inflation affects development goals, says economist

Rising inflation affects the development goals of the country, said a leading economist yesterday.

The government must contain inflationary pressure to safeguard the economy from any major harm, he said.

Mustafa K Mujeri, director general of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said the prices of commodities are increasing gradually, which have to be brought under control.

"If it continues, our target to reach millennium development goals (MDGs) may be delayed by another five years," he said. "The main factor of the inflation is that it has affected our social goals."

He was speaking at the global launch of 'Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2011' at the Cirdap auditorium in the city.

The average consumer price index stood at 7.9 percent in 2010 against 6.7 percent in 2009, but Mujeri said he thinks the figure could be higher.

Source: The Daily Star (May 5, 2011)

Friends of Grameen sad at SC decision

Friends of Grameen yesterday said it is deeply disappointed and saddened by the decision of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh that upheld the central bank's decision to remove Professor Muhammad Yunus from Grameen Bank.

The Supreme Court yesterday rejected two appeals made by Grameen Bank and nine of the directors of its board, challenging the High Court decision to remove Prof Yunus as managing director, for exceeding mandatory retirement age.

"Today, we are extremely preoccupied about the independence of the bank and of micro-credit institutions in Bangladesh," said Maria Nowak, president of the executive committee of Friends of Grameen.

She said alarming recommendations seem to be emerging from the report of the government-appointed review committee, leaked to the press last week, such as changes in the statutes, reconsideration of borrowers' role in the governance of the bank and extension of government control over Grameen's sister organisations, such as Grameen Telecom.

"We fear that amending the structure and governance of a democratic and egalitarian organisation poses a serious threat, with devastating ramifications on microcredit and social business activities in Bangladesh," said the founder of French microfinance organisation AIDE.

The international platform set up to promote microcredit reaffirmed their strong support to Prof Yunus and to the independence of the Grameen Bank.

It said Yunus, known across the world as the 'Banker to the Poor', established the democratic framework of the bank, making it a unique and powerful microcredit model, replicated across the world.

Over the last three decades, the pioneering and innovative work of Grameen Bank has enabled over 80 lakh people from rural communities to lift themselves out of poverty, thanks to small business loans from the microfinance bank, said the group in a statement.

"Friends of Grameen" aims to promote microcredit and social business, both championed by Dr Yunus.

Source: The Daily Star (May 5, 2011)

ESCAP projects 6.4pc growth for Bangladesh

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) yesterday projected the economy of Bangladesh to grow 6.4 percent in 2011.

"The expected growth is to be supported by improved growth in the agricultural sector, recovery in export growth with diversification into new markets, including the emerging economics, and an improved situation in power and gas supplies," said a survey by ESCAP styled Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2011.

The report was launched at an event at the Cirdap auditorium. The report was simultaneously published in 31 cities across the region.

Clovis Freire, one of the authors of the report, presented the report. Mustafa Kamal Mujeri, director general of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Kazi Ali Reza, officer-in-charge of United Nations Information Centre in Dhaka, also spoke.

Mujeri said the economy of Bangladesh demonstrated considerable resilience despite the global economic crisis, as its GDP grew by 5.8 percent in 2010 on top of the 5.7 percent growth achieved in 2009.

The survey also projected 9.5 percent GDP growth for China in 2011, 8.7 percent for India and a 2.8 percent for Pakistan.

According to the survey findings for Bangladesh, Mujeri pointed out some upcoming challenges that include turning sustained recovery into high economic growth; creating capacity to address multiple structural imbalances and large socioeconomic and development gaps; removing key infrastructural gaps and serious ecological imbalances; and gaining dynamism from inclusive growth.

The BIDS chief said like Asia and the Pacific region, Bangladesh also needs to continue to pursue economic reforms to improve productivity, strengthen public institutions, improve economic governance and build social safety nets to protect the more vulnerable segments of the population.

He said the budget deficit situation may deteriorate in the current fiscal year, as the government attempts to tackle a complex array of problems, ranging from a shortage of power, gas and water.

The former chief economist of the central bank also cautioned the government to keep a look out, as there may be pressures on the current account balance and reserves.

Mujeri termed electricity as one of the biggest challenges for Bangladesh and several countries. He also said both short-term and long-term measures are needed to tackle the shortage.

Promotion of regional cooperation in the energy sector can benefit the participating countries enormously, he added.

He said providing subsidies, following the pattern of food stamps, electricity stamps or coupons, could be given to the poor to help pay electricity bills.

Freire said the Asia-Pacific developing economies are projected to grow at 7.3 percent in 2011, down from the 8.8 percent in 2010.

He said the survey considers how to improve regional connectivity and also indicates how the least developed countries can take advantage of this by increasing their productive capacities.

The Brazilian said due to higher food and energy prices, up to 4.2 crore people across the region may remain in poverty in 2011, in addtion to the 1.9 crore people already affected.

Source: The Daily Star (May 5, 2011)

Indo-Bangla trade fair kicks off in Dhaka

Industries Minister Dilip Barua yesterday urged the Indian entrepreneurs to invest more in Bangladesh, saying that a liberal investment policy for the foreign investors prevails here.

Barua said this while addressing the inaugural session of the second India-Bangladesh Trade Fair-2011 at Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka.

"Our vision is to make an industrialised Digital Bangladesh by 2021. In order to materialise our dream, we have been pursuing a liberal investment and industrial policy for the foreign investors with attractive incentive packages," the minister said.

"I firmly believe, the Indian investors will come forward to invest in Bangladesh, which is a suitable place for investment," he added.

India Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) with the support of Indian High Commission in Dhaka is organising the three-day trade fair to showcase the products of the two neighbouring countries.

Barua also urged the Indian government to simplify visa regime for Bangladeshi businesses and issue four-month multi-entry visa to help boost trade relations between the two next-door neighbours.

The industries minister proposed a 'free market zone' with zero tariff facility for the Saarc member countries and uphold the spirit of Safta for sustainable regional development and cooperation as well as for the betterment of the common people.

Addressing the function as a special guest, Mizoram's Minister for Industries S Haito said: "There is no insurgency in Mizoram. Bangladesh can safely invest there. Our government will ensure all-out support in this regard."

He said launching border trade would ensure trading to meet the requirements of both sides.

AK Azad, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said Bangladesh's export to Indian market did not increase as expected due mainly to poor negotiations from the Bangladesh side.

"It's our failure. We have failed to showcase our competitive commodities in a lucrative manner in the Indian markets. We'll have to explore our opportunities there. Nobody will offer us a ready market."

He urged the Indian government to facilitate Bangladeshi entrepreneurs so that they can invest in Bhutan to produce hydro-electric power.

Rajeev Singh, director general of Indian Chamber of Commerce, said, "As Bangladesh suffers from electricity shortages, the government can persuade the Tripura government to sell 200 megawatt of electricity next year."

He said the recent decision of the Indian government to increase duty-free access of RMG products to India will boost Bangladesh's export.

Singh proposed the third edition of the trade fair be held in Kolkata, saying it is a nice place to host an event like this.

IBCCI President Abdul Matlub Ahmed said exports to India have started growing and he hoped that it would cross half a billion taka this year.

Forty stalls of different manufacturers and exporters from Bangladesh and India are showcasing their products at the three-day show that will remain open for visitors from 10am to 8pm with an entry fee of Tk 20.

Source: The Daily Star (May 5, 2011)

IBCF re-elects top brass

Islamic Banks Consultative Forum has recently re-elected Abu Nasser Muhammad Abduz Zaher chairman and Md Nazrul Islam Mazumder vice chairman for 2011, the body said in a statement yesterday.

The election took place at the head office of Islami Bank Bangladesh in Dhaka on April 28.

Chairman of Islami Bank Bangladesh, Zaher is a postgraduate in English from Rajshahi University. He is also the managing director of Ibn Sina Pharmaceuticals Ltd, chairman of Industrialists and Businessmen Welfare Foundation and vice chairman of Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB).

Mazumder is a postgraduate in English from Chittagong University. He is the chairman of Exim Bank and BAB. He is also the chairman of Nassa Group.

Source: The Daily Star (May 5, 2011)

Crown Agents' CEO due in town

Terence Jagger, chief executive of Crown Agents', is scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh tomorrow on a three-day visit, said a statement yesterday.

During his first tour to the Asian region, he will meet government officials, international financial institutions and other development partners to gain a deeper understanding of the region.

Jagger will also deliver the opening address at a seminar on public financial management, sponsored by Crown Agents Foundation, on May 9-10.

He also served Shell and American Express before joining Crown.

Source: The Daily Star (May 5, 2011)

Poorest at most risk from 10b world population

There may be 10 billion mouths to feed within a few generations. The United Nations sees the world's population hitting that landmark by 2100. Without efforts to change the pattern, the poorest countries will face the worst effects of the demographic drain.

Compared with its last effort two years ago, the new U.N. forecast both increases population projections and delays the date by which the global population will peak and begin to decline. Previously this was expected around 2070; the latest shows the population still increasing in 2100.

It's a dystopian prospect. Even allowing for humanity's undoubted ingenuity, that kind of population would surely strain the planet's resources and ecosystem severely, especially if growing numbers achieve developed-world living standards with the cars, flushing toilets and air conditioning that entails.

Also, the great majority of the projected population increase comes in the poorest countries, where clean water, food and other resources are already hard to come by -- to say nothing of transport and other infrastructure. The projected number of people in Africa by 2100 is 3.6 billion, over a third of the global total, while Nigeria's expected population is 730 million, up from some 155 million today and 39 million in 1960.

History has shown that rapid rates of population growth can thwart economic takeoff as the need for housing, education and infrastructure overwhelms the limited capital available. So Nigeria's population in 2100, for example, could be still poorer than today's. While the U.N. numbers are highly sensitive to small changes in assumptions, the latest forecast underlines the need to take demographic trends seriously. The economic implications aside, a growing population also implies more pollution and potentially accelerating global warming.

China's controversial one-child policy has helped put its population on track to fall by a third to 941 million in 2100, according to the U.N. forecast. But that has come at high social cost. More palatable ways to bring birth rates down include increased expenditure on education, particularly for girls. Richer countries might even consider funding old age pension schemes in very poor economies, reducing the incentive for large families. If that avoided the world's ever welcoming its 10 billionth resident, it would be money well spent.

The United Nations released its biennial revision of its "World Population Prospects" on May 3, extending its forecasts to 2100. The U.N. report estimates that the global population will be 10.1 billion in 2100 and will still be increasing. Its forecast of the population in 2050 was revised upwards by 156 million to 9.3 billion.

By 2100, Africa's population is forecast to increase by 350 percent to 3.6 billion, of which Nigeria will represent 730 million, and Zambia 140 million.

Source: The Daily Star (May 5, 2011)

Ericsson, Aircel team up on mobile positioning systems

Indian mobile operator Aircel has selected Ericsson to provide mobile positioning systems for its 2G and 3G subscribers, Ericsson said in a statement yesterday.

Aircel users can now get real-time tracking, navigation information and information services while on the move. As part of the three-year contract for supply and support, Ericsson will supply its mobile positioning centre to Aircel.

"There is huge potential in offering this value-added service to our customers. Most of the Indians who spend on average 90 minutes per day on the roads, location-based services will definitely increase efficiency and enhance the quality of their life," said Mallikarjun Rao, chief technology officer of Aircel.

Source: The Daily Star (May 5, 2011)

Flour retailers nick consumers despite wheat price plunge

The flour price at consumers' end is yet to match the price plunge the essential commodity has posted at farm and wholesale levels over the past one month.

According to market watchers and consumer rights activists, excessive profiteering by retailers has been depriving consumers of getting benefitted from the sharp price decline of the country's second major staple food at primary sources.

On Tuesday, New Age found a two-kilogram packet of coarse flour of the popular brands was being retailed for Tk 66 to Tk 68, down by Tk 1 or 2 per cent per kilo over the past couple of weeks.

But the price of wheat has nosedived by Tk 120 to Tk 150 per maund (37.3kg) or Tk 3.2 to Tk 4 per kg over the past four/five weeks, said wholesalers in Narayanganj and Chittagong.

On Narayanganj wholesale market, fine-grade Canadian wheat was being sold on Tuesday for Tk 940 to Tk 950 a maund and the inferior-grade Black Sea and South American varieties for Tk 740 and Tk 760 per maund respectively.

The country's annual demand for the grain ranges between three million and five million tonnes, at least two-thirds of which is met with imported wheat.

The wheat prices started to mark a downward curve since the end of March with domestic wheat-harvesting coming into full swing, said Abul Hashem, a trader at Thakurgaon, on Tuesday.

Another wheat trader, Ali Akbar of Khatunganj, said the price of wheat would fall further as the latest crop across the globe, including India, was good and the forthcoming ones were also predicted to be plentiful, which meant its import cost would continue to slide in the foreseeable future.

Emdadul Hauqe, a senior member of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh, said wheeling and dealing in the retail market had for long been a common malpractice. 'But all the subsequent governments have failed to eliminate this distortion in the supply chain, leaving the consumers unprotected,' he added.

Food minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque told New Age in last week that as flour prices remained unjustifiably high on the retail market, the government was going to launch an open market sales programme of the major staple.

'We have decided to sell flour in addition to rice at OMS outlets as the price of flour is not decreasing on the local market, although wheat prices have fallen significantly on the global market,' he said.

The government has decided to sell flour at Tk 20 per kilo at OMS outlets.

Source: New Age

DCCI opposes proposed property tax

Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday opposed re-introduction of wealth tax in the name of property tax that was proposed by National Board of Revenue which would be effective from fiscal 2012-13.

'It is illogical to impose property tax reviving the Wealth Tax Act-1963 that was repealed in 1999 as the provision of imposing such tax was considered regressive,' the trade body's president Asif Ibrahim told reporters at a press meet at its auditorium organised to present proposals for the forthcoming national budget.

'The government collects huge amount of money for the registration of land when the ownership of land is transferred from one hand to another,' Asif said, asking 'why, then, the landowner should pay the extra money as tax?'

The DCCI president presented the recommendation paper which contained a total of 64 different proposals for income tax, import and supplementary duties and value added tax.

The paper said that tax network and tax to GDP ratio should be increased as the country has now only 3 million people holding tax identification numbers. The government should ease the method of income tax return and achieve the confidence of the taxpayers.

The DCCI recommended that the government should extend the tax holiday facility up to 2015 and the industries installed outside export processing zones should be bought under the tax holiday facility.

It said that the tax collected on the interests achieved from deposit bonds should be considered as the final tax liability.

DCCI recommended that the knitting, dyeing and weaving industries should be considered as export sector and given the facility of 0.40 percent advance income tax as their final tax.

The DCCI president requested the government to increase the ceiling of tax-free income to Tk 2,25,000 from the existing Tk 1,65,000.

The chamber requested the NBR to reduce the corporate tax on profit for the listed companies from 27.5 percent to 20 percent, maintain a gap of 10 percent between the listed and non-listed companies for tax on profit and reduce the tax rate from 42.5 percent to 40 percent for the banks and financial institutions.

It also called for setting the import duty on capital machinery at zero percent, gradually reducing the duty on basic and raw materials to zero percent with a 3 percent duty for the next fiscal, 12 percent duty on intermediary products, and 25 percent on finished products.

The chamber also requested the government to remove the indiscriminate imposition of 5 percent regulatory duty on finished products.

The DCCI president urged the government to waive import duty on LPG mixture (main material for LPG cylinder), cylinder, valve and regulator to popularise the use of LPG gas for cooking.

DCCI senior vice-president TIM Nurul Kabir, vice-president Nasir Hossain and treasurer Abu Horaira also spoke at the meeting.

Syed Mosharraf Hossain, Hossain A Sikder, Niaz Rahim, Mahabub Anam, Waqar Ahmad Choudhury, Nasiruddin Khan and Absar Karim Chowdhury, among the directors, were present at the press meet.

Source: New Age

Reduced corruption key to Asia’s rise: ADB

Reducing corruption and improving government accountability are the greatest challenges to making Asia the world's wealthiest region by 2050, the Asian Development Bank said Wednesday.

The continent is undergoing a historic transformation, according to a study for the bank unveiled at its annual meeting in Vietnam.

'If it continues to grow on its recent trajectory, it could, by 2050, account for more than half of global gross domestic product, trade and investment, and enjoy widespread affluence,' the report said.

Asia's proportion of global GDP, rising from 27 per cent last year, would match its share of global population and a per capita income of $38,600 would leave the region as well off as Europe is today, it said.

Countries from the Pacific Ocean to Central Asia face many challenges if they are to achieve this, but underlying them all is a need for stronger institutions of governance, says the report, which is aimed at regional policymakers and business leaders.

'The recent deterioration in the quality and credibility of national political and economic institutions (illustrated by rising corruption) is a serious concern', says the bank, which will issue a more detailed version of the study in August.

Data from the World Bank Institute showed a 'clear retreat in voice, accountability and political stability' in the region between 2008 and 2009.

While some places in Asia, notably Singapore and Hong Kong, are rated as among the world's least corrupt, many others are among the worst.

'Asia must modernise governance and retool its institutions with an emphasis on transparency, accountability and enforceability,' the ADB report says.

Source: New Age

GMG resumes flight to New Delhi

Private carrier GMG Airlines has recently resumed its flight from Dhaka to New Delhi.

Re-entering New Delhi market is a part of GMG's expansion plan. The airline is going to offer the most competitive fair in the route compared to other local and foreign airlines, said a news release.

Shahab Sattar of GMG Airlines said re-entering into New Delhi market was a big boost for the airline considering the large number of Bangladeshi people travelling to and from New Delhi.

'GMG will soon add more routes and procure aircrafts to meet the growing demands of passengers,' he said.

With eight international and five domestic destinations, GMG Airlines has got a total number more than 230 flights per week. GMG's international route consists of Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Kathmandu, Kolkata, Dubai, Jeddah and Riyadh. In Domestic operation it serves Dhaka, Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Sylhet and Jessore.

GMG Airlines now operates with three Canadian Bombardier Dash-8 on domestic and Kolkata routes. Besides it has two Boeing 767-300 and three McDonnell Douglas aircraft for the regional operation.

Source: New Age

EU-IMF rescue deal for Portugal hangs on terms

Portugal is now the third eurozone debt rescue case, with an EU-IMF bailout of 78 billion euros to avoid default, but the conditions as well as the key reaction of opposition parties remain unclear.

'The government has reached a good agreement that defends Portugal,' outgoing Prime Minister Jose Socrates announced on television, but the country got a rough ride on Wednesday when it had to pay sharply increased rates to borrow money.

A deadline looms on June 15, six weeks away, when Portugal must redeem old loans of nearly 5.0 billion euros ($7.3 billion) and avert default. The country now joins Greece and Ireland as eurozone lame ducks on bailout crutches held out by the EU, ECB and IMF.

The experts from the three institutions were meeting opposition right-wing parties on Wednesday to obtain their support for the corrective measures which condition the bailout if they win an early election on June 5.

The International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union had taken care to include the main opposition parties in their consultations leading up to the agreement.

In this fevered climate, Portugal went ahead with an operation to raise funds for three months, and did borrow 1.117 billion euros ($1.65 billion) but had to pay interest of 4.652 per cent, sharply up from 4.046 per cent when the last such issue was made on April 20.

At Carregosa Bank, bond strategist Filipe Silva said: 'There is no doubt that the rate is very high for such a short-dated issue.'

Socrates announced the deal late on Tuesday after long negotiations with auditors from the three external bodies.

Source: New Age

BMW reports 4-fold profit surge in Q1

German luxury carmaker BMW says first-quarter net profit rose almost fourfold to euro1.21 billion ($1.79 billion) as sales climbed all around the world, but particularly in China.

Profits were up from last year's euro324 million. Revenues grew 29 per cent to euro16.04 billion.

BMW, which includes the Mini and Rolls-Royce brands, saw especially big sales increases in Asia, where it sold 53 per cent more cars, including a 72 per cent jump in China.

Wednesday's results confirmed a strong quarter for Germany's export-oriented carmakers, whose luxury products are selling strongly in China's booming economy. First-quarter earnings for Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, nearly doubled to euro1.18 billion and Volkswagen AG, maker of the Audi luxury brand, saw profits more than triple to euro1.7 billion.

For BMW, sales also grew significantly in Europe, despite an uneven recovery there, and in North America.

BMW sold 13 per cent more cars in Europe, which remains its biggest market with 200,000 vehicles out of the company's overall sales of 383,000. The European luxury segment has held up better than the car market as a whole, which shrank slightly.

Source: New Age

African economies must plug in globally: experts

Africa must accelerate links to global markets and improve competitiveness to sustain the strong growth expected this year, experts at the World Economic Forum on Africa said on Wednesday.
African economies weathered the global economic storm in 2008 and have since resumed strong growth — a positive showing which paradoxically highlighted Africa's weak presence in global financial markets, said Jennifer Blake, head of WEF's competitiveness centre.
'It is also a reflection of the fact that African economies are not sufficiently integrated into global markets,' Blake said at the launch of the third Africa Competitiveness Report.
'While this sort of sheltered them over the shorter term, this will be a hindrance for economic development going into the future.'
The International Monetary Fund forecasts that sub-Saharan Africa will grow by about 5.5 per cent this year, one of the strongest showings in the world, but cautions that the region could suffer if the global economy falters again.
Competitiveness 'is going to make the difference whether Africa's growth is sustained or not', said World Bank chief economist for Africa, Shantayanan Devarajan.
'Competitiveness is the key to our employment strategy as well.'
By several measures, African economies are doing remarkably well.
Consultancy Ernst & Young said on Tuesday that foreign investment in Africa grew by 87 per cent in the past decade, as the continent has offered strong growth rates and high returns.
Foreign direct investment jumped from 338 new projects on the continent in 2003 to 633 in 2010, it said.
Ten African countries attracted 70 per cent of those projects: South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, Angola, Kenya, Libya and Ghana.
'Africa has remained an attractive investment destination throughout the global downturn and has managed to maintain its relative share of global investment flows as a result,' the company said.
'Strong growth in new projects into Africa is expected from next year with (foreign direct investment) inflows forecast to reach $150 billion by 2015.'
According to the firm, investments started picking up in 2008, at the height of the global downturn, after a drop in previous years.
'There are of course parts of the continent where there are real and perceived barriers to investment due to political instability and corruption,' said Ajen Sita, managing partner for Africa at Ernst & Young.
'These are obvious challenges but those investing in Africa, and Africans themselves, have much to be positive about,' he added.
'Although the African share of global (foreign direct investment) has grown over the past decade, we believe that it does not reflect the increasing attractiveness of a region that has one of the fastest economic growth rates and highest returns on investment in the world,' said Sita.
The 21st WEF on Africa in Cape Town is set to discuss how sub-Saharan Africa can sustain growth and increase its economic potential, with the first session opening later Wednesday.
The three-day forum will be attended by 900 delegates including regional leaders of governments and businesses.
Source: New Age

ICCB for assured energy supply to attain higher GDP growth

Petrobangla in last two years failed to explore and develop any new gas field, according to the editorial of the news bulletin of International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh released on Monday.

It mentioned that continued failure of GTCL in implementing gas transmission infrastructure would prolong gas crisis. Therefore, expeditious implementation of high pressure gas pipeline compressor project and other gas infrastructure of GTCL are urgently needed, it said.

If Bangladesh desires to become a middle income country, it must aim for a GDP growth of 8 per cent or more and that is possible only if there is assured energy supply and related physical infrastructure, the ICCB bulletin said.

According to projections, growth during the current fiscal is expected to be 5.0 to 6.7 per cent. However, it was earlier projected that with adequate energy supply and certain physical infrastructure in place, Bangladesh could attain double digit growth; over a shorter period, it said.

By all indications, the country weathered the global crisis largely unscathed and is ready for a robust expansion of output and investment; as one of the emerging market economies, it said.

Source: New Age

World luxury market to grow 8pc: study

Global luxury sales should grow eight per cent this year to $185 billion but Japan's market will contract, according to a study by research group Bain&Company released Tuesday.

The forecast was raised from an earlier estimate of growth of between three and five per cent but would still be lower than last year's result of 12-per cent growth in the luxury market, as the world recovered from the economic crisis.

Bain said growth would average five to six per cent a year until 2014.

Growth in the Chinese market will be 25 per cent this year, it said, adding that continental China without Hong Kong and Macao was set to become the third biggest luxury market after Japan and the United States within five years.

Source: New Age

Banglamoti rice cultivation gains popularity

The cultivation of Banglamoti variety of rice has been gaining popularity among the farmers in Bagerhat creating a new hope for them.

According to farmers, BRRI-50, invented by Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, known as Banglamoti rice, is suitable for boro season. The size of the variety is better than Indian and Pakistani 'basmati rice'.

Officials in the Department of Agricultural Extension in Bagerhat said this newly developed variety of rice could become a blessing for those farmers of southern region who incurred huge loss after rice cultivation due to salinity in soil.

The commercial cultivation of Banglamoti had been expanding day by day as farmers achieved success in experimental cultivation, he said.

Two plots were made to cultivate Banglamoti rice on experimental basis at village Shyamnagar at Fakirhat

in 2010.

As a huge quantity of rice was produced in the plots, some 101 hectares of land were brought under cultivation this season where farmers achieved 6600kgs rice per hectare.

Mehedi Hasan, a farmer of village Aruadanga at Fakirhat, said he had cultivated Banglamoti rice on three hectares of land this season as its cultivation seemed profitable than other varieties of rice.

Bagerhat DAE deputy director, Abdul Gafur, said per hectare production cost of the variety was Tk 60,000 and farmers could earn profit of Tk 2 to 2.5 lakh from each hectare, he said. 'The seeds of Bangla-moti rice are being preserved to expand its cultivation in nine upazilas of the district,' he said.

Source: New Age

Thailand, Vietnam go for parboiled rice production for Bangladesh

Exporters in Thailand and Vietnam, world's top two rice sources, are now selling to Bangladeshi importers parboiled rice, which has not been a traditional item in their export basket.

Bangladeshi importers and bankers said parboiled rice procurement from Thailand and Vietnam had increased sharply in the recent months as availability of this category of rice increased there.

Tipu Sultan, a leader of Bangladesh Rice Importers' Association, told New Age on Friday that Bangladesh government and private-sector importers paid more than $67 million in January-March for Thai rice consignments and more than 80 per cent of that was for parboiled rice.

Bangladesh's rice procurement from Thailand in the quarter stood at around 0.15 million tonnes and in the past one year nearly 0.3 million tonnes.

Global rice import markets mostly require non-boiled rice. But, in Bangladesh parboiled rice is consumed most, excepting some areas in Chittagong and Sylhet.

Previously, for many years, Indian exporters had been supplying Bangladesh market with parboiled rice.

As India had banned rice export for around two years and as, even after withdrawal of the ban, exporters there remained inactive due to shortage of rice stocks Bangladeshi importers have been searching desperately for alternative sources of parboiled rice for the past couple of years or more.

Thai and Vietnamese exporters dominate the global rice market but they had supplying only non-boiled rice. But, as Bangladeshi government and private-sector importers rushed there recently offering good price it inspired exporters to convince millers to produce parboiled rice and cater to Bangladesh market.

Quoting reports from the Thai Rice Exporters' Association, Tipu Sultan said Bangladesh imported $61 million worth of rice from Thailand in 2010, $0.8 million in 2009, and $11 million in 2008.

Bangladesh is not a net importer of rice but production shortage and damage of crop in natural calamities force it to procure one to two million tonnes of rice in some years. With around 30 million tonnes of annual un-husked rice production, the country's domestic supply of rice is more than 20 million tonnes.

Source: New Age

Foreign assistance target for next ADP set at Tk 188.85b

The government has set the foreign assistance target for the next Annual Development Programme at Tk 188.85 billion, attaching top priority to infrastructure project development.

Economic Relations Division officials said the target was set last week based on the demands made by government ministries and agencies for implementing their ongoing projects as well as those in fiscal year 2011-12.

The foreign assistance target for the next ADP is Tk 69.55 billion more than the revised Tk 119.30 billion target for the current ADP.

According to ERD sources, government bodies in communication and power sectors sought more foreign fund allocations in the upcoming budget for implementing their development projects.

The government has allocated Tk 4.0 billion project aid for implementing the Padma bridge project in the next ADP.

The ERD officials said the total size of the next ADP would be finalised this month.

A planning ministry official said the size of the next ADP would probably hover around Tk 460 billion, up by Tk 3.51 billion from the current ADP.

Planning ministry officials said, 'Although the size of the ADP for the next fiscal year would be higher than that of the current one, foreign funds utilisation remains a challenge as the government agencies continue to fail to implement the development projects.'

In the wake of the failure to utilise foreign funds, the government reduced the foreign assistance target by Tk 3.7 billion to Tk 119.30 billion in the revised ADP for the current fiscal year.

ERD officials, however, are hopeful that foreign assistance disbursement will increase in the coming days.

The ERD also has set the foreign assistance target at Tk 210 billion in the upcoming national budget.

The target is $1.03 billion higher than that of $1.97 billion in the current fiscal year budget.

Source: New Age

BRAC Bank opts for Oracle Fusion Middleware

BRAC Bank has recently chosen Oracle Service Bus for Financial Services and Oracle WebLogic 11g, part of the Oracle Fusion Middleware products family, as a platform to help modernise its banking operations.

Oracle Service Bus for Financial Services will enable BRAC bank with a flexible infrastructure to integrate various third party applications, while providing the IT team with the ability to centrally configure polices and ensure security of the exposed services, said a news release.

Oracle WebLogic 11g helps ensure rapid deployment and ease of integration through a single tool, thus reducing work load on the internal team while providing the additional capabilities of managing and monitoring communications among all applications.

'Oracle solutions based on Open Industry Standards will help our bank to extend and evolve our existing applications instead of replacing them,' said BRAC Bank chief technology officer Nawed Iqbal.

Source: New Age

Japanese co to invest $5.6 million in Bangladesh

CG Fashions Limited, a Japanese company, will set up a readymade garment industry in the Adamjee Export Processing Zone investing $5.6 million.

The foreign-owned company will also create employment opportunity for 1,399 Bangladeshi nationals, said a news release.

An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and CG Fashions Limited at BEPZA Complex on Monday.

BEPZA member (investment promotion) Md Moyjuddin Ahmed and CG Fashions Limited managing director Shinichi Okuda signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides.

BEPZA executive chairman ATM Shahidul Islam and other senior officials, among others, were present at the signing ceremony.

Source: New Age

Dhaka joins in seafood expo in Brussels today

A three-day seafood fair titled 'European Seafood Exposition' begins today in the Belgium capital of Brussels.

Two-man delegation of the Export Promotion Bureau will participate in the exposition, the world's largest seafood show.

Members of the Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association will display an array of sea fish especially known as black gold.

Commerce minister Faruk Khan will lead the delegation, which will be accompanied by a 30-member business delegation.

Shrimp exporters eye $60 million as spot order from the ESE as BFFEA president Kazi Shahnewaz earlier told the media that they got positive response from the foreign buyers in the last year's exposition.

Source: New Age

GP posts Tk 2,067cr revenue earnings in Q1

Grameenphone Limited contributed Tk 944 crore in revenue to the public exchequer in 2010, its chief financial officer Raihan Shamsi told a press briefing at a city hotel on Monday.

He said the mobile operator had contributed a total of Tk 19,446 crore in revenue to the national coffers in the last 14 years.

Grameenphone's revenue earnings in the first quarter of 2011 stood at Tk 2,067 crore, posting a Tk 363 crore or 21.3 per cent rise from that in the corresponding period of 2010, Shamsi told at the briefing organised to announce the company's financial report for the January-March quarter of 2011.

However, the net profit of the company in the quarter amounted to Tk 287 crore with a 13.9 per cent profit margin compared to Tk 316 crore with an 18.5 per cent profit margin in the same period of 2010. The year-on-year profit margin has decreased in the first quarter of 2010 as the company invested Tk 206 crore for customer acquisition and modernisation of network and lost Tk 29 crore due to depreciation of dollar, Shamsi said.

Source: New Age

Tax lawyers for imposing property tax

Tax lawyers on Monday proposed imposing property tax in the forthcoming national budget.

Jatiya Kar Ainjibi Samity president Zakir Hossain said, 'The wealth tax, which was once imposed, has been withdrawn for the benefit of the wealthy people.'

'As a result, the public exchequer has been losing a large amount of revenue every year,' he told a press meet organised by the JKAS, the national forum representing tax consultants, at the National Press Club to present its proposals for the budget 2011-2012.

The association proposed that the National Board of Revenue should re-impose a 10 per cent tax on sale of land to increase the government's revenue earnings.

JKAS executive president Akmal Hossain read the paper containing the proposals, with Zakir Hossain presiding over the meeting. ZKAS

advisers Jamirul Akter and Ahmed Ali Shiekh, vice president Azmol Hossain, general secretary Abdul Aziz Sarker, and joint secretary general Kazi Arefin Zahan were also present on the occasion.

The association recommended that the government should take an initiative to press the country's stock exchanges to provide all their information to the NBR. 

'The government, the people, and the NBR are not sure about the sources of the thousands of crores of taka invested in the capital market by the big investors,' Zakir remarked in this regard.

The JKAS proposed bringing those who had abused and misused the facility of importing duty-free cars to book.

'The number of tax payers among the professionals is really insignificant. Currently, thousands of millionaires among the physicians, engineers, lawyers, accountants, and consultants are out of the tax net,' Akmal Hossain said.

He recommended that the government should make the professionals aware of their obligation to pay tax.

The JKAS recommended increasing the ceiling of tax-free income to

Tk 2 lakh per year, considering the cumulative rise in livelihood expenditures.

It also proposed introducing tax identification number and imposing a minimum tax of Tk 5,000 to Tk 10,000 on purchase of air conditioner and furniture worth Tk 50,000 and more.

The association also recommended imposing tax on expenses made by non-governmental organisations for paying their employees and also forming a regulatory body for the NGOs.

Source: New Age