business
Banks to remain open on June 27, 28 in industrial areas
Bank branches will remain open in industrial areas on Tuesday and Wednesday (June 27 & 28) from 10 am to 2 pm, aiming to facilitate the disbursement of wages, bonus and other allowances to garment workers before Eid-ul-Azha.
The Department of Off-site Supervision of the central bank issued a circular in this regard and sent it to the top executives of all the scheduled banks on Wednesday.
Read: Bank branches to remain closed on Tuesday in election areas
The circular said bank branches in Dhaka metropolitans, Ashulia, Tongi, Gazipur, Savar, Bhaluka and Narayanganj will be kept open for full day on Friday and Saturday to disburse garment workers' wages, bonus and other allowances.
It also instructed to keep open bank branches in Chattogram metropolitan and industrial areas.
The central bank asked banks to arrange adequate security in the bank branches in coordination with local administration.
The holy Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated across the country on June 29.
Read: Islami bank, Sonali bank branches put under lockdown in Naogaon, Bogura
The government has extended the Eid-ul Azha holidays to four days from June 27 to 30.
The decision came at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office on Monday.
Read more: Bank branches at Ctg, Mongla, Benapole land ports to operate 15hrs daily
Nagad dangles ‘Ek Takar’ offer on GP mobile recharge
Nagad, a leading mobile financial service in Bangladesh, has come up with an “Ek Takar” offer on a recharge to any Grameenphone numbers through its app or by dialling USSD *167#, to encourage people to more and more digital transactions.
Customers will get a cashback of BDT 199 on the recharge of BDT 200 to GP prepaid, postpaid, and Skitto numbers through Nagad.
The mobile recharges between 5pm and 8pm will be eligible for the cashback offer. Every hour first 100 rechargers will receive this cashback and the amount will be posted to his or her Nagad number in the next working day.
Read: Nagad became a billion-dollar company in just 3 years, 5 more Bangladeshi unicorns by 2025: Palak
The campaign, which was launched on 19 June, will continue till 25th of this month. A customer can participate in this campaign as many times as they like, says a press release on Wednesday.
Besides, a user making the highest number of BDT 200-mobile recharge a day will get a smartphone or a tab from Nagad. The winners will be notified through SMS if selected for this special prize, and the list of winners will be published on the official Facebook page of Nagad Limited.
Sadat Adnan Ahmed, chief marketing officer of Nagad, said, “Nagad wants as many people as possible in the country to get used to digital transactions and use mobile money for daily needs like mobile recharge. That is why we have launched this campaign in partnership with Grameenphone. We want to make customers’ life easier and more comfortable.”
Read: Establishing Digital Bank paramount to build smart Bangladesh: Nagad MD
No one from Nagad Limited will ask customers for PIN number or OTP for this campaign or for any other reasons. Additionally, Nagad representatives will never call customers to make any transactions or recharge their mobile numbers.
Read: Nagad MD proposes cashless transactions to save billions and build a smart Bangladesh
MFS transactions record breached again in April; number of accounts now 26.5 crore
Mobile Financial Services, adopted by Bangladeshis across social strata like ducks to water, continue to grow in volume as more and more financial transactions in the country take place over the platform.The latest statistics on MFS from Bangladesh Bank reveal that Tk1.25 lakh crore was transacted through licensed MFS in April this year. This figure is a record for the volume of monthly transactions, even without the amount transacted over Nagad, which was still offering a similar kind of service in April, but without an MFS license.
Also read: MFS transforming money transactions in Bangladesh, soon to cross Tk. 1 trillion
Adding Nagad’s amount increases the total transacted in April up to Tk1.54 lakh crore. It means on average Tk 5100 crore everyday was being transacted through this digital platform in April. MFS is growing gradually, the BB report states, with typical understatement.
The number of customers is increasing along with transactions in mobile banking. Currently, 13 banks are providing MFS under the names of bkash, Rocket, Ucash, MyCash, SureCash.
Also read: BB re-fixes MFS money transaction limit to ease payment during Eid
At the end of April 2023, the number of customers, or more logically the number of registered accounts with MFS stood at 26.5 crore. This includes the Nagad customer base, after it finally registered as a non-bank financial institution just recently.
Also read: Fintech MFS: Best Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh
The number of mobile banking agents, meanwhile, has reached 15.55 lakh this time.
‘De-dollarisation’: Bangladesh, India to trade using taka, rupee from September
A silent revolution is underway, as Bangladesh and India will start using Indian rupee and Bangladeshi taka for trade purposes from September 2023.
At the same time, Bangladesh Bank will introduce a debit card called “Taka Pay Card”, through which people can withdraw taka or rupee. People who travel to India will get the facility of paying through this card, said the central bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder recently.
Also read: Bangladesh Bank yet to allow Indian rupee in foreign trade
He said, people going for treatment, students, and businessmen will benefit from this system and they can avoid using the US dollar.
From September, India and Bangladesh will open LCs for import and export, using the Indian rupee and Bangladeshi taka.
Also read: “Use rupee, taka”: India asks exporters to refrain from trading in dollars with Bangladesh
Until now, rupee was converted into dollar, and that was converted again into rupee; the same was done with taka.
As a result, Bangladeshi and Indian citizens were losing at least six percent of rupee or taka. As the new system provides for the direct rupee to taka or taka to rupee conversion, no party will be affected, Bangladesh Bank sources said.
Also read: Bangladesh-India: Better cooperation to ensure more trade benefits
The offer was from the Government of India, and Bangladesh accepted it. This will eliminate use of US dollar from trade and personal travel purposes.
IBBL gets new chairman
Ahsanul Alam has been elected as the chairman of Board of Directors of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL).
The decision to elect a chairman was taken at the 324th meeting of the Board of Directors of the bank on Monday, said a media release signed by Nazrul Islam, senior vice president of the bank.
Also: Tk 30,000cr loan from Islami Bank: HC asks S Alam Group to explain reports
Ahsanul is the son of Saiful Alam, chairman of S Alam Group, which has controlled IBBL since 2017.
After completing Bachelor's degree from University of Bradford and Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Edinburgh Napier University, United Kingdom, he performed duty as chairman of the Board of Directors of Union Bank Limited.
Also read: Scam-hit Islami Bank earns operational profit in 2022, Basic Bank reports loss
Currently he is the chairman of Hasan Abasan (Pvt.) Limited, S Alam Group's flagship real estate company based in Chattogram, and managing director of a number of other companies controlled by the group, including Artsy Holdings Limited, Shining Assets Limited, Affinity Assets Limited, Wesco Limited, Marina Assets Limited and Kraft Holding Company Limited.
Also read: BB disburses Tk 4000 crore as liquidity support to 5 Islami banks
He is also a director of SS Power-I Limited, the country's largest privately-owned thermal power plant located in Banshkhali. Ahsanul is a prominent businessman in the textile, garment and trading sectors.
Also read: Scam-hit Islami Bank earns operational profit in 2022, Basic Bank reports loss
He has already been conferred with the highest taxpayer from Chattogram award twice.
BHBFC-AFD hold bilateral meeting on green-featured buildings
The Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation (BHBFC) and France based development partner The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) held a bilateral meeting on Sunday.
The meeting was held at the BHBFC Bhaban in the capital, said a press release.
The board chairman of the organization, Professor Dr Md. Salim Uddin FCA, FCMA was present at the meeting as chief guest.
BHBFC Managing Director Md Abdul Mannan presided over the meeting.
In the meeting different aspects of financing in constructing affordable and green-featured buildings were discussed.
AFD Task Team Leader of Financial System Division Marie Rale and Thomas Josselin and AFD Bangladesh Office Project Officer Tamanna Binte Rahman participated in the discussions.
Ex-governors optimistic MPS can claw back inflation, implementation the key
Two ex-governors of Bangladesh Bank with divergent viewpoints are viewing the H1 Monetary Policy Statement (MPS), applicable to the first half of the 2023-24 fiscal, as a routine response to the call for moving towards a market-based interest rate, towards a unified exchange rate and efforts to curb inflation.
Dr Atiur Rahman, who served as the 10th governor of Bangladesh Bank from 2009-16, told UNB that the rise in the policy rate by 50 basis points (0.5%) would make credit costlier for the banks from the central bank, which would be passed through to borrowers. This will help the central bank mop-up excess liquidity from the market.
Also read: Contractionary monetary policy announced to curb inflation
“Both broad money in circulation and private sector credit growth have been reduced to make the monetary policy look contractionary,” he said, comparing the policy to others in the region. “This is certainly a move in the right direction as many of our neighbouring central banks like RBI and Bank of Thailand have been pursuing such contractionary policy for quite some time achieving inflation rates of 4.3 percent and 2.7 percent respectively.”
“Indeed, inflation is essentially a monetary phenomenon and should be treated as such,” Dr Atiur said, quoting the quantity theory of money, according to which prices vary in proportion to the money supply.
He said the current monetary policy of Bangladesh tries to make credit costlier by raising both policy rates and providing flexibility in setting interest rates based on a reference rate plus a margin of 3 percentage points that banks can add on.
Also read: Bangladesh Bank to announce new monetary policy tomorrow, 9% interest rate cap to be withdrawn
The broad money and private credit growth rates have been reduced to reduce the money supply in the market. If implemented well, Dr Atiur said, this monetary policy will give a proper signal that the central bank is willing to use the tools at its disposal to address inflation which has been rising persistently.
The monthly inflation rate in May soared to a decade-high of 9.94%, up from 9.24% in April, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). Dr Atiur supports the move to come away from the previous policy setting a ceiling on the interest rate.
“Interest ceiling was not a well-designed policy. When inflation crossed this ceiling rate, large entrepreneurs started getting loans at negative real rates of interest. This encouraged the willful borrowers to take more loans, not necessarily for productive investment. The risk of a rise in non-performing loans increased in the process,” he added.
Also read: Central bank to announce new monetary policy soon with focus on macroeconomic stability
He noted that the interest rate cap (ceiling) has been removed partially - the central bank will still have control over the reference rate, which it said will be based on the average interest rate of the six-monthly treasury bond.
“The auctions of this bond are managed by the central bank. Yet, this is a step forward in the right direction,” he said.
“The central bank will continue to print money as the public borrowing will increase by three percentage points. There is nothing wrong in it if the government spends this money for productive development projects instead of salaries or other unproductive activities,” Dr Atiur said.
Also read: CPD dismisses budget's projections on growth, inflation, revenue collection
As for the foreign exchange market, Dr Atiur believes it will stabilise once the single, unified exchange rate is rolled out as there would be less speculation in the forex market. Instead, there will be more competition in the market and the exchange rate will vary within a band (up to 2 percent) as stipulated by the Foreign Exchange Act.
Dr Atiur hopes Bangladesh Bank will guide the foreign exchange market to remain competitive.
His immediate predecessor as governor of the central bank, Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, also said the contractionary monetary policy should help to reduce inflation.
Also read: Market-based interest rate, unified exchange rate from July: Bangladesh Bank
He too expects neither the interest rate nor the exchange rate to be fully market-based as Shapla Chottor would continue to exercise indirect control through its reference rate.
Dr Salehuddin also doubts the inflation rate would ultimately be curbed due to concerns over proper and independent implementation of the monetary policy statement within the current climate.
First Bhutan Trade and Investment Fair to begin June 23
The Royal Bhutanese Embassy in Dhaka is organizing the first Bhutan Trade and Investment Fair 2023 from June 23-25 at the Shooting Club in the capital Gulshan.The event is being organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Employment, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Royal Government of Bhutan, supported by the Bhutan Country Office of Food and Agriculture Organization, according to a press release on Monday.
Also read: Bangladesh's role in Bhutan’s socio-economic dev immense: EnvoyThe investment fair is organized with the primary objective to further facilitating the implementation of the provisions of this for the mutual benefit of the people of the two countries, it said.Themed “Bridging the Gap Between Investors, Producers, Traders and Consumers for Made in Bhutan and Grown in Bhutan”, the fair will provide a platform for businesses, entrepreneurs and service providers of the two countries to build networks, explore opportunities, and strengthen trade and commercial relations, it also said.
Also read: Bhutan Travel Guide: Best places to visit, interesting things to doCommerce Minister Tipu Munshi will attend the inauguration of the fair, as the chief guestOn the sidelines of the fair, experts from Bhutan will also organize seminars at the fair venue on investment opportunities in Bhutan, in general, and agri-food systems in particular, said the release.About 25 companies from Bhutan will be participating in the fair, showcasing a wide range of, made in Bhutan and grown in Bhutan, products. Detailed information can be found on the website www.bhutantradeshow.com
Also read: Cabinet okays Bhutan's use of land and sea portsBhutanese Ambassador Rinchen Kuentsyl, Trade Counselor (Trade) Kencho Thinley, Political Counselor Jigdrel Y Tshering, Finance Counselor Tshering Choki and Second Secretary Pema Seldon, were present during a press meet arranged to give details of the fair.
Time-befitting policy needed to utilise potentiality of tannery sector: BTA President
President of Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA), Md. Shaheen Ahamed, said on Monday that despite immense potentiality of earning foreign exchange from the leather sector the tannery industries have remained backward for lack of time-befitting policy.
The entrepreneurs of the tannery sector faced loss and struggled to survive at Savar Tannery hub where the factories have been shifted without developing necessary infrastructures including an inefficient waste management plant, he said.
Shaheen made the statement in a seminar on "Actions for Sustainable Development of the Leather Industry” jointly organised by the Economic Reporters’ Forum (ERF), BTA, and The Asia Foundation at the ERF Auditorium on Monday.
BTA President Md. Shaheen Ahmed, and Rehena Akter Ruma, head of projects and program of BTA, presented a keynote paper on the overall situation of the tannery sector.
Kazi Faisal Bin Seraj, Country Representative of The Asia Foundation, Ferdaus Ara Begum, CEO of BUILD, Tariqul Islam Khan, Managing Director, Marsons Tannery Ltd, ERF president Refayet Ullah Mirdha and its secretary Abul Kashem, among others, spoke on the occasion.
Read: Treat tannery wastes properly to export leather to EU, US: Speakers
Shaheed said around 40 lakh cows and 45 lakh goats are expected to be sacrificed during the Eid-ul-Azha later this month in the country, and Tk 50,000 to 55,000 crore will be the turnover in the sacrificial animal market.
He said on average the market value of raw hide of a cow of 22 square feet is estimated at Tk 850.
“Other processing will cost Tk 1900. The price of the finished leather is Tk2750. It is possible to make 10 pairs of good quality shoes in the local market or exportable items at an estimated price of Tk50,000,” he said.
Read: Speakers press for compliance in labour rights to develop tannery industry
Shaheen said foreign investors and local entrepreneurs can invest more in the potential leather industries if the government strengthens policy support and ensures global standard waste management plants.
Read more: Speakers press for timely implementation of tannery sector compliance work plan
FBCCI and Faction sign MoU to boost research, innovation
The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), the apex trade body of Bangladesh, and Faction, a US-based company, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to enhance cooperation in establishing the FBCCI Innovation and Research Center.
FBCCI President Md. Jashim Uddin and Faction Co-Founder Max Garza III signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organisations yesterday at the Bengal Commercial Bank head office in the capital.
Read: Rationalize public sector borrowing to encourage private borrowing: DCCI President
Distinguished attendees at the signing ceremony included FBCCI Senior Vice President Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu; Vice Presidents M A Momen, Md. Amin Helaly, Md. Habib Ullah Dawn; Acting Secretary General Ambassador Mosud Mannan; and Chief Executive Officer of the FBCCI Innovation and Research Center, Bikarna Kumar Ghosh.
The FBCCI president said, "Bangladesh is moving towards digitization. We must ensure the maximum use of technology to build a developed Bangladesh by 2041, as announced by the Prime Minister. At the same time, country's businessmen must increase capacity to work with the government on the policy level with the problems and possibilities of the private sector.” The collaboration between FBCCI and Faction in the domains of innovation and research will significantly benefit the business landscape of Bangladesh, he added.
Read: Contractionary monetary policy announced to curb inflation
Instead of adopting a "one product, one policy" approach, focus must be on sector-wise policies to encourage product diversification. Innovation and research should be prioritised to foster differentiation among various sectors and clusters, the FBCCI president added.
Md. Jashim Uddin noted that these initiatives with Faction aim to establish linkages between universities, students, and organisations in both countries. By leveraging the expertise and knowledge-sharing between the best universities and institutions in the United States and Bangladesh, both nations will reap substantial benefits.
Read: IDRA appoints observers for Sun-Life, Progressive Life Insurance
Faction Co-founder Max Garza III expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership and acknowledged the immense potential for mutual growth. He stated that the collaboration between Faction and FBCCI would not only benefit Bangladesh but also contribute to the advancement of research and technology worldwide.