News in Brief--(1-5-2018)

Snowtex Outerwear gets

govt safety award

Export-oriented apparel manufacturer Snowtex Outerwear Ltd has been awarded with 'Occupational Health and Safety Good Practice Award-2017' by the government for maintaining high safety of workers and workers' health standards in the factories. A total of 10 readymade garment factories got the award at a function held in the city on Saturday arranged by the Ministry of Labour and Employment to observe the National Day on Occupational Health and Safety. Sarkar Mohammad Khaled, MD of Snowtex Outerwear Ltd., received the award from State Minister of the Ministry of Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu. Canadian high commissioner in Dhaka Benoit Préfontaine, Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment Afroza Khan, BGMEA president Md Siddiqur Rahman, among others, spoke on the occasion. Wisdom Attires, Fakir Fashion, Knit Concern, Hop Lun Apparels, Square Fashion, Ecotext, Tarashimo Apparels, Vielatex and AKH Eco Apparels also got the award. — Release

Singapore's bank lending

posts record growth

SINGAPORE, Apr 30 : Singapore's total loans and advances including bills financing of Domestic Banking Units (DBU) grew 5.36 per cent year on year to a predicted 661.6 billion Singapore dollars (about 500 billion U.S. dollars) in March, according to data released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore on Monday. It marked the 18th straight month for DBUs to achieve positive year-on-year growth in total loans and advances. Meanwhile, the DBU's total loans and advances went up 1.64 per cent month on month in March. The growth rate is larger than that of 0.05 per cent for February. In March, Singaporean DBU's loans to businesses grew 5.64 per cent year on year and 2.69 per cent month on month, to 397.83 billion dollars (300 billion U.S. dollars). — Xinhua

China to promote PPP in tourism

BEIJING, Apr 30: China will improve services for tourists through public-private partnerships (PPP), according to a guideline released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Finance (MOF). The PPPs, collaborative projects between government and private companies, will give priority to support national tourism projects and poverty-alleviation through tourism. "The policy will improve infrastructure and public services especially in poor areas such as central and western China," said Liu Jiajun of East China Normal University. "PPP will speed up the transformation of the tourism business," said Li Qiuyan, director of travel agency Joyo Group. — Xinhua

Vietnam's import up 10

pc in first four months

HANOI, Apr 30: Vietnam spent nearly 70.4 billion U.S. dollars importing goods in the first four months of 2018, seeing a year-on-year rise of 10.1 per cent, and a trade surplus of roughly 3.4 billion U.S. dollars, the country's General Statistics Office said on Sunday. Specifically, domestic sector made import turnovers of nearly 28.1 billion U.S. dollars, up 11.2 per cent, and foreign-invested sector posted import turnovers of 42.3 billion U.S. dollars, up 9.3 per cent. Between January and April, Vietnam's import turnovers of electronic products, computers and components surged 22.3 per cent to 13.4 billion U.S. dollars; phones and components increased 9.8 per cent to 4.4 billion U.S. dollars; cloth climbed up 10 percent to 3.7 billion U.S. dollars; oil and petrol products surged 31.6 per cent to 2.8 billion U.S. dollars; and plastic rose 22.2 per cent to 2.8 billion U.S. dollars. — Xinhua

Malaysia's March producer

price down 2.2 pc on year

KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 30: Malaysia's Producer Price Index (PPI) for local production fell 2.2 per cent year-on-year in March, said the country's statistics department Monday. The government agency said in a statement the fall was attributed to agriculture, forestry and fishing sector which dropped 11 per cent, and the manufacturing sector fell 2.3 per cent. The mining sector, however, rose 5.8 per cent, electricity and gas supply increased by 1.3 per cent, and water supply went up 0.1 per cent. For comparison, the PPI decreased by 3.4 per cent in February. — Xinhua