Briefing 2023-06-10
Saturday, 10 June 2023
Stocks lose steam as budget brings no cheers
Stocks remained almost flat in the outgoing week after a four-week rally, as the national budget for fiscal year 2023-24 brought no cheer to investors. This is the first week after the budget was unveiled in parliament on June 01. Furthermore, this week saw the biggest single-day fall in nearly seven months following panic-driven sell-off triggered by a rumour of capital gain tax on individuals. Page 9
Palestinian president to visit China
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will make a state visit to China next week, Beijing said Friday, after China expressed readiness to help facilitate Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Beijing has positioned itself as a mediator in the Middle East, brokering the restoration of ties in March between Iran and Saudi Arabia-rivals in a region where the United States has for decades been the main powerbroker. Page 14
Promote local sports in a bigger way: PM
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday stressed the need for promoting local sports in a bigger way to enhance engagement of the young generations in extracurricular activities. "It needs to give more importance to local games and sports so that these can be practised more…. I want our children to remain engaged in sports, physical exercises and cultural activities, not only in study," she said. Page 13
2nd ERL unit work to start soon
The construction work to set up the second unit of the Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) is likely to be started very soon as the government has already allocated the fund for the project. ERL Managing Director Engineer Md Lokman told The Financial Express, "The government has allocated 70% of the total fund as loan. However, the rest of the 30% will be allocated by Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC)." Page 16