city events

Khelaghor KC earned a facile 3-0 goals victory over Modhubagh Friends Club in a North Zone match of the Metropolis Pioneer Football League at the Mohakhali T and T ground Wednesday. Muktar, Bolai and Habib scored one each for the...

news digest

Iran broad incentivesWASHINGTON, June 18: Iran would receive benefits in nuclear energy, trade, finance, agriculture and high technology if it halted uranium enrichment as demanded by world powers, according to a document released Tuesday by the US State Department. The...

Budget silent on power sector development

The proposed budget for 2008-9 was hailed as a business friendly one. Duty reduction on capital equipment and raw materials proposed in it is intended to much stimulate industrial activities. Proposed cuts on corporate tax and upping duties on imported...

NBR makes changes in HS Code to help resolve disputes over duty

The government has brought uniformity in Harmonised System of Code (HS Code) of 47 products to resolve disputes over fixation of applicable duty on the same category products under different codes.The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has made the change...

Western banks fall into the addiction trap, Japanese-style

A decade ago I lived in Tokyo, where I wrote about Japan's banking woes. For several nail-biting years, I watched as the Bank of Japan (BoJ) unveiled a stream of ever-more creative measures that were designed to combat the risk...

Terms of trade affecting Bangladeshi workers

Favourable terms of trade gear up domestic economy and welfare of the workers engaged in export industries. It is essential to identify potential items from among our exports and explore new items to widen the list of export merchandises for...

Proposed corporate tax rate on dividend income needs review

THE proposed national budget FY 2008-2009, as it appears, has been prepared to address major national economic problems. Adequate budgetary allocation for social safety net, women and children welfare, and disaster management is, indeed, a welcome move by the Finance...

Frozen food exports fetch $500m in 10 months

The country fetched nearly half a billion U.S. dollar in the first ten months of outgoing fiscal from frozen foods exports despite external and domestic odds.In the first ten months of the current fiscal, Bangladesh's exports earning from frozen foods...

Delivering the goods to the poor

Alleviation of poverty is a big issue that the successive governments of the country have been trying to address over the years. Not in the distant past, the United Nations (UN) and the leaders of the rich nations at their...

The powers that MPs could never enjoy

With the council of advisers approving the Upazila Parishad Ordinance last Sunday, the caretaker administration is now halfway through its mission to make the Upazila Parishad a credible and effective local government institution.The Ordinance, which is expected to be promulgated...

Banks charging high fees for issuing certificates to update BO accounts

The commercial banks are doing brisk business by charging high fees for issuing bank certificates to update the existing Beneficiary Owners' (BO) accounts as per mandatory requirement of a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) order.The SEC in its order said...

Japan's DOCOMO buys 30pc stake of AKTel

Japan's leading mobile communications company, NTT DOCOMO, Inc has announced its acquisition of 30 per cent stake in AKTel, Bangladesh's third-biggest wireless carrier, at a cost of $350 million.The announcement of the Japanese cell phone giant came in a statement...

Spotlight on National Budget

THE government has proposed an expansionary budget for the next fiscal year which is 26 per cent bigger than that of the outgoing fiscal with big outlays for social safety net, subsidy, interest payment and block allocation. Under the proposed...

The dream of Afghan democracy is dead

In public, defeat in Afghanistan is unthinkable for western governments. In private, for many it already seems inevitable - at least if the western definition of "victory" remains the vastly overblown goals set since the overthrow of the Taliban, within...

G8 sees rising inflation threat

David PillingFT Syndication ServiceOSAKA: Hank Paulson, US Treasury secretary, talked up the dollar in Osaka at the weekend as the Group of Eight finance ministers warned of the increasing threat inflation posed to their economies.Taking their cue from tough comments...

Indian wage inflation to grow

Indian companies are likely to keep raising salaries by about 15 per cent a year until 2011 as skills shortages overshadow concerns about higher input costs, according to Mercer, the consultancy.The forecast, part of Mercer's annual Asia-Pacific compensation report, comes...

Why delays in commissioning of rental power plants

THE Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) handed over the land of the sites in workable condition at a date later than the expected time. As a result, the commercial operation of the three rental power plants, among the would-be six,...

Hullabaloos over undisclosed money

Trade bodies, if not the National Board of Revenue, this time appear to be unusually enthusiastic about the government's offer to formalise undisclosed yet legal income.The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry-FBCCI, has demanded of the government to...

Radio poised for a roaring comeback

THE most punishing episode in one's life is 'to wait' uncertainly for something pleasant to happen: to wait for the postman to deliver the letter from your sweet heart or for the traffic surgeon to give the green signal for...

corporatewatch

Quasem Silk: Quasem Silk Industries Limited incurred a net loss of Tk 0.06 million as per the unaudited half yearly accounts as on March 31, 2008. The earning per share of the company stood at Tk 0.03.NAV of First BSRSOn...

Country eyes $10 billion remittance next fiscal

The receipts from overseas remittances is expected to reach US$10 billion in the next fiscal year following a robust growth in manpower export in the outgoing fiscal, a senior official said Saturday.In the first 11 months of the outgoing fiscal,...

House rent on rise in capital

The financial pain of the city tenants is mounting as house owners have started hiking rent, cashing in on the budgetary bounty for government employees.Tenants and officials said house rent saw an abrupt rise of 10 to 25 per cent...

Soros paints bleak picture on commodity price 'bubble'

George Soros, the billionaire financier, stood before US lawmakers early this month and witheringly described the current boom in commodity markets as a "super-bubble" that could result in instability.Mr Soros told the Senate commerce committee that institutional investors were inflating...

Spying and the abuse of data

Setting up cameras and monitoring employees' toilet breaks, as the supermarket chain Lidl did; keeping a "black money" fund for kickbacks to officials in developing countries, as Siemens allegedly did; diverting money to pay for call girls for refractory board...

Inflation poses ratings threat to Middle East

FT Syndication ServiceLONDON: The growing threat of inflation could lead to rating downgrades in many Middle Eastern countries as price pressures from soaring commodity prices coupled with strong consumer demand destabilise these economies.With inflation increasingly seen as a worldwide concern,...

Empowerment of SQA

IN most cases, if there is a so-called SQA (Software Quality Assurance) team in a software development company, they advocate SQA empowerment. If some are not vocal about it, they probably are de-motivated about the fact that they are not...

Leaving Zero Coupon Bond out of tax net

THE proposal for withdrawal of SRO on exemption of tax on Zero Coupon Bond (ZCB) is considered to be a big blow to the development of bond market in Bangladesh and thus proving the fact that the government is still...

Govt expects Tk 3.0b from disclosure of untaxed funds

The government expects a revenue of Tk 3.0 billion from its offer made in the budget for the fiscal 2008-09, on formalising undisclosed yet legal income with a payment of 7.0 per cent penal tax.The opportunity will remain valid for...

High prices begin to affect the world's appetite for oil

As truckers protest against high fuel prices, politicians seek seapegoats among speculators and governments in Asia abandon expensive fuel subsidies, evidence is beginning to mount of a dramatic shift in oil demand.America, for one, shows signs of finally starting to...

Consumer protection law : another view

GOVERNMENT after government has been stalling the adoption of a comprehensive consumer protection law. A law was drafted long ago. But it was not introduced in parliament possibly due to behind- the- scene lobbying by the vested interest groups. The...