Haque Specialized Group's News

Overall shortfall in provision against both classified and unclassified loans in the country's banking system swelled by nearly 28 per cent or Tk 11.87 billion in the last calendar year. Officials said the banks ran short on the provisions following conditional rescheduling of loans. The amount of provisioning shortfalls rose to Tk 54.70 billion as on December 31 from corresponding Tk 42.83 billion of the previous year, according to latest statistics with Bangladesh Bank (BB). "Some banks have maintained more provisions against their conditional rescheduling of loans," a BB senior official told the FE Sunday to explain the banking situation. Also, he said, a large amount of non-performing loans had been rescheduled with some conditions set by the central bank to minimise risks Such rescheduled credits were treated as unclassified ones, but the banks were asked to maintain provisions in accordance with previous status of the loans, the central banker explained. "Fresh classified loans also pushed up the volume of provision shortfalls with the banks," the BB official noted. Only six banks out of 57 have failed to keep requisite provisions against loans, particularly classified ones, according to officials. Of them, three are state-owned commercial banks (SoCBs) and the rest private commercial banks (PCBs). Under the existing BB regulations, the banks have to keep 0.25 per cent to 5.0 per cent provisions against general-category loans, 20 per cent provision against substandard category, 50 per cent against doubtful loans and 100 per cent against bad or loss category. The banks normally keep required provisions against their unclassified and NPLs from their operating profits in a bid to mitigate financial risks, another BB official said. "The banks will have to maintain provisioning against all types of loans to protect the interests of their (banks) depositors," the central banker said on a note of caution about the flipside of banking operations.   siddique.islam@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-02-27 00:00:05

The government is set to place a hefty Tk 4.2-trillion budget for the next fiscal, up over 23 per cent from the current outlay. Finance Minister AMA Muhith disclosed the plan to reporters Sunday after the first pre-budget exchange of views with leading think-tanks. "This is the last chance of taking up mega-projects by this government, so the size of the budget is the biggest," he said at the state guesthouse Padma. The finance minister hopes the rate of GDP will cross 7.2 per cent this fiscal year. The rate will increase further in the next financial year (FY), 2017-18. On a note of dissatisfaction, he said the prevailing pace of resource mobilisation is not up to the mark. "But the NBR will get bigger target in the coming fiscal year," he said after the exchange of views with state-run Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Dhaka-based Economic Research Group, Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA). Senior representatives of the think-tanks attended the meeting. Senior Secretary of the finance division Mahbub Ahmed and NBR Chairman Md Nojibur Rahman, among others, attended the pre-budget talks from government side. The Finance Minister said the think-tanks expressed their dissatisfaction about poor remittance inflows. Mr Muhith said remittance inflow declined owing to 'low earnings by expatriates'. Official statistics show remittance inflow fell by more than 17 per cent in December in comparison with December 2015. He said the participants were critical of issuing bonds. "They suggested being cautious in issuing bonds," he said. The finance minister said the growth in foreign-exchange reserves will not be sustained in future the way it is expanding now. He reiterated that the much-talked-about VAT Act will be implemented from 1st day of the next fiscal year. About the opposition from the business community, Mr Muhith said discussions are going on with the businesspeople and hoped the disagreements would be settled. Agreeing with the think-tanks about poor investment in health and education, he hinted the allocations might get a boost this year. The Senior Minister said the think-tanks expressed their concern about 'agent banking'. They, he said, wanted a clear definition of sustainable development goals (SDGs)-related parameters and its targets and strategies taken by the government. Replying to a question, he said foreign direct investment is facing setbacks regularly and that the government is trying to overcome the problem. jasimharoon@yahoo.com, bdsmile@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-02-27 00:00:05

Viola Davis and Mahershala Ali won early Oscars on Sunday for their supporting roles in African-American stories "Fences" and "Moonlight" on a night where diversity, and US President Donald Trump, both loomed large. Ali, and a tearful Davis, each winning their first Oscars, were among a record seven actors of colour nominated for Academy Awards this year, in stark contrast to 2016 when there were none. "O.J.: Made in America," a series about the 1995 double murder trial of former footballer O.J. Simpson won best documentary. Trump and actress Meryl Streep also took center stage on the movie industry's biggest night as host Jimmy Kimmel fired off political zingers after an awards season marked by celebrity opposition to the Republican president and his policies. "I want to say thank you to President Trump. Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist?" quipped Kimmel in an apparent reference to Trump's crackdown on immigrants and travelers from seven majority Muslim nations. Streep, 67, was given a standing ovation by the Oscar audience after Kimmel recalled how Trump had derided the actress as "overrated" after she attacked him at the Golden Globes ceremony in January. "Meryl Streep has phoned it in for more than 50 films in the course of her lackluster career," Kimmel quipped as triple Oscar winner Streep squirmed in her seat. Several celebrities wore blue ribbons on Sunday in support of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) advocacy group that worked to get Trump's travel ban blocked in US courts. Iran's "The Salesman" was named best foreign language film but its director, Asghar Farhadi, boycotted Sunday's ceremony because of the Trump's controversial bid to ban travellers from seven majority Muslim nations. In a speech delivered on his behalf by Iranian-American space expert Anousheh Ansari, Farhadi said his absence was due to "an inhumane law that bans entry into the US... Dividing the world into the 'us' and 'our enemies' categories creates fear, a deceitful justification for aggression and war." 'ART HAS NO BORDERS' Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which votes on the Oscar winners, made no mention of Trump when she took the stage on Sunday. But she told the audience of A-listers and the millions of people watching on television around the world that, "tonight is proof that art has no borders, art has no single language and art does not belong to a single faith. The power of art is that it transcends these things," she said. With a leading 14 nominations, romantic musical "La La Land" had looked set to dance away with an armful of Academy Awards, including best picture at the end of the night, for its love letter to artistic ambition and Los Angeles itself. A best picture win for "La La Land," starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a jazz pianist and a struggling actress, would be the first musical to win best picture at the Academy Awards since "Chicago" in 2003. But the movie's chances of equalling the 11 Oscar record held by "Titanic," "Ben-Hur," and "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," appeared to have slipped away as the musical lost early technical awards for sound and costumes.  ....

Published at: 2017-02-27 00:00:05

Nokia's 3310 phone was relaunched on Sunday along with the iconic snake game - nearly 17 years after its debut, reports BBC. Many consider the original handset iconic because of its popularity and sturdiness. More than 126 million were produced before it was phased out in 2005. The revamped version will be sold under licence by the Finnish start-up HMD Global, which also unveiled several Nokia-branded Android smartphones. One expert said it was a "fantastic way" to relaunch Nokia's phone brand. "The 3310 was the first mass-market mobile and there's a massive amount of nostalgia and affection for it," commented Ben Wood from the technology consultancy CCS Insight. "If HMD had just announced three Android devices they would have barely got a couple of column inches in the press. "So, the 3310 is a very clever move and we expect it will sell in significant volumes." The announcement was made ahead of the start of the Mobile World Congress tech show in Barcelona. LG, Huawei and Lenovo are among others to have unveiled new devices. Nokia no longer makes phones itself, but manufactures telecoms equipment, Ozo virtual reality cameras, and health kit under the Withings brand. Long life The new 3310 qualifies as a "feature phone" rather than a smartphone as it only provides limited internet facilities. It relies on 2.5G connectivity - which has slower data speeds than 3G or 4G - and is powered by the S30+ operating system, which allows web browsing but has a much smaller range of apps than Android or iOS. Its single camera is also restricted to two megapixels. However, its advantage over more powerful handsets is its battery life. HMD says the colour-screened phone has up to a month's standby time and delivers more than 22 hours of talk time. It also comes with the modern version of the classic game Snake preinstalled. Its launch price is €49 ($51,75). "It's almost like a digital detox or a holiday phone," HMD's chief executive Arto Nummela told the BBC. "If you want to switch off to an extent but you still need to have a [mobile] lifeline, it's a brilliant solution. "Why wouldn't you buy this like candy? If you see this hanging on the shelf at the checkout in a [see-through] package, then you'd just buy it as an accessory."....

Published at: 2017-02-27 00:00:05

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in a drive arrested six suspected robbers in the city's Uttara area on Monday morning in connection with a garment factory robbery in Gazipur, reports UNB. RAB sources said they also confiscated Tk 1.17 crore from their possession and seized a truck and machinery. The gang looted Tk 3.41 crore breaking the vault of 'Knit Plus Garment Factory', RAB official said. They said the details about the arrestees will be revealed at a press briefing at RAB media centre here today.....

Published at: 2017-02-27 00:00:04