Haque Specialized Group's News

Eight shops were gutted in a fire that broke out at Syed Ali Manson Market in Chandina upazila of Comilla district early Wednesday. Fire service officials said the fire might have been originated from an electric short circuit at a shop at 12:15am and it soon engulfed the adjoining shops. On information, two fire fighting units rushed to the spot and doused the blaze after two hours of frantic efforts, said Comilla Fire Service Station deputy assistant director Farid Uddin. Two people, including a fireman, were injured while extinguishing the fire, he added. The affected shops' owners claimed that the extent of losses caused by the fire would be around Tk 3.0 million (Tk 30 lakh); according to UNB.....

Published at: 2017-08-02 00:00:05

US carmakers said on Tuesday they continued to slash low-margin sales to daily rental fleets in July as the overall pace of US car and light truck sales fell for the fifth straight month. The annualised pace of US car and light truck sales in July fell to 16.73 million vehicles, down from 17.8 million vehicles a year earlier, according to Autodata Corp, which tracks industry sales. Investors sold shares in the Detroit Three automakers on Tuesday. General Motors Co fell about 3.5 per cent and Ford Motor Co slid about 2.5 per cent. Several major automakers, including GM, Ford, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Nissan Motor Co, and Hyundai Motor Co said they sharply reduced rental car sales in July, and they portrayed the decisions as putting profit ahead of sales volume.....

Published at: 2017-08-02 00:00:05

The Supreme Court declined on Sunday to accept the draft of the disciplinary rules and code of conduct for lower court judges, reports UNB. The draft of service rules was earlier submitted by the law minister to the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice proposed a meeting with the government to settle the issue. The six-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, refused to accept the draft during a hearing on the issue, citing that it was not made properly since it was made as like as government employee disciplinary rules and code of conduct. He said, "After a meeting with the law minister, he [minister] took a U-turn. The draft has nothing what was suggested. It's like a government employees' code of conduct." "Come and sit with me and the Supreme Court Judges to settle the matter. We're ready to hold meeting with the law minister, the Attorney General and any expert about the issue any time from Sunday to Thursday (from 2.0 pm to 12 am)," the CJ urged the government. Earlier on Thursday, Law Minister Anisul Huq handed over the draft to the Chief Justice. Law and Justice Division Secretary ASSM Zahirul Haque on Thursday said the Chief Justice will send back the draft to the Law Minister after scrutinising it. The draft will later be sent to the President for his consent and the gazette notification on the rules will be issued after the approval, he said. On 23 July, the Supreme Court gave the government another week to publish the gazette notification on the rules determining discipline and conduct for lower court judges. The judiciary was officially separated from the executive in November 2007 but the disciplinary rules for the lower court judges are yet to be formulated. On December 02, 1999, the SC, in a landmark verdict in the Masdar Hossain case, issued a 12-point set of directives to the government, which included framing of disciplinary and appeal rules and code of conduct for trial court judges. On May 07, 2015, the Law Ministry sent a draft of the rules to the Supreme Court which is similar to the Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules 1985. Later, the SC had amended the draft in light with seven-point Masdar Hossain case verdict which cited about formation of the lower court judges code of conduct and asked the law ministry to issue a gazette notification, after incorporating the amendments.....

Published at: 2017-07-31 00:00:06

Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) has taken a fresh initiative to list more companies, especially the multi-national companies (MNCs) and state-owned enterprises (SoEs), for making the market more vibrant and stable, officials said. It proposed the finance ministry late last week to take measures so that the SoEs and MNCs offload their shares in the country's capital market, they said, arguing that it would help deepen the market and mitigate vulnerability. The premier bourse put forward the proposal on the following day after Finance Minister AMA Muhith asking the SOEs at a meeting on Wednesday last to speed up their efforts in offloading the shares. The MoF would again sit with the SoEs in December next to follow up the development in this regard. The government, stakeholders and market analysts had long been talking about the need for bringing stocks of more companies in the market, but the SoEs, MNCs and other foreign companies remain not so responsive. Only 13 MNCs operating in the country are listed with the two bourses while only eight SoEs offloaded their shares in the market in an effort since 2009. "If the set of proposals are implemented, the stock market will be more vibrant," DSE managing director K.A.M. Majedur Rahman told the FE Sunday. According to the proposal, there are many foreign companies like multi-national banks operating in the country who are licenced for branch operation in the country. In many cases, our regulatory framework does not allow these companies to be incorporated in Bangladesh. According to the securities laws, an unregistered company cannot approach to capital market either for fund raising or listing, said the DSE boss. DSE proposed to form two or three committees comprised of representatives from different ministries, Bangladesh Bank (BB), Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), other relevant state agencies and the two bourses to recommend, re-arrange and find out ways of bringing more shares in the capital market.  The proposal mentioned that offloading the shares of SoEs was one of the major policy decisions taken by the present government. Despite repeated instructions by the Prime Minister and finance minister, offloading certain portions of shares of 26 SOEs still remain uncertain since the initiative taken in 2009. Besides, a large number of MNCs and foreign companies were running their businesses in the country. But only a few were listed with the stock exchanges. Many of MNCs and foreign companies were operating in some of the neighbouring countries and also listed in the respective countries' stock exchanges, the DSE proposal mentioned. Presently, there are a good number of companies registered with the Register of the Joint Stock Companies and Firms in Bangladesh. Around 300 companies are listed in the stock exchanges of the country. The proposal also pointed out that several reasons were earlier identified behind the unwillingness of the companies to join the capital market-regulatory constraints were also hindering the fund raising companies. The government was trying hard to get the SoEs shares listed, but the relevant ministries and divisions remain extremely reluctant, said a high official of the bank and financial institutions division. Besides, progress in divesting the SoEs themselves was found disappointing, he added. Meanwhile, the government had discussions to list the MNCs and other foreign companies with the stock market. "We are working on the issue. No major progress has so far been made," a high official of the BSEC said. The MNCs and foreign companies were not listed with the stock exchanges at an expected level, an official at the MoF said, adding that it was less than those in India and Pakistan. He said the latest move would help make the country's stock market vibrant if it is shaped finally. "It's high time for listing the new MNCs as the bourses are performing well now." rezamumu@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-07-31 00:00:06

The central bank has resumed after one month the sales of US dollar to the commercial banks to provide them with foreign exchange support and stabilise the market, officials said. As part of the move, Bangladesh Bank (BB) sold US$ 20 million at market rate to two commercial banks directly on Thursday to meet the growing demand for the greenback in the exchange market. "We've sold the US dollar to facilitate the banks for making payments against import bills of petroleum products," a senior official at the BB told the FE. He said the central bank might continue supporting the banks with the foreign currency subject to market requirement. "We've provided such foreign currency support to the banks only for settling import payment obligations against food grains and fuel oils," he explained. Earlier on July 25, the BB sold same amount of the US currency to a leading state-owned commercial bank for making payment of their food grains import bills. In May last, it sold $21 million to the banks, according to the BB statistics. The BB's latest move came against the backdrop of depreciation of the Bangladesh Taka (BDT) against the US dollar in both the inter-bank foreign exchange market and customers' end in the recent days. The US dollar was quoted at Tk 80.65-Tk 80.66 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the day against Tk 80.64  on July 26, according to the market operators. On the other hand, the exchange rate of the greenback for BC (bills for collection) selling rose to Tk 81.7338 Sunday from Tk 81.7326 of the previous working day. It was Tk 81.7062 on July 26, according to the statistics of the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (BAFEDA). The country's foreign exchange reserve stood at $32. 84 billion Sunday, despite selling of $40 million to the commercial banks for settling import bills in the last week, according to another BB official. "We expect that the inflow of foreign exchange may increase in the month following the upward trend of the inward remittance ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha," he said. Bangladesh received $1.02 billion in remittances between July 1 and July 28 from expatriate Bangladeshi nationals who are working abroad.  It may cross $1.10 billion by the end of July. "But the flow of inward remittance may rise in the month of August ahead of the Eid," the BB official said. Meanwhile, some banks are now holding sufficient amount of the greenback as the central bank raised substantially the net open position (NOP) limit of the banks last year, according to market insiders. They said the banks are now following a 'go-slow' strategy for selling the greenback to the other banks. "The banks believe that the exchange rate of BDT against the US dollar will depreciate further in the near future for making import bills of different commodities, particularly food grains," a senior treasury official of a leading private commercial bank explained. He said the import of food grains might increase substantially in the coming months to meet the growing demand for the essential commodities in the domestic market.     The NOPs of all the 56 scheduled banks have been increased by more than 45 per cent to US$ 2.19 billion from previous $1.51 billion. It was determined on the basis of 20 per cent of the total regulatory capital of the banks as on March 31, 2016, according to the BB officials. siddique.islam@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-07-31 00:00:06