Haque Specialized Group's News

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said on Wednesday the government would install 260,000 prepaid gas meters in residential areas across the country by December 2018. "With installation of prepaid meters for domestic use of natural gas, approximately 33 cubic metres of gas would be saved from a double-burner oven per month," he said in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS), while replying to a starred question from treasury bench member A K M Jahangir Hossain from Patuakhali-3.    — BSS....

Published at: 2017-07-13 00:00:04

The government is going to reduce the tax at source on garment exports following persistent demand by the industry leaders since the rate was raised. Officials said the government has decided in principle to cut down the rate to 0.7 per cent from the 1.0 per cent levied in the new budget on the country's main export product. Asked about the move, National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman Nojibur Rahman confirmed that they were working to implement the government's decision.   "The NBR will shortly issue a statutory regulatory order (SRO) in this regard," he said. The government has raised the tax at source to 1.0 per cent in the budget for the current fiscal year 2017-2018 from 0.70 per cent in the just-concluded fiscal. The government also had set the rate of this tax at 1.0 per cent on readymade garment (RMG) exports in FY 2016-2017 which was later lowered to 0.7 per cent following the garment exporters' demand. Export earnings from the sector witnessed a near-negative growth of 0.20 per cent in the last fiscal year--the lowest in last 15 years. Painting such a situation the industry passing through, vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Mohammed Nasir said the tax cutback will "help the sector face the current challenges". Garment export fetched $28.14 billion in the last financial year by official count as against $28.09 billion in the previous fiscal, 2015-16. Country's overall export earnings came to $34.83 billion in 2016-17 that again marked a meagre 1.69 per cent growth over the previous FY when the national export figure was $34.25 billion. munni_fe@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-07-13 00:00:04

Finance Minister A M A Muhith on Wednesday reiterated his position about Bangladeshi nationals' having an 'insignificant' amount of money in the banks of Switzerland. "The statement I made in the parliament proved that very few of our people have money in the Swiss banks," he told newsmen after a meeting of the cabinet committee on public procurement. Regarding 'rise' in the amount of Bangladeshi nationals' money in the Swiss banks he said: "No, the money has not increased there. Rather, it declined."    "I have no such information," said the minister, when his attention was drawn to a statement made by chairman of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) that representatives of the Swiss banks stay in Dhaka and lure local business tycoons to deposit money in their banks. The minister in a statement in the parliament on Tuesday refuted the claim that the volume of fund stashed in the Swiss banks from Bangladesh has increased. "I'm not saying that money is not being laundered abroad. But the figures mentioned in the media reports regarding illicit fund outflow (from the country) can be considered as exaggeration," the minister told the house. syful-islam@outlook.com....

Published at: 2017-07-13 00:00:04

Prime Minister and Leader of the House Sheikh Hasina said on Wednesday over 4.6 million (46.79 lakh) Bangladeshi workers went abroad in the last eight years since 2009 as her government has taken many initiatives for creating new labour markets, reports BSS.  "We have declared the overseas employment sector a thrust sector ...the government is working for expanding labour market with the support from Bangladesh embassies/high commissions abroad and the ministry of foreign affairs, " she said while replying to a starred query from treasury bench member M Ayen Uddin (Rajshahi-3) during her question-answer session in the House. Considering the importance of the sector, she said, the government gave importance to creating new labour markets along with retaining the existing labour markets abroad. The leader of the House said workers were sent to 97 countries during the BNP-Jamaat rule, but the number now increased to 162. Spelling out her government's measures for expanding labour markets, Sheikh Hasina said her government set up 29 labour wings at Bangladesh embassies or high commissions, with opening of the latest in Mauritius in October 2016. In addition to this, she said, a study was conducted on 50 new labour markets including Europe, Australia and Brazil. The premier said that in February 2015 a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia on recruitment of housemaids for the kingdom. Besides, she said, due to diplomatic efforts of the government an MoU was also inked in March 2017 for sending technical interns to Japan. "It has created job opportunity for 'technical interns' in Japan for 5 years instead of 3 years," she added. Replying to another question she said upgradation of 3,813 kilometres of national highways to four-lane ones was underway. "We have upgraded Dhaka-Chittagong highway to four-lane for speeding up the country's economy," she said while replying to a starred question from treasury bench member Shamshul Haque Chowdhury from Chittagong-12. The Prime Minister informed the House that the government undertook zone-based cluster projects to improve quality of 1,179 kilometres of regional highways. She said the government formulated Procurement Guidelines for Public Private Partnership Projects, 2016 and Guidelines for Unsolicited Proposal, 2016 for strengthening and expediting the PPP activities. "We have undertaken an initiative to upgrade important railway corridors to double lines along with Dhaka-Chittagong railway corridor. Initiative for constructing a railway bridge parallel to the Bangabandhu Bridge over Jamuna River had already been taken," Sheikh Hasina added.....

Published at: 2017-07-13 00:00:04

The government borrowing from the banking system turned negative in net terms during the just concluded fiscal year (FY17) as the repayments of loans were more than what it borrowed. Higher sales of savings instruments and slow implementation of development projects had helped the government refrain from borrowing much from the banks, according to officials. The government paid back Tk 180.29 billion to the banks in the FY 2016-17 as against its borrowing of Tk 48.07 billion in the FY 2015-16, according to provisional data of Bangladesh Bank obtained by the FE Tuesday. The government's borrowing from the banking system stood at Tk 906.60 billion at the end of June 30 this year, declining from Tk 1,086.89 billion on the same day of the previous year, showing a negative balance in net terms.    Initially, the government's bank borrowing target was set at Tk 389.38 billion for the FY 17, but was later revised down to Tk 239.03 billion. The government's borrowing was, however, higher in the last month of FY 17 partly due to financing the budget deficit, a senior official familiar with the government debt-management told the FE Tuesday. In June last, the government's net bank borrowing stood at around Tk 170 billion, he said. Implementation of the development projects normally becomes faster during the last month of each fiscal year, he explained. The government ministries and agencies spent Tk 1.06 trillion out of total Annual Development Programme (ADP) of Tk 1.19 trillion worth of outlay in the FY 17, according to the official figures. On the other hand, net sales of national savings certificates jumped by more than 39 per cent to Tk 469.69 billion during the July-May period of the FY17 from Tk 336.89 billion in the same period of FY16. A senior official of the BB said the government has already availed of ways and means advances (WMAs) partly to finance the budget deficit. The government is now empowered to borrow up to Tk 40 billion from the central bank under the WMAs to meet its day-to-day expenditures without issuing any securities. The Ministry of Finance had set a bank-borrowing target of Tk 282.03 billion for the FY18 to finance the budget deficit.   Under the proposed arrangement, Tk 208.87 billion will be borrowed from the banking system by issuing long-term Bangladesh Government Treasury Bonds (BGTBs) while the remaining Tk 73.16 billion through auctions of short-term treasury bills (T-bills). Currently, three treasury bills (T-bills) are being transacted through auctions to adjust the government borrowings from the banking system. The T-bills have 91-day, 182-day and 364-day maturity periods. Furthermore, five government bonds with tenures of 02, 05, 10, 15 and 20 years are traded on the market. siddique.islam@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-07-13 00:00:04