Haque Specialized Group's News

The country's trade deficit crossed $9 billion level in July-May period of the last fiscal year (FY17), according to the latest statistics of Bangladesh Bank (BB). A leading economist of the country considered the level of deficit to be alarming and stressed the need for arresting the erosion in the overall balance of payments (BoP). The trade deficit stood at $9.19 billion in the first 11 months of FY17, showing that the deficit widened by about 42.50 per cent from $6.45 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year (FY16). Relevant statistics showed slower growth of merchandise exports compared to higher growth of imports during the period under review, leading to widening of the trade gap. The latest data on the country's BoP also showed that deficit in trade in services crossed $3 billion mark in the same period. It stood at $3.1 billion in July-May period of FY17, rising from $2.43 billion in the same period of FY16. Trade in services is non-tangible commercial activities where both service providers or suppliers and consumers make transactions. It includes travel, telecommunication, financial services, transport and other business and government services. BB statistics also showed that services export, as stated in the balance of payments table, stood at $3.28 billion in the period under review, which was $3.12 billion during the same period of FY16. On the other hand, services import surged to $6.38 billion in July-May period of the last fiscal year from $5.55 billion in the same period of FY16. Higher trade deficit and a significant slide in remittance put the current account balance under strain, according to the BB statistics. As a result, the current account balance in the first 11 months of the past fiscal year suffered a huge deficit of $ 2.1 billion as compared to a big surplus of $3.19 billion in the same period of FY16. When contacted by the FE, Dr Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute (PRI) of Bangladesh, described the overall BoP situation as alarming. "There exists a substantial current account deficit and if the trend persists for another year, the deficit will be even bigger," he cautioned. "Who is going to finance such deficit?" he said. Dr Mansur also mentioned that if the country could not arrest the slide in remittance and push the exports up, the situation would deteriorate further as imports were surging. In this connection, he suggested adopting demand management strategy to contain further deterioration in the current account. According to the economist, the policymakers needed to provide incentives to exports through exchange rate management. Some depreciation of the local currency would also help contain the faster rise in imports. He also favoured some level of tightening in the upcoming monetary policy to holdback the credit growth in the private sector. "It is the time to focus more on macro stability, not on growth," he added. The capital account along with the financial account, however, posted a good surplus during the period -- balance of financial account surged to $4.19 billion, which was $1.17 billion in the same period of FY16. Higher inflow of foreign investment and comparatively less pressure on the foreign debt repayment facilitated the financial account to stay at a comfortable level. Bangladesh Bank data showed that net inflow of FDI jumped by 27.75 per cent to $1.62 billion in July-May period of the last fiscal year while portfolio investment jumped by around six times to $324 million during the period. Higher surplus of the financial account helps to ease the pressure on overall balance to some extent. The financial account is actually a part of the capital account, but the International Monetary Fund (IMF) uses it as one of the three major accounts of the BoP for a better accounting procedure. Latest statistics of the central bank showed that overall balance stood at a surplus of $2.68 billion in the first 11 months of FY17, which was $4.14 billion in the same period of FY16. Wider deficit in current account contributed to decline in the BoP surplus.     asjadulk@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-07-11 00:00:05

An alleged robber was killed in a gunfight between police and a group of robbers early Tuesday at Satrakanda village in the district. The identity of the deceased was not available immediately. Additional police superintendent of the district Md Abdul Latif said a team of petrol police challenged a group of people who supposedly gathered in the area around 1:00am to commit a robbery. Sensing law enforcers' presence, the robbers fired gunshots. The law enforcers also retaliated, triggering the gunfight. Police later recovered the body of a robber from the spot. The other robbers, however, managed to flee the scene. The body was sent to Jhalakathi Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy; according to UNB.....

Published at: 2017-07-11 00:00:05

Rafael Nadal's hopes of winning a third Wimbledon title are over for another year after an epic five-set defeat on Monday by the 16th seed Gilles Muller of Luxembourg. The 15-time major champion fought back from two sets down before Muller took a fifth match point to win 6-3 6-4 3-6 4-6 15-13 in a marathon of four hours and 47 minutes. It ended the Spaniard's bid to win back-to-back French Open and Wimbledon titles for a joint-record third time. Muller, 34, will play Croatia's seventh seed Marin Cilic in the last eight. "That was tough," said Muller, who has reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final since the 2008 US Open. "In the last two match points I just said give it 100 per cent." Even world number two Nadal's trademark competitiveness could not see off Muller in a gripping final set which took two and a quarter hours - more than half an hour longer than Roger Federer's win over Bulgarian 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov. Novak Djokovic's match against unseeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, scheduled as the third match on Court One, was postponed until Tuesday as a result. Former Wimbledon champion John McEnroe questioned the decision. "Why didn't they put the Djokovic match on Centre Court? It was a golden opportunity to put a three-time champion there - the crowd would have loved that," he told the BBC Sport. "You can't say the people on Court One didn't get their money's worth. It would have got everybody from Henman Hill running in." The All England Lawn Tennis Club said moving the match from Court One would have created a "significant safety issue" because there were still 30,000 spectators inside the ground at 20:30 BST. Both Nadal and Muller received a standing ovation and rapturous applause after the longest - and arguably finest - match of this year's tournament. Nadal's mental resilience and physical endurance has long been lauded, but the cool-headed Muller impressively refused to buckle as he finally claimed his fifth match point over an hour and a half after missing his first. Nadal served out nine games to stay in the contest as the pair exchanged 32 holds in a gripping finale. A tense climax saw the Spaniard save two match points to level at 5-5 and miss four break points of his own at 9-9. Still the drama continued as Muller failed to convert two more match points at 10-9, until he eventually completed the best win of his career.....

Published at: 2017-07-11 00:00:05

Transaction in electronic commerce or e-commerce, based on debit and credit cards, stood at Tk 5.87 billion in July-April period of the last fiscal year (FY17). Statistics available with Bangladesh Bank also showed that total value of e-commerce transaction in the previous fiscal year (FY16) was Tk 3.82 billion. As a result, e-commerce transaction in 10 months of FY17 has crossed the annual transaction of FY16 by a wider margin. Credit card dominates the e-commerce transaction in the country. E-commerce transaction worth Tk 4.37 billion was made through the local and international credit card. - AK....

Published at: 2017-07-11 00:00:05

At least 16 people were killed when a US military plane crashed in rural Mississippi on Monday evening, a regional emergency management official said. No official details were immediately available on the circumstances of the crash in northern Mississippi's LeFlore County, about 100 miles (160 km) north of Jackson, the state capital. Captain Sarah Burns, a spokeswoman for the Marine Corps, said only that a US Marines KC-130 Hercules transport aircraft had "experienced a mishap," with news media initially reporting five confirmed deaths. Several hours later, Fred Randle, LeFlore County director of emergency management, told the Reuters news agency that at least 16 people had perished. Randle gave no further details of the incident. The incident was a "tragedy", Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant said in a statement on social media site Facebook, but provided no details. Images posted online by news organisations showed the crumpled wreckage of a plane engulfed in flames in a field surrounded by tall vegetation, with a large plume of smoke in the sky above the crash site.....

Published at: 2017-07-11 00:00:05