Business

MNA Business Desk: French energy giant EDF and its partner China General Nuclear Power Group claimed that they have powered up the world’s first next-generation EPR nuclear reactor. The Taishan 1 project has been under development for many years and is the world’s first EPR reactor — which uses a pressurised water design — to enter into commercial service, reported news age agency. The two EPR reactors at the Taishan nuclear power plant will be the most powerful in the world when fully completed and can supply 5 million Chinese users, the companies said in a press release. EPR reactors ...

MNA Business Desk: The World Bank on Thursday approved a $250 million development policy operation to help the government of Bangladesh strengthen its capacity to create more, better-paid and quality jobs in a rapidly changing environment. The Programmatic Jobs Development Policy Creditaims at supporting Bangladesh to develop a stronger policy and institutional framework to address barriers to creating more and better jobs for its citizens, including women, youth and the vulnerable population, reported news agency. Despite Bangladesh’s robust economic growth, the pace of job creation has slowed in recent years, and almost stalled in the readymade garments sector. The growth ...

MNA Business Desk: The head of India’s central bank announced his resignation on Monday following a public spat with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration about alleged government interference. Reserve Bank of India governor Urjit Patel cited “personal reasons” for his decision but media reports have said that he was annoyed by repeated government efforts to influence central bank policy. His short statement made no mention of the rift, highlighting only what he called the RBI’s “considerable accomplishments in recent years”. Indian business dailies had reported in October and November that Modi’s government has invoked never-before-used powers to send at least ...

MNA Business Desk: The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will observe the ‘National VAT Day-2018’ today aiming to encourage people to pay the Value Added Tax (VAT) for the country’s development, reported news agency. The NBR will also observe the ‘National VAT Week-2018’ from December 10 to 15 next. The slogan of this year’s ‘VAT Day’ and ‘VAT Week’ is ‘VAT Dichhe Janogan, Desher Hochhe Unnayan’. NBR chairman M Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan inaugurated the day and the week at the NBR headquarters in the city. The NBR will honour the highest VAT payers in the meeting where finance minister AMA ...

MNA Business Desk: The World Bank (WB) allotted $500 million to improve livestock and dairy production in Bangladesh in a bid to meet country’s growing demand for egg, meat and milk and thereby improve the nutritional intake of its citizens. The Livestock and Dairy Development Project will improve agricultural productivity and market access of 2 million smallholder household farmers and small and medium-scale agro-entrepreneurs, said the WB on Sunday. By stimulating growth and improving livestock production systems, livestock farmers in Bangladesh will have better access to livestock services and practices. The release said the livestock sector employs 14 percent of ...

MNA Business Desk: Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) arranged a flower parade in the city on Friday, 2nd day of the three-day International Flower Exhibition and Conference, reported news agency. The parade started from the South Plaza of Manik Mia Avenue and ended on the premises of Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) where the exhibition is being held. DCCI Senior vice-president Kamrul Islam, director Imran Ahmed, former vice-president M Abu Hurairah, senior officials from USAID, president of Bangladesh Flower Association Md Abdur Rahim and its secretary general AHM Rezaul Kabir were present at the flower parade. After the ...

MNA Business Desk: The net foreign funds in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) remained negative in November as foreign investors were reluctant to put fresh stakes, reported news agency. Market insiders said depreciation of taka against the US dollar coupled with political tension surrounding national elections played a crucial role in withdrawing funds by the foreign portfolio investors. In November, the overseas investors collected shares worth Tk 3.24 billion but sold shares worth Tk 3.46 billion, resulting in their net position negative by Tk 0.22 billion, according to statistics available with the DSE. In October, the foreign investors’ net position ...

MNA Business Desk: A temporary truce was agreed between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 meeting in Argentina. But concerns linger over discrepancies in information coming from either side. Chinese officials have said they are “confident in implementing” trade commitments made to the US “as soon as possible”, without giving details. An ongoing trade war has seen both countries impose duties on billions of dollars of one another’s goods. In a commerce ministry statement, Chinese officials called the talks between the two leaders a “great success”, reported news agency. China and the US would ...

MNA Business Desk: bKash Limited, the largest mobile financial service provider in Bangladesh and Pathao, one of the fastest growing app based on-demand ride service platform have signed an agreement to allow passengers to pay for rides using bKash, said a press release. Chief Commercial Officer of bKash Mizanur Rashid, and Co-Founder and CEO of Pathao Hussain M Elius recently signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations at the bKash head office in Dhaka. To make the payment through bKash, the customers have to select Digital Payment and then BKash from the Pathao app after completion of rides, ...

MNA Business Desk: The World Bank on Monday unveiled $200 billion in climate action investment for 2021-25, adding this amounts to a doubling of its current five-year funding, reported news agency. The World Bank said the move, coinciding with a UN climate summit meeting of some 200 nations in Poland, represented a “significantly ramped up ambition” to tackle climate change, “sending an important signal to the wider global community to do the same.” Developed countries are committed to lifting combined annual public and private spending to $100 billion in developing countries by 2020 to fight the impact of climate change ...

MNA Business Desk: US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have agreed to halt new trade tariffs for 90 days to allow for talks, the US says. The two men met in Buenos Aires after the G20 summit for their first talks since a trade war erupted this year. China says they agreed not to impose any new trade tariffs after 1 January. At the summit earlier on Saturday, the G20 leaders agreed a joint declaration that notes divisions over trade but does not criticise protectionism. Ahead of the G20, Mr Trump had told US media he ...

MNA Business Desk: City Bank has recently been named the ‘Best Consumer Digital Bank in Bangladesh 2018’ by Global Finance, reported news agency. This is for the 4th time, the Bank has received such accolade from this North America-based top financial publications known for recognizing fintech innovations worldwide. City Bank’s robust, state-of-the-art Digital Banking platform – ‘Citytouch’ has been very popular among its customers. As Bangladesh has been observing constantly increasing mobile penetration for a while now, a platform like ‘Citytouch’ which is designed to bring together all the conveniences of banking to the internet-enabled devices is more relevant than ...

MNA Business Desk: A two-day ‘Armed Forces Income Tax Fair-2018′ started at Sena Malancha convention hall in Dhaka on Wednesday with an aim to facilitate tax services to the armed forces’ members, reported news agency. Tax Zone-9, Dhaka, of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Armed Forces Division (AFD) jointly organised the tax fair. Adjutant General of Bangladesh Army Major General Mohammad Humayun Kabir inaugurated the fair at a ceremony. NBR member (Tax administration and human resources management) Ziauddin Mahmud attended the inaugural ceremony as special guest. Earlier, the NBR organised a week-long national income tax fair at ...

MNA Business Desk: Executive Chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Kazi M Aminul Islam has said Bangladesh has made enormous economic and social development strides in the last 30 years and is poised to continue to grow at a world-leading rate over the next 30 years. “We expect Citi to continue to support the country in this journey with its financial innovation and solutions,” he said while addressing a function marking Citibank N.A.’s 30 Years in Bangladesh, reported news agency. Citi celebrated the event, hosted by Managing Director and Citi Country Officer for Bangladesh N Rajashekaran, with clients, ...

MNA Business Desk: In view of facilitating the individual taxpayers to file income tax returns, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has decided to extend the deadline by two more days until December 2. The decision came as November 30, the last day of submitting the tax returns, is Friday, a weekly holiday, and the next day is also a weekly holiday. According to the NBR officials, services offered at the weeklong Income Tax Fair, which ended on November 19, will be available at all field-level offices until December 2 starting from November 22, reported news agency. The NBR arranged ...

MNA Business Desk: The European Commission chief warned the UK parliament it should not count on any renegotiation ahead of Britain’s departure in March, as European Union leaders on Sunday approved a landmark agreement on Britain’s exit. After the rubber stamping, all eyes turn to British prime minister Theresa May to sell the deal to her recalcitrant parliamentarians over the next days and weeks — a huge task considering the intense opposition both her Convervative lawmakers and the political opposition have voiced toward the deal. It took leaders a matter of minutes at Sunday’s summit in Brussels to endorse a ...

MNA Business Desk: European Union leaders meet Sunday to approve a historic Brexit deal, which British Prime Minister Theresa May said would deliver her country a “brighter future”. At a special summit in Brussels that was almost derailed by a row over Gibraltar, the other 27 leaders will gather to sign off the agreement before May joins them to mark the milestone. Forged during 17 months of tough negotiations, the deal covers financial matters, citizens’ rights, Northern Ireland and a transition phase, and sets out hopes for future security and trade ties. But it is not the final stage, as ...

MNA Business Desk: Spain was standing between Theresa May and a Brexit deal as it threatened to derail an EU summit on Sunday if it does not get new assurances on having a say in the future of Gibraltar. As negotiations among Spanish, British and EU officials wore into Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he was ready to thwart his British counterpart May’s hopes of seeing EU leaders sign off on promises of close ties with London after Britain leaves the bloc in March if he did not get his way. Brussels diplomats and representatives of other governments ...

MNA Business Desk: Indonesian state-owned train manufacturer PT Industri Kereta Api (INKA) has continued to maintain a potential market in Bangladesh and meet the high demand for trains in the country, an after sales staff of PT INKA Triono stated, reported news agency. “INKA first made a special train for Bangladesh in 2005. It was then continued in 2016, when we had the project to provide 150 trains, and now, the trains have already been operated in Dhaka,” he remarked. PT INKA has won a tender to supply 250 passenger trains to Bangladesh, and the initial delivery of the trains ...

MNA Business Desk: A Chinese official on Sunday said that leaders of 21 Asia-Pacific economies have failed to agree joint declaration at the end of their two-day summit, amid a row between Beijing and Washington over trade. “The leaders agreed that instead of a traditional leaders’ declaration, they would leave it to the hands of PNG as the chair to issue a chair statement on behalf of all the members to capture the consensus,” senior Chinese diplomat Zhang Xiaolong said at the close of the two-day summit in Papua New Guinea, reported news agency. A Leaders’ Declaration has been issued ...

MNA Business Desk: The rate of youth unemployment in Bangladesh remained one of ‘the most worsening’ situation among the countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The country’s overall unemployment rate rose by 1.0 percentage point in 2017, according to International Labour Organisation (ILO). Bangladesh’s youth unemployment rate increased by 6.4 percentage points in 2017 since the year 2010, the Asia-Pacific Employment and Social Outlook 2018 of the ILO revealed. “… the countries experiencing the most severe worsening situation of youth unemployment were Bangladesh (+6.4 percentage points), Pakistan (+5.3) and Vietnam (+3.7),” ILO said in its outlook, which was launched on Saturday. ...

MNA Business Desk: Bangladesh remains one of the largest recyclers of old ships in the world, despite a decrease in the total tonnage demolished last year, according to a UNCTAD report. The country has become the burying ground for more than one-fourth of the world’s total tonnage of vessels sold for demolition in 2017, says the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) annual Maritime Review that came out last month. Only neighbouring India has recycled more ships in terms of tonnage than Bangladesh during this period, the figures show. Last year, the global report says, the gross tonnage ...

MNA Business Desk: National Board of Revenue (NBR) received Tk 551.15 crore in income tax from 65,050 taxpayers at the different income tax fair venues across the country, reported news agency. Around 2.36 lakh people received services, related to income tax payment from taxmen, at the weeklong fair venues, including the central one at Officers’ Club in the city. Tax collection increased by 1.44 per cent or Tk 7.84 crore on second day of this year compared to that of Tk 543.31 crore on second day of last year’s fair. On the day of the last year’s fair, 39,351 taxpayers ...

MNA Business Desk: Transcom Group Chairman Latifur Rahman has been honoured by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) as top taxpayer in the Dhaka City Corporation area. NBR yesterday accorded Latifur Rahman and his family recognition as ‘Kor Bahadur Paribar’ for their long-standing practice of unerring tax payment. In total, four companies of Transcom Group received tax cards. Three of the winners in the print and electronic media category are of Transcom Group. These are Mediaworld, Mediastar and Transcraft. On behalf of Mediaworld, the crest and tax card was accepted by its chairperson and former caretaker government Rokia Afzal Rahman. ...

MNA Business Desk: Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith inaugurated a week-long Income Tax Fair-2018, which aims to provide better services to taxpayers and to encourage more people to pay taxes, reported news agency. The senior minister, inaugurating the fair at the Officers Club in Dhaka Tuesday morning, said: “There was a time when 70% of the people that lived in Bangladesh were poor. Now we have been able to decrease it to 22%. This means only around 30 million people are poor in our country now.” “We expect a certain million number of people will pay taxes. It is ...

MNA Business Desk: A total of 28 companies listed under 11 categories in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), won the fifth “Institute of Chartered Secretaries of Bangladesh (ICSB) National Award for Corporate Governance Excellence, 2017”. Finance Minister AMA Muhith handed over certificates to the winning companies at the award ceremony held at the Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden. Among the winners, Eastern Bank Ltd won the gold award, Southeast Bank Ltd won silver, while Prime Bank Ltd won the bronze award in the “Banking” category. Similarly, IDLC Finance Ltd bagged the gold award in the ...

MNA Business Desk: The government is eyeing three contracts with Russia regarding Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) lifecycle services by December 2019 to smoothly implement the project. “We’re working to complete negotiations over the issues and ink the deals within the timeframe,” science and technology secretary Md Anwar Hossain told media. Top officials of Bangladesh and Russia at a recent meeting set a timeline to sign the deals, said Mr Anwar Hossain. However, they agreed to sign the ‘nuclear fuel supply deal’ by December 2018 and ‘service contract for operation technical support, maintenance and repair’ by first quarter of 2019, ...