Weekly News Clippings (August 1, 2013)

Banks’ spread hits 5pc again (The Daily Star, August 1, 2013)

Spread again crossed 5 percent in June after two months to pave the way for banks to make more profit in the face of the rising trend of their excess liquidity. The spread, which is the difference between deposit and lending rates, rose mainly due to a fall in deposit rates and a hike in lending rates, meaning banks maintained profit depriving the savers. The banks’ spread rose to 4.99 percent in March for the first time in recent months. Though the spread came down to 4.98 percent in May, it again jumped to 5.13 percent in June.

 

Index soon to rank garment units: Yunus (The Daily Star, July 31, 2013)

A process is underway to prepare an index to rank Bangladesh’s garment factories on the basis of their fire and building safety measures and working environment. Noble laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus said that the Garment Industry Transparency Index (GITI) would be formulated in the model of the Transparency International’s Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The first meeting of the GITI is expected to take place in Berlin in late August or early September.  “The ranking will spur healthy competition among garment manufacturers,” he said.

Ticfa may be a vehicle for GSP retention: USTR (Dhaka Tribune, July 31, 2013)

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has said the Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (Ticfa) which is likely to be signed in September, either in Washington or in Dhaka might help in retaining the Generalised System of Preferences. USTR Ambassador Michael B Froman proposed the commencement of a Bangladesh-US working group on GSP which might hold meetings at various levels on a regular basis to work on its action plan. US President Barack Obama suspended GSP facilities on June 27 following the Rana Plaza collapse that killed 1,132 garment factory workers.

Regulator goes ahead with 3G auction plan (The Daily Star, July 30, 2013)

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has invited telecoms companies to apply for the South Asian country's first 3G or third generation mobile services licences. The telecom regulator has fixed August 1 as the deadline for submission of the applications, according to a notification posted on the BTRC's website on Monday afternoon. In the notice, the commission has not mentioned a date when the auction for 3G will be held. But officials said that the state-run company will have to pay for 3G spectrum the same amount of money that other private operators would spend although it does not need to take part in an auction.

 

Black money provision for real estate cancelled (Dhaka Tribune, July 30, 2013)

The government has finally withdrawn the proposal to provide special provisions facilitating the investment of undisclosed money in the country’s real estate sector, citing possible rise in the prices of land and apartments, as the reason. In the budget for the 2013-14 fiscal, the finance minister had proposed special tax rates for “unsourced” legal income, if it was used to build or buy buildings or apartments in Dhaka and Chittagong. In general, owners of undisclosed money are allowed to legalise it by investing in a productive sector through payment of a 10% penal tax, in addition to normal taxes.

 

Fund crunch cripples Shishu Hospital (Dhaka Tribune, July 29, 2013)

The country’s largest child healthcare facility had been running without a chairman of the board of management for more than four months. This means that there was no one who could approve a budget that would enable the government to allocate the funds necessary for the hospital to carry out its expenditures. The Tk 250m budget has not been approved half way into the year because of the chairman’s resignation. Around 700 patients come to the 560-bed hospital every day from different parts of the country.

 

132 RAJUK plots at Purbachal allotted against prescribed rules (The Financial Express, July 29, 2013)

The officials of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK), has allotted more than 132 plots under the Purbachal New Town Project to some individuals, violating the allotment rules. According to an audit report conducted by the Directorate of Public Works Audit under the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Bangladesh, Rajuk allotted 72 plots to undeserving candidates, 50 plots to RAJUK employees and seven 10-katha plots to seven members of a single family which does not coincide with the rules. The directorate also reviewed 175 cancelled applications for plots under the project and found 28 of those valid.

Dhaka’s doom in DAP failure (The Daily Star, July 28, 2013)

The government is yet to implement the vital recommendations in the Detailed Area Plan (DAP). According to experts, the DAP has earmarked one-third of the 1,528 sqkm master plan area as flood flow zones, water retention ponds and water bodies. But the government’s compromising stance on enforcing the DAP has allowed filling of reserved wetlands and flood flow zones by powerful real estate developers and illegal building constructions Prof Jamilur Reza Choudhury, who headed the DAP expert body said.

Booming sales mark Eid shopping in city (The Financial Express, July 27, 2013)

Sales at the city's shopping malls have sped up as Eid-ul-Fitr, the largest religious festival of the Muslims, is lurking right round the corner. Though prices in general have increased for all kinds of clothing items than the previous year, sales have not seen any decline.

“Instead, sale has gone up by more than 30 per cent than that of last year,” said Rajib, manager of Yellow.

Action plan on factory safety (The Daily Star, July 26, 2013)

The government yesterday signed an action plan on fire safety and structural integrity in the garment sector with the employers’ and workers’ organizations. Key activities identified in the plan include assessment of the structural integrity and fire safety of garment factory buildings and strengthening labour inspection. Worker and management training and occupational safety and health and worker rights and rehabilitation of disabled workers are part of the plan. The International Labour Organisation will assist in the implementation and coordination of the roadmap. The plan brings together the tripartite agreement on fire safety in the RMG sector signed on March 24 in response to the Tazreen factory fire and the joint tripartite statement adopted on May 4 after the Rana Plaza tragedy.

Bangladesh Detains Suspended Mayor of Collapsed Factory Town (Bloomberg Businessweek, July 26, 2013)

The suspended mayor of the Savar where a garment factory collapse killed more than 1,000 people earlier this year has been detained by a judicial magistrate in the capital Dhaka. The arrest is part of an investigation into the collapse of Rana Plaza on April 24, the country’s worst industrial accident to date. At least 21 people have been arrested in two cases tied to the collapse, said Bijoy Krishna Kar, an assistant superintendent of police, adding that, the investigation will probably take two more months.