Weekly News Clippings (July 25, 2013)

Firms allowed to publish stock research reports for investors(The Daily Star, July 25, 2013)
To reduce risks and develop a rumour-free market a regulatory initiative has been taken by Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC). Research firms will now be able to publish and sell equity research reports to investors advising them on the prices at which they will buy or sell stocks. Merchant banks, stockbrokers, stock dealers, asset management companies, investment advisers and independent research firms will be eligible for publishing research reports on listed securities, according to the rule. However, the institutions must have a separate research team comprising at least three members, including a head of research, to do the job.

Taxmen swoop on dodgers buying over Tk 10m land (The Financial Express, July 24, 2013)

In a bid to collect tax from the wealthier segment of the population the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has focused on the high-end areas, where prices of land witnessed a sudden rise. Under the move, the tax officials are collecting details of buyers from the land registrar's offices across the country. "The information on land purchases will be cross-checked with the tax files of the persons concerned. There are many people who own several plots of land, but have never disclosed the wealth in their tax files," said a senior tax official.

Record $2.78b received in foreign aid last fiscal (The Financial Express, July 24, 2013)

The government has received record US$ 2.78 billion in foreign aid in the last financial year (FY) as some major donors, including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and Japan disbursed quite impressive amounts of funds in financial assistance. The huge inflow was attributed to higher fund disbursements by Bangladesh's largest development partner World Bank, according to a senior ERD official. Of the total amount, $ 2.13 billion came in the form of loans while $ 651.79 million in grants, the ERD statistics showed. New aid commitments by the multilateral and bilateral donors during the last fiscal year have also shown an upward trend.

                                    

Govt to step up factory watch (The Daily Star, July 23, 2013)

Appointment of 23 factory inspectors is underway as part of the roadmap for regaining the GSP status in the US market. The move followed the Obama administration’s suspension of the trade benefit on June 27 over poor labour rights and working conditions. The labour and employment ministry has already appointed four inspectors to fulfill the US government’s conditions for reinstatement of the privilege. At the moment, only 51 inspectors are assigned to more than 2 lakh factories across the country. Also the home ministry has withdrawn all criminal charges against labour leaders Babul Akter and Kalpana Akter, as part of the US conditions.

Commission is 30pc (The Daily Star, July 22, 2013)

Contractors have to pay up to 30 percent commission to lawmakers, politicians and government officials for implementing each component of a project of Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), says a study of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB). They pay up to 20 percent of the component’s total budget for getting the job, and up to 10 percent for receiving payments against the bills, according to the study based on analysis of official documents, field-level data and interviews of stakeholders. The study also found corruption, misuse of public resources and logistics, and irregularities in manpower recruitment, promotion, transfer, project formulation, financial audit and other sectors of LGED.

Pre-Ramadan food imports much higher this year (Dhaka Tribune, July 22, 2013)

Food imports from India have shown a marked increase in June, a month before Ramadan, compared to the same period last year, Bangladesh Bank figures showed. Usually, the Ramadan consumption spree triggers a rise in food imports from the neighbouring country, but this year the figures are much higher. Economists say that the rise suggests the remarkable increase in consumption, which signals an even wider trade gap with India. The government thinks reduction of import duties on food items is encouraging the traders to import more from India thus contributing to widening of the trade gap.

Govt-WB Project to generate 30,000 jobs in IT sector  (Dhaka Tribune, July 21, 2013)

The government with support from the World Bank is implementing a project to create an estimated 30,000 direct jobs in the IT and ITES sectors. The project has the potential to create up to 120,000 indirect jobs. It is expected that the IT and ITES industry revenue will increase by over $200m by the end of the initiative, said a WB press release.  According to the studies, Bangladesh possesses significant comparative advantage in the IT and ITES industry due to the availability of a large English-educated talent pool and competitive labour costs. In addition, the industry possesses particular strengths in niche sub-segments like software programming, graphics and animation.  

Fresh move for building safety (The Daily Star, July 20, 2013)

As part of the government’s move to enforce building safety standards across the country, the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) is going to triple the number of its building construction committees, from eight to 24, to oversee approval and construction of buildings. Of the committees, eight will work on the outskirts of its 1,528-square km of the master plan area. The government has recently approved a new organogram for Rajuk, which will see the town planner’s total manpower hiked to 2,000 from the existing 1,087.

U.S., Urging Worker Safety, Outlines Steps for Bangladesh to Regain Its Trade Privileges (The New York Times, July 19, 2013)

The US has recommended a series of steps that the Bangladesh government should take to have its trade privileges restored. The steps include increasing the number of labor, fire and building inspectors and to improve their training. The plan also urges Bangladesh to impose stricter penalties, such as cancelling export licenses on garment factories that violate labor, fire or building safety standards. In addition, the administration recommended creating a public database of all garment factories for reporting labor, fire and building inspections. The administration suspended Bangladesh’s trade privileges after a widespread outcry that the country was doing too little to safeguard worker’ rights and safety in light of the Rana Plaza factory building collapse in April that killed 1,129 workers.