NBR
to tackle tax evasion by multinationals (The Daily Star, February 27, 2014)
The National Board of Revenue has moved to curb tax evasion by scrutinising the transactions of multinational companies with their associated enterprises overseas. The tax administration issued an order last week to form a unit to audit transactions of companies that abuse a mechanism, known as transfer pricing or TP, to manipulate prices of imports from their associated enterprises abroad. Sometimes, related entities of a multinational company show artificially high prices for an imported product or service in an attempt to deflate profits and evade taxes. The practice is known as transfer mispricing, a way of price manipulation or fraudulence. The nation lost $1.4 billion a year between 2001 and 2010 due to illicit capital flight, according to a Washington-based Global Financial Integrity.
Bangladesh not ready for nuke plant (The Daily Star, February 26, 2014)
German Ambassador to Bangladesh Albrecht Conze has expressed his reservations on setting up nuclear power plants in Bangladesh. In his opinion, the country is too populated and runs risks of earthquakes that may lead to a nuclear disaster. Bangladesh is building a 2,000 megawatt nuclear plant in Pabna with Russian assistance. The German diplomat was also critical of coal-fired power stations which emit huge amounts of carbon. He blamed weak regulations for the excess amounts of carbon traditional brick kilns emit and for the pollution of rivers with industrial waste. Nearly 25 percent of Germany's electricity production comes from renewable energy.
Tofail: Duty free access to Chile from 2015 (Dhaka Tribune, February 26, 2014)
Bangladesh would get duty free market access to Chile from the beginning of 2015, according to a statement made by the Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed. After his meeting with the Chilean Ambassador Christian Barros on Wednesday morning, the minister told journalists that a “Preferential Trade Agreement” will be signed between the two countries this year.
Banking groups can invest 50pc of capital (The Financial Express, February 26, 2014)
The central bank has asked the commercial banks to limit their total investment in the capital market to minimise investment risk. Under the new provision, the market value of total investment of a banking group in the capital market on consolidated basis will not exceed 50 per cent of its consolidated paid up capital, balance in share premium account, statutory reserve and retained earnings, as stated in the latest audited financial statements. The banks have been also asked for taking necessary measures to gradually bring down their excess investment in the capital market by July 21, 2016 on both solo and consolidated basis.
Fresh gas tariff hike on cards (The Financial Express, February 26, 2014)
The government has moved for a fresh hike in gas tariff for all consumers and all state-owned gas marketing companies are now preparing to submit tariff hike proposals to the energy regulator separately. According to a top government official, the gas marketing companies, which are the subsidiaries of state-owned Petrobangla, have been asked to submit tariff hike proposals separately to the BERC.
Tanners pledge to start relocation by March (The Daily Star, February 25, 2014)
Tanners have decided to start relocating on the pressure to address environmental issues with a hope to boost exports. At least 25 companies will be the first to begin constructing factories in Savar Industries from March. Minister Amir Hossain Amu directed the Chinese joint venture company—JLEPCL-DCL—to resume construction of the central effluent treatment plant in a week, as CETP is a key element for tannery relocation. As per the contract, JLEPCL-DCL was scheduled to install the plant within 15 months at a cost of Tk 477.46 crore at Savar Leather Industrial Park, but the company missed the deadline.
The National Board of Revenue has moved to curb tax evasion by scrutinising the transactions of multinational companies with their associated enterprises overseas. The tax administration issued an order last week to form a unit to audit transactions of companies that abuse a mechanism, known as transfer pricing or TP, to manipulate prices of imports from their associated enterprises abroad. Sometimes, related entities of a multinational company show artificially high prices for an imported product or service in an attempt to deflate profits and evade taxes. The practice is known as transfer mispricing, a way of price manipulation or fraudulence. The nation lost $1.4 billion a year between 2001 and 2010 due to illicit capital flight, according to a Washington-based Global Financial Integrity.
Bangladesh not ready for nuke plant (The Daily Star, February 26, 2014)
German Ambassador to Bangladesh Albrecht Conze has expressed his reservations on setting up nuclear power plants in Bangladesh. In his opinion, the country is too populated and runs risks of earthquakes that may lead to a nuclear disaster. Bangladesh is building a 2,000 megawatt nuclear plant in Pabna with Russian assistance. The German diplomat was also critical of coal-fired power stations which emit huge amounts of carbon. He blamed weak regulations for the excess amounts of carbon traditional brick kilns emit and for the pollution of rivers with industrial waste. Nearly 25 percent of Germany's electricity production comes from renewable energy.
Tofail: Duty free access to Chile from 2015 (Dhaka Tribune, February 26, 2014)
Bangladesh would get duty free market access to Chile from the beginning of 2015, according to a statement made by the Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed. After his meeting with the Chilean Ambassador Christian Barros on Wednesday morning, the minister told journalists that a “Preferential Trade Agreement” will be signed between the two countries this year.
Banking groups can invest 50pc of capital (The Financial Express, February 26, 2014)
The central bank has asked the commercial banks to limit their total investment in the capital market to minimise investment risk. Under the new provision, the market value of total investment of a banking group in the capital market on consolidated basis will not exceed 50 per cent of its consolidated paid up capital, balance in share premium account, statutory reserve and retained earnings, as stated in the latest audited financial statements. The banks have been also asked for taking necessary measures to gradually bring down their excess investment in the capital market by July 21, 2016 on both solo and consolidated basis.
Fresh gas tariff hike on cards (The Financial Express, February 26, 2014)
The government has moved for a fresh hike in gas tariff for all consumers and all state-owned gas marketing companies are now preparing to submit tariff hike proposals to the energy regulator separately. According to a top government official, the gas marketing companies, which are the subsidiaries of state-owned Petrobangla, have been asked to submit tariff hike proposals separately to the BERC.
Tanners pledge to start relocation by March (The Daily Star, February 25, 2014)
Tanners have decided to start relocating on the pressure to address environmental issues with a hope to boost exports. At least 25 companies will be the first to begin constructing factories in Savar Industries from March. Minister Amir Hossain Amu directed the Chinese joint venture company—JLEPCL-DCL—to resume construction of the central effluent treatment plant in a week, as CETP is a key element for tannery relocation. As per the contract, JLEPCL-DCL was scheduled to install the plant within 15 months at a cost of Tk 477.46 crore at Savar Leather Industrial Park, but the company missed the deadline.
Reopen
shrimp market, Dhaka urges Moscow (Dhaka Tribune, February 25, 2014)
Bangladesh has requested the Russian Federation to reopen its shrimp market in the federal countries, which halted Bangladeshi shrimp imports last year over quality issues. Bangladesh exported a total of 7,651MT shrimps to the Russian Federation from 2010-14 after Moscow signed a deed with Dhaka in December, 2009. However, Moscow stopped the import in October last year after a mismatch of bacterial standard between the two countries raised health concerns.
BANGLADESH:
Workers see safety offsetting output (just-style, February 24, 2014)
Garment workers in Bangladesh not only lack basic knowledge on fire and building safety but also feel that the fire drills and safety training take too much of their time and increase pressure on them to reach production targets. According to a survey conducted by the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety as part of ongoing efforts to measure workers' knowledge and awareness of health and safety issues, existing training activities have had limited impact, with content not adapted to account for workers' low literacy levels, particularly among female workers. A combination of questions and interviews with more than 3,200 workers in 28 factories producing for Alliance member companies also found that workers feel a limited sense of responsibility to prevent fires.
Billion-dollar
project for 3 economic zones (The
Daily Star, February 24, 2014)
A new study has identified Sherpur in Moulvibazar and Mirsarai
and Anwara in Chittagong as potential locations for economic zones to be built
at an estimated cost of $1.17 billion by investors. The study, commissioned
by Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority, advised the government to roll out the
Sherpur Economic Zone first as required infrastructure—power, water and gas—is
in place. The government approved the Economic Zones Act in 2010 to
attract both foreign and domestic investors to create 10 million jobs by 2030
and spur economic development. The three zones have been selected as pilot
projects.
Plastic
fair ends with hope to raise export (Dhaka Tribune, February 24, 2014)
A four-day fair of plastic goods and machinery ended in Dhaka yesterday with local manufacturers receiving around Tk 20 crore in export orders, down from about Tk 25 crore last year. According to fair organizers, the decline in the spot orders was due to comparatively lower participation of foreign buyers and local manufacturers discouraged by the political turmoil in the past few months. There were some 350 stalls in the annual event, where participants from 15 countries including China, India, Taiwan, Korea and Malaysia, showcased their wares.
European
brands to hire 25 local engineers (The Daily Star, February 23, 2014)
European retailers will hire 25 Bangladeshi engineers along with international inspectors for evaluating garment factories for structural soundness and fire safety, said the general secretary of the IndustriALL Global Union, which was instrumental in drafting in the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. His comments come as the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) expressed its strong reservations about the inspection standards of the Accord, particularly about the hiring of foreign inspectors. The Accord, which has been signed by 150 brands, would inspect 1,500 factories by September this year.
Bangladesh High Commissioner attacked in Nairobi (Capital News, February 23, 2014)
Bangladesh’s High Commissioner to Kenya Wahidur Rahman was attacked by thugs at his Nairobi’s Karen home on Saturday night. The criminals have reportedly stolen cash, a television set and other items from the High Commissioner’s residence, according to police. Rahman was also slightly injured during the incident that occurred at about 10 pm.
Sonali Bank loses
millions to hackers (The Financial Express, February 22, 2014)
The Sonali Bank has incurred a loss of Tk 20 million last year after hackers breached its vulnerable security system. "The bank lost $250,000 due to the hacking of one of its accounts' password last year," said M Aslam Alam, Secretary of the Bank and Financial Institutions Division, "which means that there are huge flaws in the management of passwords of the bank’s accounts. Finance Minister MA Muhith, too expressed dissatisfaction over the bank’s security system.To protect the bank from any such future risk, he suggested overhauling of the bank’s security, including its online security system.
Bangladesh Petroleum seeks tax waivers for oil
product imports (Platts, February 21, 2014)
State-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corp has submitted a formal request to the National Board of Revenue seeking a waiver on local taxes, value added taxes and other duties imposed on refined oil product imports, so as to borrow less from its main financier, International Islamic Trade Finance Corp. According to the BPC Chairman Eunusur Rahman, the Energy and Mineral Resources Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources will also submit a similar letter soon to the NBR for the tax waivers for BPC. BPC paid around Taka 50.22 billion ($644 million) in local taxes, VAT and other duties to NBR in fiscal 2012-2013 (July-June)in spite of incurring a loss of around Taka 53.84 billion in the same fiscal year for importing oil products.
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