Bangladesh Bank to monitor banks' risk management says the governnor

The central bank is working to set up a surveillance team to monitor
risk management & corporate governance activities of the banking
sector, said the Bangladesh Bank governor said.
" It's important to establish a financial surveillance system for
indentifying the risk management problems & addressing those
beforehand," said Atiur Rahman at a roundtable on "Global Financial
Crisis & Corporate Governance: Lessons & Way Forward for the Banking
Sector in Bangladesh

Capital market not ready for PPP funds says A QUADIR CHOUDHURY

He put some suggestions, think about all the things about PPP funds.
These are below:
1. The government should immediately offload by direct listing
reamining shares of those state-owned enterprises, which ar listed in
the bourses & take steps to enlist at least 40% shares of the
erstwhile state comercial banks as a first measure to insulate the
capital market. The government should perform & set examples of
performances.
2. The government should force foreign banks, pharmaceutical
companies, mobile phone oparators & multinational companies to be
listed.
3. It will have to put a cup on the credit ceiling of all the local
big companies or group of companies with a tie on either paid up
capital or credit exposure on individual company or group of companies
in respect of borrowing from banks singly or through syndication
making it mandatory on them to plough back the syndicated fund from
the capital market through IPO after certain period of time. This type
of syndicated project loan may be termed as "Bridge-Loan" instead of
long term loan to be preceded by memorandum of understanding to be
signed between the banks & the borrower after the limit is sanctioned
whereby the borrowing company shall be pledge bound to repay the loan
by raising fund from the capital market within the stipulated period
as agreed upon in the MoU which is how the market can be enlarged &
the fund may be recycled for other projects.
4. Immediate listing of projectr or bridge such as the meghna bridge,
bhairab bridge & zia fertiliser factory which have crossed break even
& are now getting huge profits may create pool of fund to be
re-invested by the government in other infrastructure projects.
5. The government should follow the success stories of build follow
the success strories of build own operate & build operate transfer
models followed by Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia & other countries.
6. The PPP projects with Bangladeshi companies should be allowed to be
listed in the capital market only after they have crossed proven
breakeven point & gme to profit, otherwise any attempt to raise money
from the capital market for the PPP green field projects may prove
counter productive. The government should remember the oft quoted
simple arithmetic dictum, "Two & two doesn't always make four"

Oil prices fall after spike above $70

Oil prices retreated friday after a brief spike that pushed New York
curde above 70 dollars per barrel for the first time in seven months,
before the market settled back on a us dollar rebound.
NewYork's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in
july closed at 68.44 dollars, down 34 cents, after a jump to 70.32
dollars a barrel, the highest level since november 4.
Brent North Sea curude for july delivery fell 37 cents to 68.34
dollars a barrel in London, having spiked as high as 69.91 dollars.
Analysts said that a surprise rise in the US dollar after a mostly
positive American jobs report dragged down oil prices.
The dollar, often regarded as a safe haven in times of economic
turmoil, has been dropping on data showing signs of economic recovery.
John Kilduff to MF Global said the market had to cope with "a very
strong rally of the dollar which should have engendered losses for
crude oil," but that reaction was muddled by a mixed repot on US
enployment. Kilduff said that after 70 dollars was breached, "we've
seen a terrific amount of profit taking"

Canada sheds 42000 jobs in may

Canada shed 42000 mostly manufacturing jobs in may, pushing its
unemployment rate up 0.4% points to 8.4% its highest rate in 11 years,
Statistics Canada said Friday.
Since an employment peak in october 2008, employment has fallen by
363000 or 2.1%, the government agency said.
"Its hardly shocking that Canadian employment has retreated again the
job shakeout likely still has a way to go, even if the broader economy
bottoms out in the coming months," said BMO Capital Markets analyst
Douglas Porter.
However, as increases in job numbers usually lag behind other signs of
economic recovery, these dour job figures failed to sour analysts'
optimistic forecasts.
"Arguably, the very narrowness of the job losses in may almost
exclusively concentrated in ontario manufacturing holds out a whiff of
good news for the broader economy," Porter said in a note.
"That is, the devastation in the auto sector is not being repeated in
other sectors,"he said.
"Indeed, the modest gains sprinkled among most services sectors &
around much of the rest of the country add to the view that domestic
spending is stabilizing."

Jute spinners for specific fiscal support

The Bangladesh Jute Spinners Association said most of the measures in
the budget, proposed by the Finance Minister AMA Muhit on this month,
were laudable but jute sector needed some more specific supports.
In a statement the association chairman Ahmed Hossain lauded increased
allocations for social safety net, specific budget for districts, more
funds for communication & power sectors.
Hossain said tk 5000 crore stimulus fund to support recession-hit
sectors especially the exports manufaturing industries would be
helpful in mitigating owes of the export entrepreneurs.
But, he pointed out that jute sector was needed more specific
budgetary supports as the industry had been hit hard by the global
recession.

Greater oil demand seen for 2009

DEMAND for oil this year will be more than previously expected,
according to the International Energy Agency.
The IEA said in its monthly servey that oil consumption would now drop
by 2.9% to 83.3 million barrels a day.
The body had expected a 3% annual decline this year, the biggest drop
since 1981.
The higher forecast, the first increase in the IEA's expectations in
10 months, may add to signs that the worst of the global recession is
over.
'These revisions do't necessarily imply the beginnings of a global
economic recovery, & may only signal the bottoming out of the
recession', the IEA said.
The report came as oil prices rose above $72 a barrel, close to an
eight-month high.
US light sweet crude rose by $1.55 to $72.68. London Brent cude rore
slightly to $71.79.

Some traders eye windfall profits out of speculations

IMPORTED milk powder, candies & biscuits became costlier on the back
of increased duties proposed in the traders eyed windfall profits out
of speculation.
Price of spice, potato & different varieties of fish also rose further
in city markets in the past week on the plea shortage of supply,
according to the traders.
A number of customers at Karwan Bazar, New Markets & Shantinagar
markets alleged that many retailers demanded TK 5 to TK 10 more on an
average for each packet of a kilogram powder milk of different brands
compared to the price a week ago.
'I bought a 400-gram pack of Nido brand milk for tk 200 only a week
back but the retailer today charged tk 210 for the same item', Aslam
Sorder, a mid-level garment factory manger, said.
When asked about this, a retailer at Shantinagar argued that they
raised prices to make up for the higer procurement price at the
wholesalers' end in the past week.
In the 2009-2010 budget placed to the parliament on thursday the
finance minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhit, proposed 5% additional
regulatory duties on imported bulk milk powder & 20% supplementary
duty on milk-based products.
Garlic, which was selling at varying rates between tk 40 & tk 70 per
kg, became costlier for which the traders blamed supply shortage. The
price of ginger also rose to tk 60 & tk 95 % at the retailers' level,
due to its poor local harvesting & enhanced price at import sources.
The price rise of ginger in the past couple of months is at least 30
percent, said market sources.
Up by tk 2 over the week, each kg potato was selling between tk 24 &
tk 26 on friday, said the traders attributing the price hike to bad
harvest this year & poor stocks.
Fish prices over the week were exorbitantly high as traders said
catching of fishes in rivers & water bodies declined significantly
during this mid-summer.
On friday, medium sized katol & ruhi was selling between tk 180 & tk
230 per kg, pungus between tk 100 & tk 120 per kg aj Nakhal Para
Bazar. Small fish mola was found selling at tk 300, up by tk 100 a kg
over the month.
Beef was selling between tk 120 & tk 125 a kg. The price of per hali
egg was between tk 28 & tk 30.
Retail prices of coarse rice remained unchanged between tk 22 & tk 25
a kg & fine rice between tk 28 & tk 36. Packed coarse flour was
selling between tk 19 & tk 21.
Suger price per kg was between tk 38 & tk 40. Non-packed soyabean oil
was selling between. tk 80 & tk 82 per kg while packed or bottled
soyabean.