Ctg port strained as crane operators strike

Dhaka, July 21 ( bdnews24. com)- Operations at Chittagong port were
strained Tuesday as crane operators on docks began a strike for better
pay and work conditions among other demands. "Around 350 winch men,
employed under the berth operators, have been abstaining from work
since 8 am," Abdul Matin, president of Chittagong Winch Men Welfare
Association told bdnews24. com. The docks came to a standstill in
the morning, he said. "They will return to work after being ensured
better pay, permanent port identity cards and gate passes, welfare
allowance, life and health insurance and better work conditions."
The country's major sea port was not totally inoperative through the
day as the port authorities and berth operators took alternative
steps. "Loading and offloading of goods were suspended for sometime
in the morning, but the berth operators and other of the port
workers began operating the cranes," Ahsanul Kabir, port director
(traffic), told bdnews24. com. The crane operators have been in talks
with berth operators on several occasions and have also launched
strikes twice before. The berth operators and port authorities
assured them of meeting their demands, but did not deliver, say the
strikers. A member of the berth operators association told bdnews24.
com that were surprised and upset as the winch men had stopped work
before the latest negotiations had ended. "Their pay demand is not
logical, and the issue of permanent identity cards and port entry
passes are pending with the port authority," he said. The berth
operators are trying to resume talks with the winch men, he said.

Commercial banks asked for taking final preparations

FE Report The commercial banks have been asked for taking final
preparations to connect with the central bank's automated clearing
house, scheduled to go live from early November this year. The
instruction came at a review meeting of the chief executive officers
and managing directors of all commercial banks, held at the central
bank Tuesday, with Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Atiur Rahman in the
chair. Under the new system, payments will be settled using automated
cheque clearing system and electronic fund transfer among 1050 bank
branches in Dhaka initially, officials said. "The automated clearing
house will be established by November this year," BB governor told
reporters after the meeting, adding that the central bank has planed
to request Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for inauguration of the
country's first automated clearing house. The central bank earlier
extended the deadline for introduction of automated clearing house by
three months in consideration of requests from many banks, they added.
The Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (BACH) will be launched from
November 8 instead of August 3 this year, according to the revised
scheduled. The commercial banks have been asked to take necessary
preparations to issue MICR encoded checks in all regions and install
hardware and software and establish connectivity within this
timeframe, the BB said. "After implementation in Dhaka, the automated
process will spread to the regional clearing houses including
Bangladesh Bank offices in Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Bogra,
Sylhet, Barisal and Rangpur respectively," another BB official said.
The BACH, the automated payment system platform, has two components --
Bangladesh Automated Cheque Processing Systems (BACPS) and Bangladesh
Electronic Funds Transfer Network (BEFTN). The present payment and
settlement system in Bangladesh is not at par with the best
international practices, which emphasises the need for safe and
secured payment and settlement and the reduction of gap between
payment and settlement, according to the BB's annual report for the
fiscal 2007-08.

No non-demat share in A category from next year

The Securities and Exchange Commission has decided that it will not allow
any company to be grouped or remain in 'A' category without having
dematerialised their shares from January 1 next year, said officials. The
stock market regulatory body made the decision at a meeting on Tuesday. SEC
chairman Ziaul Haque Khondker presided over the meeting. 'The companies
which are already in the category without having dematerialised form of
shares will have to transfer their paper shares to electronic system by the
time to remain in the category,' SEC executive director Anwarul Kabir
Bhuiyan told reporters. He said, 'Currently shares of 29 ' A' category
companies are not dematerialised.' 'If they fail to dematerialise their
shares by the time, they will be downgraded to ' B' category,' he said.
As on Tuesday there were 177 companies in 'A' category that accounted for
84.63 per cent of total market capitalisation of Dhaka Stock Exchange,
sources in the DSE said. The dematerialising of share means transfer of
paper shares to electronic system. Demat trading or script-less trading
makes share transaction more transparent, said the SEC official. The
Central Depository Bangladesh Ltd, which operates CDS, got certificate from
SEC on December 23, 2003 to maintain electronic book entry, recording and
securities accounts and registering transfer of securities, changing the
ownership. As on Tuesday, the dematerialised shares accounted for 97.03
per cent of market capitalisation of the DSE. The SEC also decided to
forfeit 10 per cent of application money of investors who applied for
initial public offerings of three companies from more than two accounts each
- one single account and one joint account - in violation of securities
laws. 'We have found that IPOs of Bay Leasing and Investment, Asia
Insurance and Rupali Life Insurance saw illegal applications worth of
Tk 2.10 crore, Tk 70.53 lakh and Tk 1.45 crore respectively,' the official
said. As per rules, an investor is allowed to apply for IPO only with a
single account and a joint account.

US recession easing but likely not over: survey

WASHINGTON, Jul 20 , (bdnews24. com/ Reuters) - The US recession's grip on
the economy appears to be easing but likely has not yet ended, according
to a survey of economists released on Monday. The National Association
for Business Economics' quarterly industry survey found that demand is
stabilizing, but a small majority of the 102 respondents said their firms
had not yet seen the bottom. The survey "provides new evidence that the
US recession is abating, but few signs of an immediate recovery," said
Sara Johnson, managing director of global macroeconomics for IHS Global
Insight, who helped analyze the report for the NABE. "Industry demand was
still declining in the second quarter of 2009 , but the breadth of decline
had narrowed considerably since late 2008 , raising prospects for
stabilization in the second half" of the year, she said. The net demand
index dropped to -5 from the first quarter's -14. In the fourth quarter
it registered -28. Of the four major sectors, financial services showed
the strongest demand, with an index reading of +15. The transportation,
utilities, information and communications sector had the lowest reading at
-90. The US recession, which dates to December 2007 , is the longest since
the Great Depression and the deepest in decades. Most economists look for
growth to return in the second half of the year, but they caution that the
recovery is likely to be sluggish. The survey found that profitability
remained weak in the second quarter. Companies reporting declining profits
outnumbered companies posting higher profits for the sixth straight
quarter. However, the rate at which profits are shrinking is slowing.
There was wide dissension about whether or not the economy has hit
bottom. Fifty-five percent believe the low point has not yet been hit, with
14 percent projecting their companies will see their lowest sales in 2010
or beyond. Forty-five percent, however, said the worst was already over.
Thirty-six percent of respondents said their companies cut jobs last
quarter, while only 6 percent of the firms added jobs -- an all-time low
for the 30- year-old survey. Respondents expect job losses to slow and
look for employment to finally turn higher later this year.

BB offers higher credit to private sector

The central bank Sunday announced half-yearly monetary policy offering the
private sector enough credit for massive investment to help chase a higher
growth target and cautioning that the power and gas crisis coupled with
infrastructure deficiency might constrain quick economic development. The
policy statement for six months to December forecasts the gross domestic
product growth at 6 per cent — higher than budgetary projection of 5.5 per
cent — and the average rate of inflation at 6.5 per cent for this fiscal.
The private sector credit growth has been projected at 16.7 per cent
under the new monetary policy dubbed simultaneously 'proactive and
accommodative.' 'I assure the private sector that the government will
ensure flow of as much credit as they need to make productive investment.
This is a clear signal,' said Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman,
allaying the fears that higher public borrowing could limit credit to the
private sector. The policy projected public sector credit growth at 25.3
per cent, up from 24.5 per cent in June 2009. The central bank is even
ready to finance investment projects, if they are considered feasible and
worthy, from the foreign exchange reserve. It may bring certain changes
in the monetary policy approach to discourage imports of luxury items so
that the inflationary pressure could be eased, the governor pointed out.
'Deficiencies in gas, electricity and infrastructure supports are key
constraints to accelerating economic growth. And addressing the
infrastructure deficiencies and speeding up growth in various sectors will
depend crucially on capacity for efficient implementation of development
programmes,' said the governor. Asked how the central bank would utilise
the foreign exchange holdings for investment purposes, Allah Malik Qazemi, a
senior consultant of the bank, said approximately $500 million could be
invested without disturbing the balance of payments during the projected
period. The central bank will now play the role of a real regulator
instead of an adviser to compel the banks to slash down interests on lending
due to their unwillingness to do so, he said indicating a policy shift to
help increase investment. 'We the central bank are an adviser to the
government and we can do one or two things to show the path of investment
alongside keeping inflation in check,' said the governor. Asked about
higher growth projection in spite of conservative estimate announced in the
national budget, Atiur, himself a development economist, said the growth
might exceed the official projection, should the private sector respond to
budgetary steps and global economy recovery early. 'The private sector
credit growth at 16.7 per cent is projected in keeping with GDP growth and
inflation. Credit will not be a problem for investment,' said Ziaul Hassan
Siddiqui, deputy governor of the central bank. Dwelling on the risks of
global financial crisis, the Bangladesh Bank projected two scenarios, saying
that a prolonged recession might affect remittances, investment and economic
growth while an early recovery might cause commodity price hike triggering
inflation in Bangladesh as well. 'Fostering cultural attitudes relying
predominantly on equity- based rather than debt-based investments and on
disposable income-based rather than credit- based consumption may be better
safeguards of financial stability than arrays of regulations of ever
increasing complexity,' the monetary policy suggests. The governor
mentioned that the central bank would monitor the unfolding domestic and
external developments, and would stand ready to intervene appropriately to
meet challenges for macroeconomic stability and for an inclusive economic
growth. Announcing monetary policy in advance twice a year has been a
practice of Bangladesh Bank for the last few years in an effort to tailor
the financial instruments to the government's overall development
priorities.