KL maintaining Bangladesh worker ban: FM

Malaysia has made it clear to foreign minister Dipu Moni that Kuala Lumpur
is maintaining its embargo on Bangladeshi workers, the foreign ministry said
on Thursday. Dipu Moni met Malaysian foreign minister Datuk Anifah Aman on
the sidelines of the 16 th ministerial meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum
in Phukhet, Thailand. Earlier this year, overseas employment minister
Khandker Mosharraf Hossain stated that Kuala Lumpur had taken a " political
decision" to lift the ban that had forced some 55 ,000 Bangladeshi workers
out of Malaysia earlier this year. "Lifting the ban was just a matter of
time", Hossain had told bdnews24. com on May 7. Dipu Moni, in Phuket on
Thursday, enquired about Malaysia's latest stance, the foreign ministry said
in a statement. Aman told Dipu Moni his government would lift the ban on
Bangladeshi workers after Malaysia had fully recovered from the effects of
the global recession,. "The Malaysian foreign minister said it was a
reiteration of the existing decision so that unscrupulous manpower agents
did not send prospective workers when there are still no jobs available,"
quoted the statement. "He (Aman) reassured that the decision to take
Bangladeshi workers still holds, " it said. "They will be taken once
Malaysia starts recovering from the current economic recession". The
Malaysian government on March 10 cancelled 55 ,000 visas for Bangladeshi
workers because of a " politically sensitive" statement made by a
Bangladeshi diplomat. Bangladesh labour counsellor Talat Mahmud had told a
Malaysian TV channel that his country had no problem amid the world
recession as 70 ,000 more Bangladeshis were going for jobs despite the
economic slowdown in Malaysia. The counsellor told the same to Malaysia's
state-run news agency, angering people and politicians in Malaysia, hard hit
by the global economic meltdown. The far-eastern country subsequently sent
thousands of Bangladeshi workers back empty-handed. Foreign minister Dipu
Moni and Hossain in April visited Malaysia and had talks with the leaders of
the new government there for lifting the ban. The diplomat was later
withdrawn. Around 500 ,000 Bangladeshis live in Malaysia. Dipu Moni meets
Hillary Clinton Dipu Moni also met US secretary of state Hillary Clinton,
Russian foreign minister Sergey V Lavrov, European Union foreign policy
chief Javier Solana and other leaders. On her meeting with Hilary Clinton,
the statement said, "Secretary Clinton said that her government had a lot of
interest in South Asia and especially in Bangladesh." "In their exchange,
they agreed that a number of areas where the two countries can work together
include issues related to climate change, women, children, human rights and
counter-terrorism," according to the statement. Dipu Moni also met her
Australian counterpart Stephen Smith, the statement said.

GP revenue grows 10 % in Q2

Dhaka, July 23 ( bdnews24. com)—Top mobile operator Grameenphone's
revenue has grown 10 percent to Tk 1 , 628 crore in the second quarter
of this year from Tk 1 ,477 crore in the same period last year. "The
increasing revenue-growth trend … demonstrates that the management is
willing to make the right changes at the right time to bolster the
company during the pause in the economy," Grameenphone CEO Oddvar
Hesjedal said in a statement on Thursday. The company's cumulative
investment now stands at Tk 14 ,400 crore including Tk 480 crore in
2009. Revenue rose with the growth in the number of subscribers, and a
higher average price per minute, said GP. It was also boosted by
interconnectivity revenue after introduction of international gateway
in Bangladesh, which were partly offset by reduced fees on local
interconnect calls. Grameenphone added 106 ,000 subscribers during the
second quarter but still saw a slight decline in subscription market
share to 45 percent, the statement said. The company has adjusted its
investment in network with the current growth in subscriptions and
traffic volumes. Following the reduction in local interconnection
rates in the previous quarter, the Bangladesh Telecommunication
Regulatory Commission lowered the international call termination rate
to minimum USD 0.03 from USD 0.04 , with effect from May 19. Telenor
chief says GP going strong Jon Fredrik Baksaas, president and CEO of
Telenor, GP's parent company, said in a statement from Fornebu that
Grameenphone, among its subsidiaries, was delivering a "particularly
strong quarter, both in terms of revenue growth and Margins". Earlier
this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission gave formal
approval for Grameenphone's long- awaited IPO. The approval was
subject to satisfactory and successful completion of certain
conditions, including changing the denomination of shares from Tk 1 to
Tk 10 , and incorporating the audited financial statements for 2008 in
the IPO Prospectus. The Grameenphone IPO will be by far the largest
IPO ever completed in Bangladesh.

MFIs want loan recovery from Aila-hit people

The NGO Foundation expressed concern about the survival of the
micro-credit institutions due to an embargo imposed on recovery of
agricultural and micro-credit money disbursed in the Aila-hit areas of the
country's southern districts. 'The NGOs that disbursed loans in the
areas will face closure if they are to suspend loan recovery for one year,'
Foundation chairman Dr Muhammad Ibrahim told Finance Minister AMA Muhith
at a meeting at the Finance Ministry Wednesday. Recently, the
Microcredit Regulatory Authority slapped the restriction suspending loan
recovery by the NGOs for one year from June 28 this year and asked for
rescheduling the unrealized and default loans for next one year as the
cyclone last May hit hard life and livelihood of people in the coastal
belt. It also asked the micro-credit institutions to lend fresh credits
to their members after rescheduling the previous loans and instructed
taking measures so the borrowers do not face any harassment in fresh
borrowing. 'We'll have to look into it as they raised the concern,'
Muhith told reporters after the meeting, adding that the decision in this
regard would be taken in consultation with the authorities concerned.
Dr Ibrahim apprehended that the suspension of loan recovery would
affect financial discipline of the micro-credit institutions and
requested the minister to put off the recovery on case-to-case basis.
NGO Foundation, the federation of NGOs in Bangladesh, also aired
concern over the initiative for establishing NGO Commission as the
government did not yet discuss with them the possible framework of the
proposed watchdog body. They also urged the Finance Minister to set the
criteria for NGOs which would be engaged in implementing government
programmes.

Four IPOs hit stock market next month

Staff Correspondent Four initial public offerings of three companies
and a mutual fund will hit the stock market next month with the four
entities floating shares worth some Tk 89.43 crore. The four
entities are Marico Bangladesh Ltd, ICB AMCL 2nd Mutual Fund, Islami
Insurance Bangladesh Ltd, and Dacca Dyeing and Manufacturing Company
Ltd. Marico Bangladesh, a multinational company, will float
14,92,100 shares worth some Tk 13. 43 crore. The offer price of the
company's share is Tk 90 each ( including a premium of Tk 80),
according to SEC sources. Subscription of the Marico Bangladesh's
share will begin on August 2 and finish on August 6. For the
non-resident Bangladeshis, the closing date will be on August 16.
IDLC Finance Ltd and Equity Partners Ltd are the issue managers of the
company's IPO. The subscription of IPO of ICB AMCL 2nd Mutual Fund
will begin on August 9 and finish on August 16. For the NRBs, the
closing date will be on August 25. The mutual fund, sponsored by
ICB Capital Management Ltd, will float 50 lakh shares of Tk 100 each
totalling Tk 50 crore. Resident Bangladeshis will get units worth
Tk 30 crore, while units worth Tk 5 crore will be reserved for NRBs,
and another Tk 5 crore for mutual funds. Sponsors will get units worth
Tk 10 crore. ICB Asset Management Company Ltd, a subsidiary of
Investment Corporation of Bangladesh, is working as asset manager of
the fund. Islami Insurance Bangladesh Ltd will float 9 lakh shares
of Tk 100 each totalling Tk 9 crore. Subscription period of the
company's IPO will be from August 16 to August 20. For NRBs, the
closing date will be on August 29. AAA Consultants and Financial
Advisers Ltd is the manager to the issue. Dacca Dyeing and
Manufacturing Company Ltd will float its IPO from August 30 to
September 3. For NRBs, the deadline will be on September 12. The
company will float 1.7 crore shares of Tk 10 each totalling Tk 17
crore. ICB Capital Management Ltd, a subsidiary of ICB, is the
manager to the issue. The four companies offering IPOs next months
are: * Marico Bangladesh Ltd * ICB AMCL 2nd Mutual Fund *
Islami Insurance Bangladesh Ltd * Dacca Dyeing and Manufacturing
Company Ltd.

NBR finishes close to target Revenue shortfall runs into only Tk 523 cr

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has achieved 99.01 percent of its
revised revenue-earning target fixed for the last fiscal year although the
growth was a slim 10.63 percent year- on-year due to poor import duty
collection. The overall revenue collection by the NBR was Tk 52 ,476
crore in fiscal year 2008-09 against the target of Tk 53 , 000 crore.
The shortfall was Tk 523 crore. NBR high officials said there was no
growth in import duty rather revenue fell by 2.82 percent last fiscal
year. According to Bangladesh Bank statistics, during the July-April period
in the last fiscal year import increased by only 8.86 percent, whereas
the growth was 24.68 percent in the same period of 2007-08. However a
senior NBR official said they are putting emphasis on local tax including
income tax and VAT (value added tax) -- two good performing areas. Growth
in both VAT and income tax was more than 18 percent last fiscal year. The
NBR target for income tax was Tk 13 ,538 crore although achievement was
Tk 351 crore higher than the target. The collection was Tk 13 ,889 crore
and growth 18.26 percent. At local level, Tk 17 ,317 crore tax was
collected against the target of Tk 17 , 722 crore with a growth of 12.44
percent. But the VAT in local level collection was Tk 10 ,915 crore -- Tk
164 crore higher than the target. The growth was 18.91 percent. At import
level, Tk 20 ,856 crore was collected against the target of Tk 21 , 322
crore with a growth of only 5.09 percent. Import-level tax includes import
duty, VAT and supplementary duty. Import duty collection fell by 2.82
percent, while VAT (import level) growth was 8. 19 percent and
supplementary duty ( import level) growth 33.38 percent. For the current
fiscal year the NBR fixed a target of collecting Tk 61 ,000 crore revenue,
and the growth will be 16.24 percent. The NBR officials said they have
started work to collect more revenue than the target and taken different
initiatives from the beginning of the current fiscal year in this regard.
The NBR will conduct survey in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet to net new
taxpayers.