Currency ceiling for out bound travellers increased

Bangladesh Bank has raised the ceiling of local currency for
Bangladeshi people going abroad, brining necessary changes to a
decade-old rule. According to a recent BB circular, any
Bangladeshi can now carry Tk 2,000 while travelling overseas.
Earlier, none was allowed to carry more than Tk 500 as per the rules
of the central bank, implemented in 1949. A Bangladesh Bank
official said the limit of allowable local currency had been
increased so that people could have sufficient money to get home on
their return from overseas.

Emitrates arranger iftar for passengers

Emirates, international airline of the United Arab Emirates, has
taken a number of steps to ensure that all fasting customers are well
taken care of during the fasting month of Ramadan. For flights
departing close to iftar Emirates will provide small snack boxes at
the boarding gates of Dubai International Airport, Terminal 3. The
snack boxes, containing baklawa, dates, a laban drink and water, will
serve as a quick snack so that passengers can break their fast
immediately, a news release said. Specially-prepared large iftar
meal boxes will be served to fasting passengers in-flight and they
will comprise an assortment of traditional Arabic delicacies
including a hot chicken shawarma, crudités, Arabic bread, pistachio,
maamoul, a banana, dates, water and a laban drink. The mill box will
be served in economy class with a similar selection of foods served
to fasting passengers in both business and first class, the release
said. Non-fasting passengers travelling on Umrah and Jeddah
flights will receive a cold meal instead of the regular hot meal for
all flights taking off after sunrise and before sunset, in respect
to the many Muslim passengers completing Umrah on these flights, the
release said.

Dhaka to get $500 millioo stimulus fund from ADB

Bangladesh will get a $500 million loan from the Asian Development
Bank to counter the second round of global economic meltdown, a
senior official said on Monday. 'The hard-term loan will be
utilised for weathering the impact of the global economic crisis,'
said Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, secretary of the economic relation
division of ministry of finance. 'We have accepted the proposed
loan as the country has already been affected by the second round
impact of the global economic recession,' he told Reuters. An
official of the ADB said the $500 million credit has to be repaid
within five years with a three-year grace period and the LIBOR
(London inter bank offered rate) based interest rate will be
around 2.8 per cent. The ADB already confirmed giving $500 million
to the government from its 'Counter-Cyclical Support Facility Fund'
to face the adverse impact of the global economic recession on
Bangladesh's economy. He said the government might utilise part of
the fund to support the export sectors, which had been hard hit by
the global economic recession. Bangladesh's exports grew 10.3 per
cent to $15.56 billion in the 2008/09 fiscal year that ended in
June, the lowest growth in six years, data showed, reflecting slowing
demand as a result of the global economic slump. In the current
fiscal year's budget the government has a target of $350 million as
budget-support credit from different donors to minimise the fiscal
deficit.

SONY ERICSSON w995 wins EISA awards

W 995, one of the latest editions of the walkman family of Sony
Ericsson, has recently won the EISA Awards. The handset has won the
award for the Best Product on the category of ' European Music Phone
2009-2010', a news release said. Internationally known for the
European EISA Awards, EISA started its journey in 1982. EISA ('
European Imaging and Sound Association') is the unique association of
50 special interest magazines from 19 European countries where
editors-in-chief of these magazines selects the winners of each
category. The W995 is the ultimate in Mobile Entertainment. This
device targets the multimedia enthusiasts by making it easy to
access and playback audio and video media. The W995 is featuring a
2.6 inch display of 240x320 pixels resolution. The phone includes a
music player, Walkman v4.0, with shake control, mini jack input for
favorite earphones and Wi-Fi, the release said. This phone is now
available in Bangladesh at the price of Tk 45,500.

Stanchart offers discount for RAMADAN

Standard Chartered has once again brought the ' Great Discount Offer'
for all its debit and credit cardholders to celebrate the great
festivity of Eid-ul-Fitr. This time 25 renowned brands, with a large
number of outlets across the country, are participating in the
discount campaign, a news release said. The bank's customers will
enjoy an upfront discount of up to 12 per cent simply by using their
Standard Chartered debit or credit card at the partner outlets for
Eid Shopping throughout the month of Ramadan. In his comments,
Sandeep Bose, head of consumer banking of Standard Chartered
Bangladesh, said, 'Our customers are at the centre of all our
activities. As Eid is the biggest festival in the country, we have
launched the ' Great Discount Offer' for our debit and credit
cardholders to add more colour to their celebration.'