Feb 7 (g): A red carpet was rolled out to greet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as she landed at Kuwait International Airport on Sunday afternoon to begin a three-day state visit to the Gulf country. Adviser to the Kuwaiti Prime Minister Dr Sheikh Rafah al Sabah al Jaber received Sheikh Hasina at the tarmac as a special airplane carrying her flew into the airport at 6.0pm (local time). The Prime Minister was given a guard of honour by a smartly turned-out contingent. Bangladesh Ambassador to

Kuwait Shahed Reza was present.

Later, the Prime Minister drove to Bayan Palace in a ceremonial motorcade.

Sheikh Hasina will visit the Bangladesh Bhaban in the capital of the Gulf state this evening and have her dinner. The Prime Minister will hold official talks with her Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah tomorrow (Monday) on a wide range of matters of bilateral cooperation, encompassing development assistance, investment and labour issues. Earlier, the special plane sent by Emir of Kuwait Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, carrying the Prime Minister and the members of her entourage, took off from Zia International Airport at 2:07 pm.

“At the talks, Bangladesh will seek assistance for development of communications infrastructures, including the mega-project of Padma Bridge, and support for the country’s energy sector,” one official told the news agency.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Sunday invited sister of Kuwait Emir, Anthal Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Babah, to visit Bangladesh for having a look regarding the adverse effect of climate change in the most vulnerable countries (MVCs) like Bangladesh.

She made the invitation when Anthal Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah called on the Prime Minister at her suite at Bayan Palace Sunday evening.

Anthal, who is also an environment activist, accepted the Prime Minister’s invitation and expressed her desire to visit Bangladesh at her convenient time.

Younger sister of the Prime Minister Sheikh Rehana, Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni, State Minister for Environment and Forest Dr Hasan Mahmud, Bangladesh Ambassador in Kuwait Shahed Reza and Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Abul Kalam Azad were present, among others, during the meeting.

The Prime Minister during the meeting expressed her deep concern regarding the adverse effect of climate change and expressed her desire to work together with Anthal Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah.

Important issues :
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina sought to secure more jobs for Bangladeshis and greater investment for the country in talks with Kuwaiti leaders on Monday.

She said her government will provide all possible assistance to Kuwaiti investors and also invited them to import high quality garments, ceramics and pharmaceuticals from Bangladesh.

Hasina, in the Gulf state on a three-day official visit, suggested that Kuwaiti businesses can invest in sectors like power, telecommunications, infrastructure development, pharmaceuticals, textiles, ICT, gas and energy, furniture and agro based industries.

Kuwait’s prime minister Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah formally received Hasina at the Baydan Palace in the morning.

Hasina then had an audience with Kuwait’s Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah at Sief Palace where she discussed matters of mutual interest.

“Manpower export from Bangladesh, river dredging and Kuwaiti investment in Bangladesh’s development sector figured prominently during the meetings,” The prime minister’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters after the talks.

At a luncheon, hosted by Kuwait Chamber of Commerce later in the day, Hasina invited Kuwaiti businessmen to come forward with investments in Bangladesh.

The prime minister said the investment would not only bring benefits to Kuwati businesses but also help further strengthen existing bilateral relations. “There is huge scope to diversify and enhance trade between the two countries,” she said.

She said her government had been successful in creating an attractive environment for investment with liberal fiscal and financial policies including tax holiday, avoidance of double taxation and unrestricted exit policy.

Besides, Bangladesh has a huge domestic market of 150 million people, abundant skilled labour that will help to attract foreign investors, she said.

“We only need to work together to identify areas of cooperation to harness the existing potentials,” she said.
Hasina urges investment from Kuwaitis
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged Kuwaiti business leaders and entrepreneurs to import products from Bangladesh and make investment in the country’s promising sectors under an attractive package of incentives.

“In fact, there is ample scope for diversifying and increasing our two-way trade. We only need to work together to identify areas of cooperation to harness the existing potential,” she told the audience at a luncheon meeting hosted by Kuwait Chamber of Commerce in her honour yesterday.

Hasina arrived here Sunday on a three-day state visit to the oil-rich Gulf state with a wide range of matters of bilateral cooperation on her agenda, especially development assistance, investment and labour issues.

Chairman of the apex trade body Ali Mohammad Thunayan Al-Ganim delivered his welcome address.

The prime minister said Kuwait could import from Bangladesh high-quality garments, ceramics and pharmaceuticals.

The other items she put on offer, which also have equal recognition in an increasingly environment-conscious world, are finished leather and leather products, furniture, handicrafts, and, particularly, jute and jute products.

Hasina said another important area of immense possibility is investment by Kuwait in Bangladesh. “Our government has been successful in creating an attractive investment climate with liberal fiscal and financial policies.”

She listed some of the significant facilities offered to the investors, which include tax holiday, concessionary duty on imported machinery, avoidance of double taxation, remittance of royalty, technical know-how, technical assistance fee, allowing 100 percent foreign equity, unrestricted exit policy, and full repatriation of capital and capital gains in the event of exit.

A huge domestic market of 150 million people, abundant skilled labour, the presence of homegrown entrepreneur class, supportive legal regime, and, above all, commitment of the government are added attractions for foreign investors, the PM told the leading Kuwaiti businesspeople.

She said Kuwaiti investors could seriously consider investing in power, telecommunications, infrastructure development, pharmaceutical, textiles, ICT, real estate, gas and energy, leather, furniture and agro-based industry sectors.

She assured the Kuwaiti entrepreneurs that her government would provide all possible assistance and cooperation in doing business.

“With your cooperation in the fields of trade, commerce and investment, both the State of Kuwait and Bangladesh would mutually be benefited bringing greater prosperity to our countries and peoples,” Hasina hoped.

At present, the balance of trade is very much in favour of Kuwait.

During 2007 to 2008, Bangladesh’s exports to Kuwait stood at $9.69 million, while the corresponding import figure was many times higher.

The Kuwaiti chamber chief stressed a better communication toward cooperation in the fields of trade and investments in the interests of both Kuwait and Bangladesh.

Labour and Expatriate Welfare Minister Mosharraf Hossain, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, State Minister for Environment Hasan Mahmud and Principal Secretary MA Karim were also present on the occasion.

The prime minister will return home on Wednesday.

Bangladesh’s foreign direct investment (FDI) crossed 1 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, marking a 63 percent rise compared to that in 2007, leading English-language newspaper The Daily Star reported on Tuesday.

The report quoting the central bank’s statistics said the FDI rose mainly because of an increased inflow of investment in telecom sector, which attracted more than half of the total investment in 2008.

According to the central bank’s latest survey report released recently, the FDI inflow was 1,086.31 million U.S. dollars in 2008, which was 666.37 million U.S. dollars in the previous year.

The Bangladesh Bank calculates FDI on the basis of three components — equity capital, reinvestment earning and intra- company loans.

Equity capital comes solely from abroad, while foreign investors reinvest local earnings in intra-company loans and reinvestment earning.

Equity capital shot up by 102 percent in 2008 and stood at 809 million U.S. dollars from 401 million U.S. dollars in 2007.

Reinvestment earning increased by 15 percent to reach 245 million U.S. dollars, while intra-company borrowing fell by 39 percent to 31 million U.S. dollars in 2008.

In telecom sector, the FDI increased by 219 percent and 641 million U.S. dollars was invested in 2008, which is 59 percent of the total. The amount was 202 million U.S. dollars in 2007.

Bangladesh Bank officials said more investment by different oil companies went to energy sector in the last 10 years. But in the recent years the investment was attracted to the telecom sector as the mobile phone companies went for expansion, the newspaper said.

The FDI inflow from countries like the United States and the UK went down last year. FDI from the U.S. fell by 60 percent to 41 million U.S. dollars, while 0.05 percent to 130 million U.S.

dollars from the UK.

FDI from Malaysia increased by 268 percent to 71 million U.S.

dollars and from Japan by 58 percent to 57 million U.S. dollars, according to The Daily Star.

Bangladesh’s economy will grow at six percent in the fiscal year ending June 2010, despite the global downturn, the country’s central bank governor said Sunday.

Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman said robust domestic demand and continued double digit growth in exports and remittances — the two main levers of the economy in the impoverished country — would boost figures.

“Our projection is the country’s Gross Domestic Product would grow at six percent in the 2009-10 fiscal year,” Rahman said, as he unveiled the central bank’s monetary policy for the next six months.

The Bangladeshi economy grew 5.9 percent in the previous fiscal year, the slowest rate since 2002-3, as output cooled due to the global economic slowdown.

Rahman said he was upbeat about growth despite the fact that the global meltdown has “mildly impacted” shipments of the country’s main export, apparel, and the continued sluggishness of investment activities.

“Although it is widely viewed the global slowdown would linger till mid 2010, we think our exports would maintain at double digit growth in the current fiscal. Remittance flow will continue to be robust,” he said.

Growth in Bangladesh’s exports declined from 16 percent in the 2007-8 fiscal year to nearly 12 percent in the financial year ending in June, as apparel orders shrank due to dipping consumer spending in rich countries.

The country’s army of over 6.5 million overseas workers have remitted a record 9.7 billion dollars in the year, boosting spending at home and sending foreign exchange reserves to an all time high of seven billion dollars.

Rahman said growth could beat the bank’s projection if the world’s major economies recover more quickly than expected this year.

With nearly 40 percent of its 144 million people living on less than one dollar a day, Bangladesh is one of the world’s poorest countries and is frequently hit by natural disasters such as cyclones and floods.

The World Bank has said the country needs to grow at seven percent annually in the next six years to halve the level of poverty by 2015

The interest rate on Bangladesh Government Treasury Bonds (BGTB) dropped further on Tuesday, as commercial banks rushed to offer bids in the auction, treasury officials said.

The yield, generally known as coupon interest rate, on 10-year BGTB fell to 9.45 percent on the day from 10.05 percent of the previous auction, held on June 2, 2009.

“Auction of 10-year BGTB was held on Tuesday of which 26 bids amounting to total of US$273 million (BDT 18.842 billion) were offered. Of those, 10 bids amounting to total of $65 million (BDT 4.50 billion) were accepted,” the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said in a press statement.

Besides, the yield on 10-year BGTB came down to 10.23 percent on May 5 this year from 11.68 percent of the previous auction, held on April 7, 2009, the BB’s data showed.

“Most of the commercial banks have quoted lower interest rates to invest their excess liquidity in the risk-free government-approved securities to minimize cost of funds,” a senior treasury official of a private commercial bank told AHN in Dhaka, preferring anonymity.

The overall excess liquidity with the commercial banks stood at $3.93 billion (BDT 270 billion) in April this year, representing a 25 per cent growth over that in February last, according to the central bank of Bangladesh.

The amount of excess liquidity was $3.11 billion (BDT 215 billion) and $ 3.43 billion (BDT 237 billion) in February and March 2009 respectively, the BB data showed.

The treasury official also said the demand for such securities has sharply risen mainly due to lower interest rates on call money in the inter-bank market.

The call rate ranged between 0.10 per cent and 10.00 per cent on the day unchanged from the previous level. But most of the deals were made at rates between 0.10 per cent and 0.15 per cent on the day, market operators said.

Currently, three Treasury Bills (T-bills) are being transacted through auctions to adjust the government borrowings from the banking system.

The T-bills have 91-day, 182-day and 364-day maturity periods.

On the other hand, four government bonds – 5-year, 10-year, 15-year and 20-year -are being traded in the markets

­Bangladeshi mobile network operator, Grameenphone expects to be able to proceed with its long planned stock market floatation in the very near future. The company has already raised US$60 million through the pre-IPO private placement offer. The full floatation should raise up to US$300 million, which will see the company listed on the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges. “We have fulfilled all requirements set forth by the SEC,” Ferdousur Rahman, a senior official at Grameenphone told the Reuters news agency.

Bangladesh’s SEC had asked the company to refix the face value of the IPO to 10 taka from 1 taka to avoid volatility, SEC Chairman Ziaul Haque Khondker said.

Grameenphone has already raised $60 million through the pre-IPO private placement offer (PPO) to local institutional investors in December last year and aims to raise another $65 million through the IPO.

With a market share of 47 percent, Grameenphone is expected to draw plenty of investor interest.

“The inclusion of Grameenphone in stock markets will boost the confidence of the small investors who are the principal engine of economic growth,” said broker Imtiyaz Husain.

Grameenphone was founded in 1996 by Telenor and Grameen Telecom, which was launched by microfinance pioneer and Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.

Its competitors include Egyptian Orascom Telecom’s Banglalink, AKtel, majority owned by Telekom Malaysia International, CityCell, a joint venture between Pacific Bangladesh Telecom and Singapore Telecommunications, Gulf-based Warid Telecom and state-run Teletalk.

($1=69.00 taka)

more about grameen phone http://www.grameenphonebd.blogspot.com/

Bangladesh is going to declare 16.5-billion-dollar budget to boost spending and halt sliding economic growth in the face of the global downturn economy.
Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith presented the budget, which would produce a 350 billion taka deficit, in a parliamentary session that was boycotted by opposition parties.
He said gross domestic product was expected to grow about six percent in the year to June 2010, after 5.9 percent growth in the year to June 2009. Inflation was forecast to ease to around 6 percent from 7 percent in the 2008/09 year.
It is the first budget of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government, who won office in a December election with promises of price cuts, improved utilities, jobs, higher civil servant pay and poverty alleviatio
The government has vowed to return Bangladesh to at least six percent growth after national output fell to six-year low of 5.88 percent last year due to falling demand for Bangladeshi goods in the US and Europe.
A 30 per cent increase in infrastructure projects such as roads and electricity lines has already been approved despite criticism of overspending.
The minister said the budget would focus on cutting poverty, boosting agriculture, enhancing rural and industrial development and boosting the social safety net for the poor.
He said efforts would be strengthened to create more jobs and curb corruption and crime to attract more foreign aid and investment.
“The global recession impacted our economy on three fronts: exports, imports and remittances,” Muhith said. “Except for ready-made garments and the domestic textile sector, exports of all other commodities have declined compared to the previous year.”
The budget allocates 7 billion taka to cope with the natural disasters that hit the South Asian country almost every year, killing many people and causing huge damage to crops and infrastructure
The budget, which assumes revenues of 795 billion taka, allocates 21 billion taka to finance public-private partnerships, and 36 billion taka in subsidies to agriculture, which contributes 21 percent of GDP.

GDP GROWTH TARGET:

 The total figure of the budget is Tk 1,13,819 crore for the next fiscal year.

 The budget speech is being announced amid the absence of the opposition lawmakers who have been boycotting the important session since it’s beginning on June 4 centring a disagreement over seating arrangement in the House.

940MW power to be added to national grid.

Communication sector gets Tk 6,100

Money can be whitened for investing in specific sectors

Tk 5,000cr to continue stimulus programmes.

Defence spending up- www.bdmilitary.com

 The government has raised military spending to Tk 8,382 crore in the proposed budget.Finance minister AMA Muhith, in his budget speech on Thursday, also proposed to raise the original allocation of Tk 7,967 crore in the current fiscal to Tk 8,196 crore in the revised budget for FY 2009-10.

He told parliament that the government was set to keep the armed forces “above all controversy.”

“Currently, we do not have any codified defence policy,” Muhith said and added that they would follow a participatory approach in formulating a National Defence Policy.

The finance minister also stressed reinforcing diplomatic initiatives along with restructuring the defence system to ensure national security.

Determining the economy growth govt innitiating to develop SME .

The government considers a further cut in bank interest rates, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to help the sector grow faster, said the commerce minister yesterday.

“We have already brought down the interest rate to support the country’s entrepreneurs. We are considering reducing the rate further to help different sectors, especially the SMEs, grow faster,” said Faruk Khan.

“The government is also considering a special package for the SME sector in the next budget for fiscal 2009-10,” he added.

He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the fourth SME fair organised by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in Dhaka.

The government fixed the ceiling of the bank interest rate at up to 13 percent in April.

“We are hopeful of reducing the rate soon. We are discussing the rate cut at several levels in the government to help new entrepreneurs source capital at a lower interest rate and start a new venture,” the minister added.

He said the government is working to ensure capital sourcing at lower interest rate for SME sector and help improve its infrastructure further.

“We have to develop our local industries and boost domestic economy to fight the affects of the global financial meltdown. So, developing sectors including SME are very important to us,” he added.

“The government is prioritising the SME sector in the industrial policy that we are framing now. Simultaneously, we will take necessary measures to ensure market for locally produced goods,” said Khan.

He said the SME sector plays an important role in export and employment generation, as the country’s 98 percent enterprises fall in SME category, and so the government is giving an extra attention to the sector.

FBCCI President Annisul Huq urged the government to implement the federation proposals through the upcoming budget.

“We want to see the implementation of our proposals in the budget. Increasing number of loan defaulters indicates that the impact of global financial meltdown has already started hitting Bangladesh. So, the budget should have a specific solution to this,” he said.

Huq said the government should pay special attention to the SME sector, as it is the key component of vibrant economy of the country.

The FBCCI chief said the government should give necessary support for the growth of internal economy and the budget should have a reflection of “our proposals.”

“We’re going through a tough time because of global recession,” he said, urging the government to cut duty on import of raw materials for the SME sector.

“The sector has a great potential and the government needs to nourish it further,” he said.

“Although the local entrepreneurs have the ability to produce international standard products, they fail to introduce their products to domestic and global markets due to absence of proper campaign,” said the FBCCI chief.

“A lack of funding, high interest rate, erratic power supply and unavailability of raw materials hold back the growth of the sector,” he added.

He also identified reluctance of the private banks to give loans to SMEs as a major barrier to flourishing the sector.

A total of 86 local companies are displaying their products at 108 stalls at the four-day show that will remain open to visitors from 10am to 8pm with a Tk 10 entry fee.

The products on display include textile, frozen foods, leather and leather goods, plastic products, surgical equipment, medical machinery, sanitary products, agro-based machinery, bicycle, ceramic and melamine products, software, cosmetics, furniture and jewellery.

Khalil Bin Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al-Khonji, chairman of Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Abul Kashem Ahmed, first vice president of FBCCI, were also present at the ceremony.

 ”So far Bangladesh has not felt the impact of the financial crisis…But it is possible in the future through Bangladesh’s manpower exports and remittances,” she told reporters here after meeting with Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Dipu Moni.

Visiting vice-president of World Bank for South Asia Isabel Guerrero Sunday said Bangladesh could feel an impact of the global economic recession and the country needs to prepare social safety net program to face the impact.

Isabel said Bangladesh has time to prepare social safety net program in a way that when the crisis comes the government is ready to help those people who are worst affected in the crisis.

    Isabel who earlier met with Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said World Bank has a program of 3.6 million U.S. dollars for three years for Bangladesh and that program will be available to help through the crisis if it comes.

The global recession stokes fears that falling exports and an ebbing remittance inflow may take shine off the country’s burgeoning real estate.

Realtors feared the global recession might undermine the real estate sector’s prospective growth unless special initiatives are taken, although the sector began to expand after a two-year sluggish trend when its growth slowed to 7.05 percent in 2006-07 from 8.31 percent a year earlier.

Guru : i have a diffrent evaluation ,in this evaluation :As for the global recession the huge amount of foreign currency inflow is running to our contry  so,if proper innitiative can taken to generate the remittence to invest to the productive sector ,like investment for production ,investment for power , investment for mining and such as, the fear about the recession can be turn to as a benificial point.

And the result will boost the economy of Bangladesh