Economy Mega Plan to Boost Tourism with Exclusive Zone

Economy

Mega plan to boost tourism with exclusive zone . The government is moving ahead to have its first exclusive tourism park in Cox's Bazar to boost the tourism industry developing world-class luxury hotels and ensuring modern facilities like other countries, which bring sun-seekers to beaches. The project site is located with exclusive beach front and half-an-hour sea cruise to St. Martins, a coral island. . He said a draft summary in this regard has been sent to the Prime Minister's Office seeking CCEA's (Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs) approval for appointing Chittagong Dry Dock Limited (CDDL) to construct an embankment for protecting the Exclusive Tourism Park. Some 884 acres of land, according to the BEZA officials, have already been acquired while the initial site assessment is also completed. . They said the 'purest' air, lofty hill, sea and lagoon create perfect conditions for the development of all types of tourism entertainment at Sabrang in Teknaf upazila under Cox's Bazar district. Director of the Tour Operators' Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) Taufiq Rahman hailed the decision and said inbound tourism will certainly flourish in the country if the project is properly implemented. . "If you want to encourage inbound tourism, foreigners must be given something exclusive. It exists in other parts of the world. There should be separate facilities for foreign and local tourists," Taufiq, also the founder Chief Executive Officer of Journey Plus, told the news agency. He said that they had tried to attract foreign tourists to Cox's Bazar in the past, but failed as they did not get what they want as part of leisure tourism. . "Foreigners, as part of their leisure travels, want sunbath. They want to take part in beach activities relatively more openly. They want to drink. They want entertainment," said the tourism expert, adding, these are not possible now in Bangladesh's open beach given the country's social norms. Taufiq, also the Secretary General of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Bangladesh Chapter, said the success depends on which model the government follows to attract foreign tourists in the truest sense. . He said around a 30-kilometre beach stretching from Cox's Bazar to Inani is already occupied by various commercial establishments. "So, we need to think about proper utilisation of the remaining 90 kilometres of beach if we claim that it's a 120-kilometre beach." BEZA officials said they will give priority to private investors in the Sabrang Exclusive Tourism Zone -- both from home and abroad.

From: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/08/06/179789

Govt releases Tk 11.25b in export subsidy . The government has released the first instalment of export subsidy worth Tk 11.25 billion for the fiscal year 2017-18. . Of the amount, Tk 10.00 billion went to the sectors included ready-made garments (RMG), frozen fish and leather, and Tk 1.25 billion to jute and jute goods sector, according to a circular recently issued by the finance ministry. . The finance ministry placed the fund with Bangladesh Bank (BB) for disbursement among the exporters on the basis of their respective export value. . The government allocated an export subsidy of Tk 40.00 billion for the current financial year. The government provides the cash incentive to help the exporters stay competitive in the international market.

From: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/08/06/179791

Taxmen want to freeze bank accounts of three defaulters . Tax-takers have sought permission to freeze bank accounts of three state-owned entities for realising long-overdue VAT worth Tk 24.33 billion. Furthermore, the Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) under the VAT wing of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has served final notice to Petrobangla for realising some Tk 130.36 billion in unpaid VAT. The government petroleum agency (Petrobangla) also owes to the exchequer another sum of Tk 71.25 billion as current arrear amount of VAT (value-added tax). . According to an official estimate, the LTU found an aggregate amount of Tk 221.20 billion in tax arrears lying with four state-owned entities. The three whose bank accounts the LTU seeks to freeze are Titas Gas Company Limited, Bakhrabad Gas Company Limited and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). The tax unit last month sent letters to the NBR for permission to go for the tough action as all of the processes meant for collecting the amount failed so far, officials said. . "The unit has intensified its effort to realise arrears and find out VAT evasion through audit of the VAT returns," said one official. Under the move, the unit audited nine large companies and detected Tk 240 million in unpaid VAT. Of the amount, the VAT officials have realised Tk 44 million. The audited businesses are Unique Hotel and Resorts Limited, Partex Furniture Industries Limited, Star Particle Board Mills Limited, Mir Ceramic, Incepta Pharmaceuticals Limited, Aristopharma Limited, SKF Pharmaceuticals, Sinha Printers Limited and United Edible Oil. . The LTU has withdrawn VAT rebate for 10 large taxpayers on detection that the rebate has been claimed "unlawfully", the officials said. There are six telecom operators among those companies: Robi Axiata Ltd, Grameenphone Limited, City Cell, Airtel Bangladesh Limited, Banglalink and Teletalk BD Limited. The unit has realized the VAT, taken as rebate, from Southeast Bank Limited, Eskayef Bangladesh Limited, Premier Cement Limited, and Seven Circle Bangladesh Ltd. . Nineteen companies also faced legal action last year for non-payment of VAT. The LTU filed cases against the companies for realizing stuck-up revenue worth Tk 15.65 billion. Among the companies, the six mobile-phone operators, WASA, BTRC, BTCL, China Bangla Ceramic, Mir Cement, Global Heavy Chemical, New Zealand Dairy, LM Ericson, Interspeed and Premier Bank are on the list. The LTU collected Tk 367.42 billion in VAT in Fiscal Year (FY) 2016-17, posting the highest growth of about 20 per cent compared to revenue collection in last three years.

From: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/08/06/179823

Private credit growth drops . Private sector credit growth dropped 1.12 percentage points in June from a year earlier due to cautious lending and slow export and remittance growth. In June, private sector credit grew 15.66 percent, which is less than the target of 16.5 percent set in the monetary policy for the second half of fiscal 2016-17. One of the reasons for the slow growth could be the banks' cautious attitude towards sanctioning loans, said Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, a supernumerary professor of the Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management. . “Due to the way you write in the media about default loans, the bankers go for much scrutiny before granting loans.” Chowdhury, also a director of Islami Bank, said many loans have been sanctioned and the borrowers have opened letters of credit for those. But the LCs have not yet matured. “When the goods will arrive, the amount of credit will increase,” he added. Nurul Amin, managing director of Meghna Bank, said the growth has slowed down somewhat but in absolute terms the amount of loans has increased much. . Private sector credit increased Tk 105,049 crore in the 12 months to June and stood at Tk 776,058 crore, according to Bangladesh Bank statistics. Amin said a reason for the slow credit growth could be the decline in remittance and sluggish export growth. Last fiscal year, remittance dropped almost 15 percent. . “Nowadays you often hear the businessmen say that the trade and commerce are dull. This is reflected in the low demand.” Since the export growth is slow, exporters are taking fewer loans. In fiscal 2016-17, exports grew only 1.69 percent. Although the private sector credit growth was lacklustre, the GDP grew 7.24 percent last fiscal year, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics' provisional data. . This prompted the central bank to set a private sector credit growth target at 16.2 percent in the first half of the current fiscal year, down from the preceding six months' 16.5 percent. For achieving fiscal 2017-18's budgetary growth target of 7.4 percent, a 16.2 percent private sector credit growth target is enough, said BB Governor Fazle Kabir last month while releasing the Monetary Policy Statement. Alongside the private sector credit, the government's credit from the banking sector also fell drastically. . In fiscal 2016-17, the government's borrowing from the banking system slumped 14.78 percent, or by Tk 16,885 crore, compared to the previous year. In the revised budget for last fiscal year, the government's target for borrowing from the banking system was Tk 23,903 crore. Since the government's borrowing from savings instruments increased, there was no need to borrow from banks, said a BB official. . The net borrowing from savings instruments stood at Tk 52,417 crore last fiscal year, up 82.43 percent year-on-year. In fiscal 2016-17's revised budget, the government's borrowing target from the savings instruments was Tk 45,000 crore.

From: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/private-credit-growth-drops-1444222

Govt seeks $1b in loans from AIIB . Finance minister AMA Muhith on Thursday said that they had sought around $1 billion in loans from the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank for implementation of seven projects. . Two of the proposed projects have already been approved by the China-led AIIB, which was established in 2015 for the development of infrastructure in the Asia and the Pacific, he said. . The approved projects are improvement of two sub-power-stations in the northern part of the capital and constriction of 181-kilometre pipeline from Bakhrabad to Chittagong to improve efficiency of Titas Gas Field. . Muhith while talking to reporters after a meeting with visiting AIIB vice president DJ Pandian at his secretariat office said that three new projects were linked to railways and two were linked to energy sector. . He said that establishment of a coal-fired power plant in Gajaria was among the new power projects. . Muhith said that they would take loan from AIIB for implementation of projects for health and education sectors in future. . DJ Pandian said Bangladesh is always an important country for the AIIB. . He noted that the there was huge scope for the development of infrastructure in Bangladesh. . He also noted that the country had a lot of opportunities to develop economically further. . He appreciated the growth in gross domestic products by 6 per cent during the last one decade.

From: http://www.newagebd.net/article/21179/govt-seeks-1b-in-loans-from-aiib

BB heist report to be made public after Philippines lawsuit ends: Muhith . Finance Minister AMA Muhith said he will make the Bangladesh Bank heist report public only after the lawsuit in Philippines ends, reports bdnews24.com. A panel led by former central bank governor Mohammed Farashuddin submitted its findings almost a year ago. . "We can't release it until the lawsuit in Philippines is settled," Muhith told reporters in Sylhet on Saturday. Cyber criminals tried to steal nearly $1.0 billion from Bangladesh Bank in February last year and made off with $81 million via an account with the New York Federal Reserve. . The fund was wired to four accounts with false names at a Manila branch of the Philippines's Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) before vanishing. Most of the money was laundered through Philippine casinos. . About $15 million recovered from a gaming junket operator has been returned to Bangladesh, with a further $2.7 million frozen. RCBC was fined a record $20 million by the Philippine central bank for its failure to prevent the movement of the stolen money through its bank. . An anti-money laundering body filed charges against five RCBC officials in connection with the theft. Bangladesh formed an inquiry over the heist, which made headlines in the international media, led by Farashuddin. It has been almost a year the probe body filed its findings to Finance Minister Muhith, but the government did not made it public. .

. A few months ago, Muhith went on record saying that they would reveal the findings after recovering the remaining funds. "Rizal Bank has already declined to return the remaining of money. It would be a bit problematic, if we publish them now," Muhith said on Saturday replying to a query from the media.

From: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/08/06/179829

Land ports to get infrastructure upgrades . The government has launched a fresh project to develop the infrastructure of three land ports to boost trade with India through regional connectivity. The security features of Benapole land port will also be modernised under the project. The three new land ports are Shewla in Sylhet, Bhomra in Satkhira and Ramgar in Khagrachhari districts. . "Under the Bangladesh Regional Connectivity Project-I, immigration and customs facilities will be upgraded through the necessary infrastructural development to expedite trade and business with India," a planning ministry official told BSS. He said the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has already cleared the project involving Taka 6.93 billion (693 crore). The state-run Bangladesh Land Port Authority is tasked with implementing the project by June 2021. . According to the preliminary project development proposal, Shewla Customs Station situated at Biyanibazar upazila in Sylhet district was declared a land port in 2015. The opposite part is Sutarkandi land port, which is in Karimganj district of the Indian state of Assam.Necessary infrastructure of the port will be developed for export-import activities. . Besides, the operations of Bhomra land port started in 2013, and open yard, warehouse and other infrastructure were constructed for it. But the expansion of yard for non-perishable goods appears inevitable for high pressure of cargos. Moreover, after the construction of the Padma Bridge, communication and traffic through this port will be increased as it is nearer to Kolkata than the Benapole land port. . On the other hand, the Ramgar land port is situated in Ramgar upazila of Khagrachhari district. The port will be a vibrant place to boost trade with Tripura as the hilly north Indian state has over 400km border with Bangladesh. In addition, the development of the port will pave the way for using Chittagong port.

From: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/08/06/179787

Bank

Bangladesh Bank orders changes to credit card guidelines . Bangladesh Bank is updating the credit card operation guidelines of authorised banks to better manage the risks to their businesses and to protect the interest of customers. . The central bank issued a circular on Thursday directing the CEOs of all commercial banks across the country to implement the new measures with effect from January 1, 2018. . The new guidelines concern the issuance of supplementary credit cards, the terms of contracts, interest or profit rates, various charges, and the billing process. . According to the central bank’s circular, the card issuers will be allowed to issue foreign currency or dual currency supplementary credit cards. . Also affected by the changes are the collection or recovery mechanisms, fraud control, and security of the cards. . Bangladesh Bank wants a PIN code or biometric safety measure at every point of sale outlets (POS) for card security. In addition, a PIN code for all domestic face-to-face POS transactions, 3D Secure Application for e-commerce transactions, SMS and email alert for credit card transaction shall also be ensured. . The central bank’s circular said: “The enlisting of merchants shall be done on due diligence and evaluation. The card issuer shall educate the merchants about the use of POS machine, genuineness and security features of credit card, signature verification and their rights and responsibilities under the agreement.” . The central bank also said the interest or profit rate on the outstanding amount on the credit card should not exceed 5% of the highest interest rate offered in any credit of the respective bank. “Interest or profit shall be charged on the unpaid amount due for payment,” the circular said. . “In the event of a due date falling on a Friday, Saturday or any other public/bank holidays at the beginning of each year, the card issuer shall allow the grace period (holiday) as required for payment to be made on the next working day,” the circular said. . Telephone calls and visits for recovery of unpaid dues should be limited to a convenient time as/to be defined in the published policy of the card issuer and communicated to customers at the time of issuance of credit card.

From: http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/banks/2017/08/04/bb-orders-changes-credit-card-guidelines/

Bankers back more resolute measures to reduce NPL . A section of the bankers are in favour of taking more resolute measures to manage the huge amount of non-performing loan (NPL) for maintaining pace of investment flow, reports BSS. NPL, according to the sources concerned, is increasingly becoming a matter of concern for the banking sector. "We should take effective steps soon to bring down the NPL to a tolerable level," Managing Director of Southeast Bank Limited (SEBL) M Kamal Hossain told the news agency. . He said ensuring asset quality should be the first things to consider for sanctioning of loans. According to Bangladesh Bank's (BB) latest data, the amount of NPL soared to Taka 734.09 billion during the January-March period from Taka 621.72 billion in the preceding quarter. M Kamal Hossain said bankers should enhance monitoring of their customers and provide them with advices on business, if necessary, so that they can make profit through investments.

. "If any customer faces losses, banks should give the customer favourable scopes for overcoming the losses so that they can repay the loan," he added. He also underscored the need for developing a healthy banking system by analysing customer status properly while processing loan.

. Terming NPL a serious problem for the financial sector, managing director of Mutual Trust Bank Anis A Khan suggested the authorities concerned to set up asset reconstruction companies (ARCs), as practiced in India, for recovery of such loans. An ARC manages underperforming assets and makes the assets, which have already become classified as NPL, profitable. . Mr Khan, also the Chairman of the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB), said there are various reasons, including undeveloped infrastructure, for turning a loan bad. Seeking cooperation from the borrowers to bring the NPL down to a tolerable level, he said long-term investment is better than the short-term investment for protecting a loan from being classified. Referring to the activities of the bank in reducing NPL, Mr Khan said they hold meeting with customers, monitor them and also minimise the interest rates according to their request so that they can come out of crises and pay back the loan.

From: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/08/06/179792

Interest rates on lending fall again in June . Interest rates on lending decreased again in June after an increase in May as commercial banks were forced to cut the rates in June against the backdrop of businesses’ persistent reluctance to borrow from banks due to a sluggish business situation in the country. Interest rates on lending had increased in May after a 29-month fall. . The weighted average interest on lending decreased to 9.56 per cent in June from 9.66 per cent in May this year. The banks were forced to cut the lending rates due to a sluggish credit demand from the businesspeople amid dull business for long, a BB official told New Age on Thursday. . The BB data, however, showed that the weighted average interest rate on the banks’ deposit products increased to 4.93 per cent in June from 4.84 per cent in May of 2017. The BB official said that some banks had increased the rates of interest on their deposit products in the month as they were now trying to disburse hefty amount of loans with a view to strengthening their profit base. . He, however, termed the increase as a temporary phenomenon. The country’s businesspeople have adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach in regards to expanding their business by taking bank loans due to the sluggish business trend, he said. Due to the lower credit demand from the industrial sector, banks are now having huge excess liquidity that has forced them to rush to invest in government treasury bills and bonds. . The BB data showed that interest rates on all types of T-bills and bonds also dropped in recent months, as most of the banks submitted high number of bids at the auctions of the instruments to invest their idle funds. The BB official said the banks had trimmed their interest rates on lending throughout last year to encourage entrepreneurs, but their (entrepreneurs) response was yet to reach a satisfactory level. . The BB is frequently asking the banks to disburse more credit to the SME and agriculture sectors to stimulate the private sector credit growth. A number of banks have been disbursing consumer loans in recent times to the clients to ensure their profitability. The banks have also cut the interest rates on consumer loans to 8 per cent-11 per cent from 16 per cent-18 per cent. . The BB data showed in June the weighted average rate on lending stood at 8.66 per cent at the state-owned commercial banks, 9.10 per cent at the specialised development banks, 7.86 per cent at the foreign commercial banks, and 9.88 per cent at the private commercial banks. The weighted average rate on deposit in June stood at 4.47 per cent at the state- owned commercial banks, 5.98 per cent at the specialised development banks, 5.15 per cent at the private commercial banks, and 1.66 per cent at the foreign commercial banks.

From: http://www.newagebd.net/article/21258/interest-rates-on-lending-fall-again-in-june

Capital Market

BSEC detects 148 short sales execution . The instant market watch surveillance software of the securities regulator has detected some 148 short sales executed on both the bourses. Following the alerts of surveillance software, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has asked the stock exchanges to probe into the short sales executed in June and July last. . The BSEC software has detected 108 short sales executed on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), while 40 short sales were found on Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE). The regulator delivered the instruction of inquiry through a letter sent to chief regulatory officers of both the stock exchanges. . Mohammad Saifur Rahman, a BSEC executive director said the securities regulator asked the stock exchanges to conduct investigation over any suspicious alert delivered by surveillance software on regulator basis. "The instruction of conducting investigation and submission of reports on short sales came as part of our regular job," Rahman said. . As per BSEC letter sent to the stock exchanges, inquiry report on alleged short sales will have to be submitted to the regulator within 20 working days. Asked, CSE managing director M Shaifur Rahman Mazumdar said their regulatory affairs department will work as the regulatory instruction. . "The concerned department will submit report on short sales to the BSEC if something abnormal is found," Mazumdar said. A short sale is a transaction in which an investor sells borrowed securities in anticipation of a price decline and is required to return an equal number of shares at some point in the future.

From: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/08/06/179760

Govt to partially offload its share in multinational companies . The government has taken up an initiative to offload portions of its shares in multinational companies operating in Bangladesh at the local stock markets. . The Financial Institutions Division sent a letter signed by Assistant Secretary of Banking Division Md Abdul Kasim to different ministries and stakeholders on Tuesday for their opinion on how to enlist the foreign firms to the two stock exchanges in the country. The opinions are likely to reach the Banking Division within 15 days. . After that, the Banking division will prepare a report within a week and submit it before the upcoming meeting with Finance Minister AMA Muhith. An official of Banking Division said after the meeting, the proposals would be placed before the concerned boards of those companies through the government representatives. . The government is not able to offload shares of these multinational companies unilaterally, as it is not a majority shareholder. These companies will be asked to discuss the issues in their respective boards, the official added. Sources in the Banking Division said: “The government will examine pros and cons of the initiative and will share it before the media after a certain time. Before going to the stock market, the assets of these companies may need to be devalued.” . The involved multinational companies include Unilever Bangladesh Ltd, British American Tobacco Company, Industrial Promotion Development Corporation, and Fisons (Bangladesh) Ltd. Finance minister AMA Muhith said at a recent meeting that the government was considering the possibility of offloading a 10% share of Unilever Bangladesh Limited. . “The government owns 39.25% share of Unilever, but Unilever is not interested in offloading its share in the local stock market,” he said. “Multinational companies like Unilever are also not interested to increase their share in the market, although they are making huge profits here.” . According to the Banking division, the government currently holds 51% shares of Fisons(Bangladesh) Ltd, 12.92% of Organon Bangladesh Ltd, and 0.64% of British American Tobacco Company. It also has a 48% stake in Hoechst Bangladesh Ltd, 28.24% of Industrial Promotion Development Corporation(IPDC), 20% of Mirpur Ceramics Works Ltd, 3.79% of Reckitt Benchkiser Bangladesh Ltd, and 39.25% of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd.

From: http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2017/08/03/govt-partially-offload-share-multinational-companies/

Textile

26 ore Alliance factories complete remediation

. Twenty-six more readymade garment factories which make products for North American retailers and buyers completed full safety remediation in July. With the progress, the total number of remediated factories affiliated with the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a platform of North American buyers and retailers, reached 118, the platform said in a statement. . The platform hoped that all the material components outlined in their corrective action plans would be completed in the Alliance-affiliated factories by July, 2018, the timeframe of Alliance. July’s success reinforced the confidence to the platform that Alliance factories would have substantially completed remediation and be well on the way to developing a sustainable culture of safety before the Alliance sunsets in 2018, said Jim Moriarty, country director of the Alliance. . ‘We commend these factories for prioritising remediation and in doing so, demonstrating that every garment worker has a right to a safe workplace,’ he said. . The factories which completed remediation in July are: Ananta Casualwear Ltd, Adhunik Poshak Shilpa Ltd, Alamode Apparels, Alliance Knit Composite Ltd, Aswad Composite Mills Ltd, Ayesha Clothing Company Ltd ( Printing Unit), Crazy Fashion, Divine Design Ltd, Esses Fashions Limited, Evince Garments Ltd, International Knitwear & Apparels Ltd (Unit 1), Kazipur Fashion Ltd (Unit 1), Matrix Sweaters Ltd, New Dacca Industries Ltd, Odessa Fashion Ltd, Opex Washing Plant Ltd, Parkway Packaging & Printing Ltd, Rio Fashion Wear Limited, Rising Knit Textiles Ltd (Washing Division), Salek Textile Ltd (RMG Unit), Shams Styling Wears Ltd, Thanbee Print World Ltd, That’s It Garments Ltd, Tip Top Fashions Ltd, Voyager Apparels Ltd and Wear Mag. . The Alliance, however, suspended one more factories from its list in the month due to failure in making adequate remediation progress. With the latest suspension of Tianye (BD) Camping Tent Co Ltd at Ishwardi in Pabna, the total number of suspended factories stood at 157. . After the Rana Plaza building collapse in April 24, 2013, that killed more than 1,100 people, mostly garments workers, North American retailers including Walmart and Gap formed the Alliance undertaking a five-year plan, which set timeframes and accountability for inspections and training and workers empowerment programmes. At the same time, EU retailers formed the Accord on Fire and Building Safety to improve factory safety in Bangladesh. As many as 80 Accord- listed factories have so far completed all the remediation work while the platform cut business relations with 79 factories due to their failure in complying with safety requirements.

From: http://www.newagebd.net/article/21326/26-more-alliance-factories-complete-remediation

Fuel & Power

BB seeks sovereign guarantee for Tk 200b power sector financing . Bangladesh Bank has put forward three suggestions including a condition of sovereign guarantee for mobilising Tk 200 billion (20,000 crore) fresh investments in the power sector. The suggestions are floating Islamic bond with idle fund of the country's Islamic banks, creating consortium of banks for large-scale funding, and floating of bonds by the state- owned organisations in power sector.

. "We have put forwarded the suggestions to the government against the proposal of Tk 20,000 crore funding for new investments in the power sector," SK Sur Chowdhury told UNB. He also noted that the central bank has attached a condition of providing sovereign guarantee from the government with financing the power sector by floating bonds and large bank loans. . The suggestions as well as the condition of the central bank came against the backdrop of the government's recent move to set up 18 new power plants having total capacity 2,900 megawatt (MW) on a fast track basis within the next one and a half years period. . Of these, seven plants having a total of 900 MW are planned to be set up on PDB's own land while four plants having 1,000 MW would be set up on the private sponsors' lands and the seven remaining plants having total 1,000 MW in railway and sugar mills' unutilised lands. . All these 18 plants of total 2,900 MW will be set up by the private sector and the state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) will purchase electricity from these plants for a long term period of minimum 15 years. Official sources said the recent power crisis in the early summer prompted the government to take up these new projects to meet the power shortage before the next general elections. . They said initiating the move the Power Division invited a joint meeting of the prospective investors, banks, financial institutions, capital market representatives and other ministries and government agencies concerned to discuss their plan. The funding of the projects emerged as the big issue as implementation of the government's new plan will require about Tk 200 billion. . The existing banking law is also a barrier to the way of funding as any bank cannot provide a large loan to any client, which crosses the 25 per cent limit of the bank's total capital. Finally, the meeting formed a 10-member committee comprising Bangladesh Bank representatives and headed by an additional secretary of the Finance Ministry, to extensively examine the whole issue and find out solutions to the funding problem. . Officials said the Bangladesh Bank gave its suggestion during the meeting of the committee, which held a number of meetings and now was in the process of finalising its recommendations. The committee found that if banks and financial institutions go for large-scale funding to any investor in power sector through creating consortium, in that case, there will be no need to amend the banking law.

From: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/08/06/179785

Company Specific

BRAC Bank earns record profit in H1 . BRAC Bank Limited has made a record profit of Tk2,421 million after tax during the first half (January-June) of 2017, said a press release issued on Thursday. . The year-on-year profit is 39% higher than Tk1,746 million documented in the same period a year ago, the bank said in its formal earning disclosure at a programme held in the capital. Local and foreign Investment analysts and capital market experts participated in the programme. . The bank’s Net Asset Value (NAV) per share stood at Tk27.86 compared to Tk26.15 at the end of June 2016. . The Earnings Per Share reached Tk2.66 during January-June period this year from Tk2.10 recorded during the same period last year. BRAC Bank Limited CEO and Managing Director Selim RF Hussain presented the financial results. . In his address, Selim said: “We are pleased to deliver a good financial performance in the first half of the current year despite difficult market condition.” . He affirms that the bank continues with the momentum from 2016 and is progressing well on its journey to become the best bank in the country. . AK Joaddar, deputy managing director and CFO, and other senior officials of the bank were, among others, present at the event.

From: http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/banks/2017/08/03/brac-bank-earns-record-profit-h1/

Summit ties up with GE, Excelerate for $1b energy projects . Summit Power International Pte Ltd, a Singapore incorporated power producer, has announced collaborations valued at $1 billion for power generation and offshore liquefied natural gas import terminal projects. US firm GE and Summit entered into a memorandum of understanding for the former to potentially provide $50 million of equity to Summit, to be used for the development of power projects in Bangladesh. . Summit LNG Terminal Company (SLTC) also signed a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) time charter agreement for 15 years with Excelerate Energy LP. The arrangements were formalised at a signing ceremony at the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore on Friday, according to a statement from Summit Group. . Kazi M Aminul Islam, executive chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority; Abul Kalam Azad, chief coordinator for Sustainable Development Goals at the Prime Minister's Office; Fazle Kabir, governor of the Bangladesh Bank; Lim Hwee Hua, a former minister of Singapore; Satvinder Singh, assistant chief executive officer of International Enterprise Singapore, and Muhammed Aziz Khan, chairman of Summit Group, were present at the programme. . Faisal Khan, additional managing director of Summit Corporation, and Banmali Agrawala, president of GE South Asia, signed one initial agreement on behalf of the two parties. Tariqur Rashid, managing director of SLTC, and Karlman Tham, general manager for Asia at Excelerate, signed another initial agreement. . International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, has been engaged as the lead arranger to develop the Meghnaghat-II gas-based combined cycle power plant. Upon completion, Summit will have a total installed electricity generating capacity of over 3,000MW, said the company. Speaking on the occasion, Aziz Khan said, “We are delighted to announce these significant projects valued at over $1 billion over the next three years.”

. “The addition of these power projects is in line with our objective to grow our sustainable power capacity to empower nations and transform lives.” Agrawala said the MoU was a step towards furthering GE's strategic partnership with the Summit Group in the region. “We will continue to evaluate collaborations that provide comprehensive energy solutions to Bangladesh, including in the form of technology, services and financing.”

From: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/summit-ties-ge-excelerate-1b-energy-projects-1444213