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DT<br />
12<br />
Business<br />
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER <strong>11</strong>, <strong>2016</strong><br />
TOP STORIES<br />
Investors exuberant<br />
as Donald Trump<br />
signals shift from<br />
austerity era<br />
European stocks rose yesterday<br />
following extraordinary gains in<br />
Asia and the United States, as exuberance<br />
shot through markets and<br />
reversed initial dives in reaction<br />
to Donald Trump’s US presidential<br />
victory. PAGE 13<br />
Japan lawmakers<br />
approve TPP despite<br />
Trump victory<br />
Japan’s lower house of parliament<br />
yesterday passed the contentious<br />
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)<br />
free trade deal, a move largely<br />
viewed as an empty gesture due to<br />
opposition by US president-elect<br />
Donald Trump. PAGE 14<br />
Economists see pain,<br />
then gain for India<br />
after bank note shock<br />
India’s shock move to take larger<br />
bank notes out of circulation will<br />
hit Asia’s third-largest economy in<br />
the short term, but pain will turn to<br />
longer-term gains including transparency,<br />
higher tax revenues and lower<br />
inflation, economists said. PAGE 15<br />
Capital market snapshot:<br />
Thursday<br />
DSE<br />
Broad Index 4,677.1 0.1% ▲<br />
Index 1,122.5 0.1% ▲<br />
30 Index 1,758.2 0.1% ▲<br />
Turnover in Mn Tk 6,459.6 16.4% ▲<br />
Turnover in Mn Vol 138.6 3.3% ▲<br />
CSE<br />
All Share Index 14,387.6 0.1% ▲<br />
30 Index 12,978.8 0.3% ▲<br />
Selected Index 8,753.0 0.1% ▲<br />
Turnover in Mn Tk 330.0 -19.8% ▼<br />
Turnover in Mn Vol 8.6 -23.0% ▼<br />
Inflation edges up to<br />
5.57% in October<br />
• Tribune Business Desk<br />
Inflation in Bangladesh rose to<br />
5.57% last month driven by the<br />
higher prices of food, government<br />
data showed yesterday.<br />
It was slightly up from 5.53%<br />
read in the previous month.<br />
According to Bangladesh Bureau<br />
of Statistics (BBS), food inflation,<br />
which is more important<br />
in developing countries like Bangladesh,<br />
where a large amount of<br />
household incomes are spent on<br />
food, slightly increased to 5.56% in<br />
October from 5.10% in September.<br />
Non-food inflation, however,<br />
decreased to 5.58% from 6.19%<br />
during the period.<br />
While releasing data at the NEC<br />
conference room, Planning Minister<br />
AHM Mustafa Kamal said:<br />
“Higher food prices, particularly<br />
INFLATION RATE FROM<br />
APRIL TO OCTOBER THIS<br />
YEAR ( IN%)<br />
April 5.61<br />
May 5.45<br />
June 5.53<br />
July 5.40<br />
August 5.37<br />
September 5.53<br />
October 5.57<br />
Source: BBS<br />
rice, vegetables, salt, oil, sugar<br />
and milk, pushed up inflation.”<br />
He, however, said food inflation<br />
in October last year was a bit<br />
higher as it was 6.19%.<br />
The government fixed the target<br />
to contain inflation at 5.8% for<br />
the fiscal year <strong>2016</strong>-17.<br />
In rural areas, the inflation rate<br />
in October was 4.87%, which was<br />
4.63% in September, and in urban<br />
areas, it declined to 6.87% from<br />
7.21%.<br />
In rural areas, food inflation<br />
moved up 4.89% from 4.27%, and<br />
in urban areas, it climbed to 7.9%<br />
from 7.3% during the period.<br />
In case of non-food inflation, it<br />
was down 4.23% from 5.31% in rural<br />
areas, while it fell 6.63% from<br />
7.42% in urban areas.<br />
The point-to-point national<br />
wage index witnessed an increasing<br />
trend with 6.16% in October,<br />
up from 6.09% in September.<br />
The average year-on-year rate<br />
of inflation from <strong>November</strong> 2015<br />
to October <strong>2016</strong> also declined to<br />
5.66%, which was 6.21% from <strong>November</strong><br />
2014 to October 2015. •<br />
Muhith urges businessmen<br />
to accept new VAT law<br />
Finance Minister AMA Muhith launches Tax Guide at a programme in the<br />
ministry auditorium in the city yesterday<br />
ASIF SHOWKAT KALLOL<br />
• Asif Showkat Kallol<br />
Finance Minister AMA Muhith<br />
said the country’s value-added tax<br />
is “reasonable” and so the businessmen<br />
shouldn’t object to it.<br />
“The old Dhaka businessmen<br />
are against introducing the new<br />
VAT law, but I want to tell them<br />
that the new uniform VAT rate is<br />
reasonable,” he said while launching<br />
Tax Guide at the finance ministry’s<br />
auditorium yesterday.<br />
Muhith, however, said the rate<br />
would be reduced if the amount<br />
of VAT increased annually.<br />
He said Bangladesh is one of<br />
the pioneer countries to introduce<br />
such a VAT law.<br />
Muhith ruled out the possibility<br />
of double taxation. “If this happens,<br />
this is wrong calculation.”<br />
He insisted uniform 15% VAT<br />
rate will be good for the business.<br />
Earlier this month shop keepers<br />
in Dhaka protested against the<br />
new VAT law keeping their shops<br />
closed and organising rallies.<br />
“I was actually disappointed<br />
at the strike. They (businessmen)<br />
shouldn’t go for it again,” finance<br />
minister said.<br />
He said the VAT law was first<br />
introduced in France and later in<br />
the United Kingdom, and the VAT<br />
rate varies from 5% to 20% in different<br />
countries.<br />
Muhith said he would lower<br />
the country’s VAT rate if the number<br />
of taxpayers become 50,000.<br />
“I would promise to lower the<br />
rate of VAT. I said the first time we<br />
have a uniform rate of 15% but if<br />
you want I will change that rate.”<br />
At present, the number of registered<br />
businessmen taxpayers<br />
are 7.7m businessmen, but only<br />
1.1m of them pay VAT.<br />
Muhith said the government<br />
would procure 20,000 electronic<br />
cash register machines from<br />
aboard and supply to the businessmen<br />
at import price. •<br />
Ecnec okays<br />
projects worth<br />
over Tk9,600cr<br />
• Tribune Business Desk<br />
Executive Committee of the National<br />
Economic Council (Ecnec)<br />
yesterday approved 12 projects<br />
worth nearly Tk9,664 crore mainly<br />
related to river route development,<br />
power transmission and road communication<br />
works.<br />
The approval came at the Ecnec<br />
meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh<br />
Hasina in the chair at the NEC conference<br />
in the city yesterday.<br />
Following the meeting, Planning<br />
Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal<br />
disclosed the meeting outcome.<br />
Of the approved project costs,<br />
Tk4,255.38 crore will come from<br />
public coffer, Tk533.08 crore from<br />
the project-related public agencies’<br />
own fund and Tk4,875.53 crore as<br />
project assistance.<br />
Of the approved 12 projects,<br />
nine are new while three are revised<br />
ones.<br />
Bangladesh Regional Domestic<br />
Shipping Transport Project-1 is<br />
one of the 12 approved projects, of<br />
which the estimated cost is Tk3,200<br />
crore, aiming to ensure safe passenger<br />
journey and goods transportation<br />
on Ctg-Dhaka-Ashuganj<br />
river route.<br />
About the project, the minister<br />
said Bangladesh river route will be<br />
a super corridor for the South Asian<br />
region, and considering this, the<br />
project was approved.<br />
The Ecnec also gave the nod to<br />
other projects, including Tk286.75<br />
crore for Jhenaidah-Chuadanga-Meherpur-Mujibnagar<br />
Highway<br />
Development, Tk97 crore for<br />
Police Station and Barrack Construction,<br />
Tk70.7 crore for Three<br />
Guarder Bridge Construction in<br />
Jamalpur-Madaripur Highway,<br />
Tk2,982.38 crore for Power Grid<br />
Development, Tk910 crore for setting<br />
up Compressor Wellhead at<br />
Titas gas field, Tk869.71 crore for<br />
Land Acquisition, Land Development<br />
and Rehabilitation to construct<br />
1,320MW cola-based power<br />
plant in Patuakhali. •