e_Paper 20-11-2016

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DT 12 Business SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2016 Capital Market Snapshot: Past week DSE Broad Index 4,698.5 0.5% ▲ Index 1,122.7 0.0% ▲ 30 Index 1,758.5 0.0% ▲ Turnover in Mn Tk 0,906.4 4.9% ▲ Turnover in Mn Vol 878.4 20.8% ▲ CSE All Share Index 14,461.5 0.5% ▲ 30 Index 13,016.2 0.3% ▲ Selected Index 8,805.7 0.6% ▲ Turnover in Mn Tk 1,920.5 10.9% ▲ Turnover in Mn Vol 68.6 34.2% ▲ No response to loan rescheduling call ACM-ICPC programming contest to promote IT sector • Asif Showkat Kallol Bangladesh Bank has not responded to the demand of a special facility from 42 large companies in rescheduling loans as they claimed their business incurred losses due to political unrest in 2014, said officials concerned. GP, Radhuni win top consumer brand awards • Ishtiaq Husain Grameenphone and spices brand Radhuni have been awarded the country’s top consumer brands for their “acceptance among consumers.” The 2016 awards were announced yesterday as Grameenphone, a leading mobile phone operator in Bangladesh, received the Best Overall Brand Award and Radhuni, the spice brand of Square Consumer Products, secured the Best Local Brands Award. Bangladesh Brand Forum (BBF) awarded brands representing 22 FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) categories and 11 non-FM- CG categories at the eighth edition of the Best Brand Award at a function held in Dhaka. Launched in 2008, the BBF is being held every year to recognise country’s finest brands based on a consumer survey. Along with the top brands in each category, a list of overall top 10 brands and top 10 local brands were also announced at the function. Bangladesh Brand Forum, in partnership with world’s leading brand research company Kantar Millward Brown, Bangladesh and in association with The Daily Star recognised the best brands award in the country. Three special awards - Best Newcomer Brand to Pran Frooto, Most Improved Brand to Super Fresh Fortified Soyabean Oil and Most Consistent Brand to Horlicks- were also awarded. BBF organised the event to honor leading brands in Bangladesh under 33 categories based on a nationwide survey consisting of 4,800 respondents which was carried out by Kantar Millward Brown Bangladesh. BBF Director Nazia Andaleeb Preema, also president of Women in Leadership (WIL), gave the welcome speech at the award giving ceremony. In January 2015, a number of 15 big groups who have more than Tk500 crore loans in default enjoyed the facility getting their loans rescheduled. A total amount of Tk16,410 crore loans were rescheduled at that time. Officials said the central bank has decided not reschedule loans below Tk500 crore though the defaulters filed a writ with the High Court in favour of their demand. Earlier in January, the court dismissed another petition regarding the matter. Later, the borrowers submitted an application to Bangladesh Bank not to disclose the list of loan defaulters. • Khandaker Samina Afrin, country manager of Kantar Milward Brown Bangladesh, and Tajdin Hassan, head of Marketing of The Three special awards - Best Newcomer Brand to Pran Frooto, Most Improved Brand to Super Fresh Fortified Soyabean Oil and Most Consistent Brand to Horlicks- were also awarded Daily Star, spoke on behalf of their respective organisations. Later, the Founder and Managing Director of Bangladesh Brand Forum (BBF) Shariful Islam inaugurated “Bangladesh Youth Hub,” an online platform designed to prepare the youth for the next phase of human development. The commence of “Bangladesh Youth Fest 2017” was also announced at the ceremony. A special recognition was also given to Bangladesh pacer sensation Mustafizur Rahman for his outstanding contribution to uphold Bangladesh in international cricket arena. • • SM Najmus Sakib The participants of ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest in Dhaka would be able to contribute much to the development of IT sector in the country, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said yesterday. He said those who took part in the competition have shown their skill of solving critical problems in programming. The finance minister was addressing the prize-giving ceremony held on the concluding day of a two-day regional programming competition held at the University of Asia Pacific in the capital. Computer Science and Engineering Department of UAP hosted the two-day-long International Collegiate Programming Contest dubbed as Dhaka Regional Contest 2016 on November 18-19 in association with the help of ICT Division and Bangladesh Computer Council. A pool of distinguished guests attended the programme and expressed their satisfaction over the way the programme was held. In their addresses, the discussants said through the ACM-ICPC event the country’s IT sector and IT business firms would reap the benefits. Besides enhancement of business opportunities, unemployment would also be kept at bay, they added. In his address, Prof CJ Hwang, director of ACM-ICPC Asia regional contest, said: “The next year’s ACM-ICPC event could be held in Bangladesh if necessary supports are provided.” Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for ICT Division, spoke at the programme as a special guest. He said: “A special computer lab will be set up on the UAP city campus as part of the government initiative.” The government has already established 3,000 computer laboratories and so far employed 2,000 experts in the IT sector, added Palak. On the concluding day yesterday, the finalists took part in a fivehour-long programming contest. UAP Vice-Chancellor Prof Jamilur Reza Choudhury called for government support to flourish the IT sector. ‘A special computer lab will be set up on the UAP city campus as part of the government initiative’ In his speech, Prof Jamilur lauded the performance of programme contestants. BUET’s Rayo and Omnitrix and DU_Censored came out as three winning teams that won trophy and cash while CUET’s Girlsare Pearl had the 1st position among the girl’s teams. Prof M Kaykobad, dean, faculty of EEE, BUET, announced the winners’ name at the competition. A total of 1,665 teams registered online for preliminary contest in which there were 129 girls’ teams from 81 institutes. Of them, a total of 125 teams had been selected for the key contest. The World ACM-ICPC Final 2017 will be held in Rapid City, South Dakota, USA, on May 20-25. Top 3-4 teams from ACM-ICPC Asia Dhaka Regional Contest 2016 will get chance to attend the event. •
Business 13 DT SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2016 New Income Tax Week begins from November 24 • Tribune Business Report National Board of Revenue (NBR) is going to organise an “Income Tax Week” for the first time from November 24 to 30 with an aim to provide taxpayers with all tax-related services. Taxpayers will get all tax-related services if they bring necessary papers for filling up income tax returns. The Income Tax Week will be held at 649 field level circle offices under 31 NBR tax zones. The NBR will also observe the National Income Tax Day on November 30. “We have decided to hold Income Tax Week to provide services among the taxpayers for completing their all tax-related tasks within the stipulated time as there will be no scope for submission of tax return after November 30,” NBR Chairman M Nojibur Rahman said while talking to BSS. NBR officials will provide all sorts of tax-related supports including submission of income tax return and e-TIN and user ID and password for online return submission under a single roof as like income tax fair, he said. “Taxpayers will get all tax-related services if they bring necessary papers for filling up of income tax returns.” He expressed hope that the taxpayers will respond widely during the Income Tax Week as like as income tax fair. According to the NBR data, around 9,28,973 visitors received services during this year tax fair compared to 758,000 last year while 1,94,598 submitted their returns. The fair managed to collect Tk2,129.68 crore as income tax, compared to Tk2,035.32 crore in the previous year. • Delegates from West Virginia hold signs supporting coal on the second day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio REUTERS Can Trump make coal great again? • Reuters Most of the US coal industry doubts Donald Trump can fulfill his promise to make the ailing industry great again in a country awash in dirt-cheap natural gas, a competing fuel. But a small sub-section of the coal sector that mines metallurgical coal - a variety used by steel makers instead of power plants - is gearing up for a Trump-inspired boom. That’s because the Republican president-elect has promised a spending surge for roads, bridges and tunnels after he takes office on Jan 20, a push to upgrade America’s infrastructure with the support of leading Democrats that could jolt demand for metallurgical coal from American steel mills. Prices for met coal, as it is called, have already risen in recent months on lower supply from China. “This is the best news that Appalachia as a whole has had in about 10 years,” said Jason Bostic, a vice president at the West Virginia Coal Association, referring to Trump’s infrastructure agenda. “Suddenly there’s a little bit of hope here.” Corsa Coal Corp, a producer of met coal based in Pennsylvania, was already encouraged by the China-driven price spike before Trump’s victory. Now it believes US politics are going its way too. “The thing that has got me the most excited is the potential for infrastructure spending,” said George Dethlefsen, Corsa’s chief executive. “All those things are very energy- and steel-intensive, and that’s good for our business.” The company plans to boost its production of met coal by 70% in 2017 to around 1.2 million short tons. In the meantime, it is putting mines on a six-day-a-week schedule, up from four days, and it is looking at loading coal on its midnight shift, which it normally reserves for maintenance. Arch Coal Inc, which produces both met and steam coal used in power plants, said it was also optimistic about Trump, particularly his promise to roll back regulations. But other representatives of the steam coal industry have said regulation reversals may not overcome their main problem: plentiful and cheap natural gas following a decade-long hydraulic fracturing drilling boom. National production figures for met coal are unavailable, since the Xi pushes China-backed trade deals to fill US void • AFP, Lima Chinese President Xi Jinping urged Asia-Pacific leaders yesterday to get on board with Beijing-backed free trade agreements, after Donald Trump’s election win spelled the likely demise of a US-backed deal. Trump’s shock victory has cast uncertainty on the future of Washington’s key trade initiative in the Pacific Rim, the arduously negotiated, 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. The brash billionaire campaigned against the accord, which has not yet been ratified in Congress, as a “terrible deal” that would “rape” the United States by sending American jobs to countries with cheaper labor. In a Pacific region hungry for trade, that has left even longtime US allies like Australia and Japan looking to China to fill the void. Beijing, which was excluded from TPP, is pushing two alternatives: The 21-member Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) and a 16-member Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which notably includes India but not the United States. Xi urged regional leaders to advance both deals at a summit in Lima, Peru, where the uncertainty unleashed on the world stage by Trump’s victory loomed large. government does not break the data out. But total US coal production has fallen to its lowest level since 1986, costing the industry thousands of jobs, as low natural gas prices and President Barack Obama’s emissions and water regulations took their toll. Met coal prices, however, reflect the coal sector’s only major sign of life this year. They have risen to above $270 a metric ton this month from lows of $70 a ton in February, driven in part by China reducing its output. Corsa and Arch are among a very small number of US met coal producers that are publicly traded, with most of the others small and privately owned. Alpha Natural Resources, which emerged from bankruptcy in July, declined to comment. “Building a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific is a strategic initiative critical for the long-term prosperity of the Asia-Pacific,” Xi said in a keynote address to business leaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group. “We should firmly pursue FTAAP,” he said. “Openness is vital Building a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific is a strategic initiative critical for the long-term prosperity of the Asia-Pacific for the prosperity of the Asia-Pacific.” In the face of Trump’s protectionist rhetoric, he vowed China “will not shut its door to the outside world, but open it even wider.” “We will fully involve ourselves in economic globalization by supporting the multi-lateral trading regime, advancing the FTAAP and working for the early conclusion of the negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership,” he said. China describes RCEP as a stepping stone toward FTAAP, a vast plan that would include all 21 APEC members and is expected to take years, if it happens at all. The meeting of APEC, which accounts for nearly 40% of the world’s population and nearly 60% of the global economy, is US President Barack Obama’s last foreign visit before handing over to Trump on January 20. Obama and Xi, the leaders of the world’s top two economies, were due to hold their last meeting later Saturday. • Infrastructure Bank Trump’s transition team is weighing an “infrastructure bank” to make investments in projects as part of an economic focus that also includes revamping taxes and regulation, a Trump adviser said this week. Democrats, including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi, have indicated they hope to work quickly with Trump on infrastructure. But whether they will succeed is far from certain, as many Republicans oppose spending bills. Ramaco, a private company, announced in September it will open two met coal mines in West Virginia and Virginia next year, thanks to $90m in private equity investments that came in as global met coal prices swung upward. •
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Page 5 and 6: Ivy: Shamim will campaign for me, i
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Page 9 and 10: World French conservatives rally vo
Page 11: Obama faces tough questions on Trum
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