Business Supplement Issue-16

DT
VOL1, ISSUE 16 | Sunday, June 4, 2017
Business Tribune
Throwing good money
after bad
Investors turn cautious amid
6 budget announcement
7
It’s all about the
experimentation machine

2
Sunday, June 4, 2017
DT
Special
SoB Recapitalisation
Throwing good money after bad
• Asif Showkat Kallol and
Shariful Islam
RECAPITALISATION FUND FOR STATE-OWNED BANKS
The practice of recapitalisation
continues to meet the capital
shortage of state-owned banks
(SoBs), but no significant steps are
in sight to stop the ‘bad move’.
Though the government is trying
to ease the SoBs’ fund crunch
with the help of tax payer money,
the default loan situation of the
banks still remains a far cry.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith
on Thursday has proposed to allocate
Tk2,000 crore for recapitalisation
during the Fiscal Year 2017-18.
Recapitalisation is a type of corporate
reorganisation involving
substantial change to a company’s
capital structure, motivated by a
number of reasons. Usually the
large part of equity is replaced with
debt or vice versa.
But in Bangladesh, recapitalisation
fund is being termed a ‘black
hole’ in the financial sector after
the largest loan scams at the two
SoBs – Sonali Bank and BASIC Bank.
The financial conditions of the
two deteriorated due to massive
loan anomalies and malpractices.
The government has been providing
liberal support for the state
banks as recapitalisation fund so
they can meet the capital shortage
created by loan defaults. It has
been said the recapitalisation funds
could only improve the banks’ balance
sheet.
The government injected a total
of Tk11,705 crore as recapitalisation
fund into the SoBs from FY2009-10
to 2015-16.
Among the receiving banks,
Sonali Bank got the highest amount
of Tk2,794.8 crore followed by BA-
SIC Bank Tk2,390 crore.
While the other fund-receiving
banks, Agrani Bank received
Tk1,081 crore, Janata Bank Tk814
crore, Rupali Bank Tk272.5 crore,
Bangladesh Krishi Bank Tk789.7
crore and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan
Bank Tk318 crore.
In the outgoing Fiscal Year 2016-
17, the government also disbursed
Tk2,000 crore for state-owned
banks, with BASIC Bank getting
Tk1,000 crore from the allocation
in the revised budget.
Probashi Kallyan Bank will get
Tk250 crore while Bangladesh
House Building Finance Corporation
will be given Tk200 crore.
The Finance Ministry will provide
Tk184.65 crore to the IFIC as
the private commercial bank earlier
decided to increase paid-up capital
through issuance of rights share
after considering bonus shares for
stock dividend
In the upcoming fiscal year,
1,000
FY10
1,050
FY11
Tk2,000 crore has once again been
set aside for the state banks’ recapitalisation.
Though the government recapitalisation
from the citizen’s tax
money to the SoBs, the default
loan situation of the banks is not
improved.
The Non-Performing Loans
(NPLs) soared to 82% of total bad
loans in the banking sector till
March 2017 while the SoBs alone
have 84% of them, according to the
latest Bangladesh Bank data.
The central bank data also
shows that the default loans
reached Tk35,715 crore in the six
state banks while Tk29,920 crore is
classified as bad loans.
As the growing non-performing
loans in the state-owned banks
are increasing, the government has
failed to realise the money, rather it
is interested in recapitalisation from
public exchequer in every budget.
It has been alleged that the ongoing
mechanism is mainly helping
some vested quarters, mainly the
ruling party’s blessed businesspeople,
take loans from banks without
proper mortgages and documents.
Even the loanees do not pay
monthly instalments.
“The wilful defaulters and plunderers
feel encouraged as more
and more public money is injected
into troubled banks without holding
anyone accountable,” Director
341
FY12
420
FY13
General of Bangladesh Institute of
Bank Management (BIBM) Dr Toufic
Ahmad Choudhury told the Dhaka
Tribune.
He said the government provides
recapitalisation for financially
weak banks instead of taking exemplary
legal action against those
making the banks vulnerable.
“Good governance will not be
fully established in banking unless
people like the former chairman
of BASIC Bank, Sheikh Abdul Hye
Bacchu, are punished for their corruption.”
The quality of good governance
in the banking sector also comes
into a question again after the government’s
latest move to change to
the Bank Company Act.
The government has approved
amendments to three provisions of
the Bank Company Act including
increasing the tenure of board of
directors of a private bank from six
years to nine years.
The change to a third provision
states that up to four members of a
family may be appointed as board
of directors for a bank while the
law currently permits only two
members from one family.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue,
an independent think tank in the
country, stated that, “The most
recent amendment is regressive in
nature since it will be taking a step
back from the previous changes
4,477
FY14
2,617
FY15
1,800
FY16
made to the act.”
“This law means that family
ownership will have a greater control
on the banks with the possibility
of erosion of corporate governance.”
As the good governance in the
banking sector is decreasing and
the number of default loans is on
the rise, economists and experts
strongly criticised the government’s
repeated draining of public
money on the SoBs in the name of
recapitalisation.
AB Mirza Azizul Islam, a former
adviser to the caretaker government,
told the Dhaka Tribune,
“The government could recapitalise
the SoBs in the short term, but the
banks had to be financially solvent
as they have not to take money from
the government, rather they would
pay their profit to the government.”
“In this regard, increased loan
recovery capacity and end to political
influence on loan disbursement
are needed to make the banks commercially
viable and stable.”
BB Governor Fazle Kabir, however,
said the government is trying
to improve asset quality of the
state banks to reduce their dependency
on public fund.
“We are trying to improve their
asset quality. No further recapitalisation
will be needed then,” Fazle
Kabir said at a post-budget press
conference at Osmani Auditorium
in the capital Friday.
Amount in Tk, crore
* Proposed
2,000
FY17
2,000
FY18*
Source: MoF, CPD
He said sometimes the SoBs
need recapitalisation as they do
many important works for the government,
including financing priority
projects, making payment of
all types of government wages, social
security-related payments and
receiving utility payments without
any commission.
Reforms: Time has gone
It has been a much-talked-about
demand of the stakeholders of the
banking sector to reform financial
sector to bring accuracy, accountability
and good governance, but the
time is flying by while no reforms
have been made over the years.
Experts said since the election
is nearing, the government will not
be able to meet the stakeholders’
demand like establishing an Independent
Financial Sector Reform
Commission (IFSRC) for the banking
sector.
“There is very little scope to
reform the banking sector as big
businesses are involved in anomalies.
One has to understand political
economy in this regard,” said
Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished
fellow of CPD.
Meanwhile on February 6, Finance
Minister AMA Muhith declared
formation of a Bank Commission
during the tenure of
current government to monitor the
banking sector. •

Interview
3
Sunday, June 4, 2017
DT
'Culture of impunity must end'
The willful defaulters and plunderers feel encouraged as more and more public money is injected
into troubled banks without holding anyone accountable, Director General of Bangladesh Institute
of Bank Management Dr Toufic Ahmad Choudhury tells Dhaka Tribune’s Asif Showkat Kallol
in an exclusive interview
Good governance will not be fully
established in banking unless people
like the former chairman of BA-
SIC Bank Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu
are punished for their corruption.
The government provides recapitalisation
to financially weak
banks instead of taking exemplary
legal action against those who
make the banks vulnerable, he
says.
Recapitalisation of state owned
banks should be done by the government
because those banks
are owned by the government.
We have learned that in the next
budget, Tk2000 cr has been set
aside for the recapitalisation of
state-owned banks.
The culture of impunity must
end in the banking sector if good
governance is to be enforced.
Are you sure the government can
get back the central bank’s stolen
money?
Bangladesh Bank should have disclosed
matters of the stolen foreign
exchange reserve after recovery of
the stolen money. Foreign hackers
have taken opportunities as we
have disclosed the matter to the
media. Now Philippine authorities
say Bangladesh Bank itself is responsible
for that incident.
Filipino casinos now say it is
not possible to return that money,
though one Filipino minister said,
a new law will be enacted to get the
money back.
Since both Bangladesh and Philippine
are members of Egmont
group, now this is the responsibility
of Philippine to return the stolen
money, as the provisions of the
group held the country responsible
where the money is laundered.
The Federal Bank of India recovered
$112 million stolen money
from its reserves and then disclosed
the matter to the media. The
stolen funds from BB will return in
time but it may take time.
How can we ensure good
governance in the banking sector?
Bangladesh Bank has deployed observers
in 27 out of the 54 banks.
That means half of the banks are
now problem banks. There is no
effective internal control within
most of the banks. The central bank
cannot set up vigilance teams in all
9,500 commercial bank branches.
The reason why the banking
sector is in a bad shape is because
of a lack of good governance. Many
Dr Toufic Ahmad Choudhury
Good governance will not be fully established in banking unless
people like the former chairman of BASIC Bank Sheikh Abdul Hye
Bacchu are punished for their corruption
say banking sector’s main problem
is Non Performing Loans or default
loans but the real issue is good governance.
We have to know the structure
of banking sector governance. External
governance is maintained by
the central bank but internal governance
will be maintained by the
banks themselves through their effective
internal control.
If a bank does not maintain internal
governance, the central bank
can do nothing with outside monitoring.
The central bank cannot improve
the banking system without
successful internal governance in
the banks.
Without improvement of good
governance, the banking culture
will never make any progress. Big
loan scams like Hallmark and Bismilllah
happened due to lack of internal
control.
Is latest amendment of Bank
Company Act good for banking
sector?
Ignoring the deplorable
governance situation, the cabinet
gave its consent to the amendment
of bank company act allowing the
appointment of four directors from
a family instead of two for private
banks.
Four directors will create more
problems of governance and the
situation is likely to deteriorate
than improve.
We will be very happy if the government
can increase the number
of independent directors and put
Rajib Dhar
emphasis on transparency in their
selection.
Main owners of the bank are depositors
and in percentage terms
they own 95% of a bank. Board directors
contribute only about 5% to
the bank.
The government has not taken
any decision to protect the interests
of the depositors. This decision
favours the 5% contributors.
Now the government is moving to
make directors’ positions permanent,
which will not bring anything
good for the banking sector. It is
not the right decision for the sector
and the government should think
about the matter.
More surprisingly, government
is planning to impose excise duty,
on the depositors’ money, in addition
to source tax on interest income,
and high maintenance fee
of PCBs. Already the depositors
return is negative, because prevailing
interest rate on deposit is lower
than inflation rate. In such a situation,
imposing excise duty on deposit
is absolutely unacceptable. •

4
Sunday, June 4, 2017
DT
Week in Review
Muhith: Excise on bank savings will stay
Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said
that he will not withdraw the added
excise duty on bank account transactions
above Tk1 lakh because people
who have such amount in the bank are
affluent.
Muhith proposed Tk800 excise
duty on bank account debits and
credits between Tk1 lakh and Tk10 lakh
in the budget for fiscal year 2017-18
on Thursday. The duty increases after
Tk10 lakh.
“Those who put Tk1 lakh in bank,
they are rich people in the context
of our country. They can afford this
additional burden, there will be no
problem,” said Muhith.
The finance minister was addressing
a post-budget briefing at Osmani
Auditorium in the capital on June 2.
Muhith said imposition of excise
duty limit has been increased from
Tk20,000 to Tk1,00000. Earlier,
account holders had to pay Tk150 for a
transaction of Tk20,000. •
Dhaka Tribune
Gold import policy
by this year
“The government will prepare a
policy for importing gold which will
help this sector flourish and create
an overseas market for exports.”
Finance Minister AMA Muhith
made the remark as part of his
budget statement for the FY18.
“Gold has always been a traditional
business in Bangladesh. But since there
is no hard and fast rule for the import
of gold, the sector has not been able
to flourish in a befitting manner,” said
the finance minister. In his statement,
he mentioned various proposals by
the bodies associated with the sector
to formulate a realistic guideline to
facilitate importing gold. •
Green RMG
manufacturers
to enjoy 1%
corporate tax cut
Green RMG factory owners are going
to enjoy 1% cut in corporate tax
from the next fiscal year 2017-18.
For the next fiscal year, the
government has proposed to
reduce the corporate tax to 15%
from 20% for the apparel sector. It
also proposed 14% corporate tax for
green RMG factories.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith
made the proposal while presenting
the budget for FY2017-18 in the
parliament on June 1.
Muhith said: “In order to keep
the earth habitable for our next
generation, we need to ensure both
sustainable development and the
conservation of our environment.”
“We plan to integrate the environmental
issues in our tax policy. In
line with that, I propose to reduce
the tax rate of RMG companies to
14% – if their factories are internationally
recognised with green building
certification,” the minister said.
He added: “Withholding tax rate
on ready-made garments export is
currently 0.70%, and companies
are enjoying reduced corporate tax
rate of 20%. I propose to reduce
the corporate tax rate to 15% for
this sector.” •
International air ticket
prices to soar as double
excise duty proposed
International airline ticket prices are
set to go up as Finance Minister AMA
Muhith proposed that the excise duty
on tickets to countries outside Saarc
be doubled.
“I am proposing to revise the existing
excise duty on air tickets, except
for domestic flights and those travelling
to Saarc member countries,” said
Muhith while unveiling the proposed
national budget for the fiscal year
2017-18 at Jatiya Sangsad on June 1.
According to the proposal, excise
Prices of essentials invariably increase during Ramadan
Even with strict guidelines from both
city corporations, the prices of essential
goods have gone up exponentially
in the month of Ramadan with some
places charging double the regular
price of cooking oil.
Having visited some kitchen markets
on June 2 including Dhaka North City
Corporation (DNCC) Kitchen Market,
Karwan Bazar and New Market, the
Dhaka Tribune has found the prices of
eggplants, cucumber, green chilli, lentils,
garlic, onions, gram flour, sugar, puffed
rice and cooking oil had risen by 10% to
100% in just one week of Ramadan.
“While the prices of some goods
have been the same, the prices of
certain goods have gone up beyond
comprehension. The government
should really monitor the activities of
kitchen market traders to make sure
duty on air tickets to Asian countries
outside of Saarc would rise
to Tk2,000 instead of the existing
Tk1,000.
In addition, the excise duty on
airline tickets for travel to Europe,
USA and other countries of the world
would be Tk3,000 as opposed to the
current Tk1,500.
In order to avoid any inconvenience
for travellers, the excise duty
would be collected at the time of
purchasing air tickets. •
they are not increasing the prices to
make a profit during Ramadan,” said
Mushfiqa Aktar, a regular shopper at
Gulshan DNCC market.
Consumers are frustrated that
Govt to borrow Tk30,150cr
from savings certificates in
next fiscal year
The government will take loans of
Tk30,150 crore from savings certificates
in the next fiscal year, though there will
be a heavy burden of interest payments.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith made
the statement in his speech on the
budget at Jatiya Sangsad on June 1.
In the speech, he said: “The budget
deficit in the next fiscal year will be
Tk1,12,275 crore, which is 5% of our
GDP. While the deficit will increase
slightly compared to the previous year
due to increased allocations for development
activities and in the social
they have to pay arbitrarily hiked
prices during Ramadan. Md Shohel Mia
expressed similar sentiments: “I bought
eggplants for Tk30, sugar for Tk60 and
garlic for Tk220 per kg at Karwan Bazar
Dhaka Tribune
security sector, it is unlikely to have
any negative macroeconomic impact
due to robust GDP growth.”
Muhith added that Tk51,924 crore
(46% of the budget deficit) would be
financed from external sources while
Tk60,352 crore (54% of the deficit)
would be sourced domestically.
Of the domestic sources, Tk28,203
crore (48% of the deficit) is expected
to come from the banking system and
Tk32,149 crore (52% of the deficit) from
savings certificates and other non-banking
sources, said the finance minister. •
just last week. They are now charging
Tk70 just for eggplants!”
Traders argue that the price hike
is because of a shortage in supply. “It
is due to the shortage in supply but
let’s face it, prices always go up during
Ramadan,” said commodities trader
Sobhan Talukdar from Karwan Bazar.
On May 23, DNCC Mayor Annisul
Huq said all kitchen markets under
his jurisdiction will be monitored and
handed out a price list for the traders
to maintain.
The Dhaka South City Corporation
(DSCC) Mayor Mohammad Sayeed
Khokon had also set a price list for beef
at Tk475 and mutton at Tk725.
Both the city corporations said they
would take legal actions against any
trader found intentionally increasing the
prices and also for food adulteration. •

Corporate News
5
Sunday, June 4, 2017
DT
BRAC Bank Limited has recently awarded top scorers at its banking foundation course, said a press
release. The bank’s managing director, Selim RF Hussain was present on the occasion
A referendum was recently held in three factories (Adnan PSF Industries, Fujian Export Industry and
Gold Shine Industries) of Ishwardi EPZ in order to form Workers Welfare Association (WWA), said a press
release. Workers voted against formation of WWA in all three factories
Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel has recently organised an Iftar and dinner party for children at its grand
ballroom, said a press release. Minister at Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, Rashed Khan Menon
was present at the event as chief guest
Bangladesh National Cadet Corps (BNCC) female platoon was recently inaugurated at Milestone College,
said a press release. Regiment commander of BNCC at Ramna Regiment Dhaka, Lt Col SM Salahuddin
was present on the occasion as chief guest
Bangladesh National Cadet Corps (BNCC) female platoon was recently inaugurated at Milestone College,
said a press release. Regiment commander of BNCC at Ramna Regiment Dhaka, Lt Col SM Salahuddin
was present on the occasion as chief guest
NCC Bank Limited has recently launched TransFast payment services through all branches of
Karmasangsthan Bank, said a press release. Chairperson of Karmasangsthan Bank, Parikshit Datta
Choudhury, DMD of NCC Bank, AZM Saleh and country director of TransFast Remittance LLC, Mohammad
Khairuzzaman was present on the occasion
UGC and University of Wollongong in Australia have recently signed an agreement on collaborating
research, innovation and training, said a press release. UGC secretary, Dr Md Khaled and Professor Alex
Frino, deputy vice-chancellor (global strategy) at University of Wollongong have signed the agreement
Walton has recently opened its exclusive distributor showroom named Imran Electronics at Nazira Bazar
in Bangshal, said a press release. The company’s brand ambassador, film actor Ilias Kanchan inaugurated
the showroom

6
Sunday, June 4, 2017
DT
Stocks
W E E K L Y M a r k e t O v e r v i e w
SUMMARY Points Change (%) Turnover (BDTmn) Volume (mn) Advanced issues Declined issues Unchanged Issues
DSEX
5438.71 DSEX 5,438.7 0.46% 20,556 632 128 173 31
(+) 0.46%
CSE ASI 16,838.1 0.49% 3,104 59 104 148 25
Investors turn cautious amid budget
announcement
• Tribune Business Desk
Stocks advanced marginally last
week as investors turn cautious
amid national budget announcement
held on Thursday evening.
Dhaka Stock Exchange witnessed
a sharp decline in its turnover
over the week with daily average
turnover falling by 23.9% to
Tk411cr.
Several traders suggested that
the investor participation has declined
because many investors
took a wait-and-see approach before
the budget announcement.
The benchmark index, DSEX
closed at 5,438.7 points on last
Thursday after gaining 0.46%
over the week while CSE ASI
Most Traded
IFAD Autos 135.6 1.95%
Equities advance despite weak US jobs report
• AFP, New York
Price Weekly change
UPGD 182.8 2.87%
LankaBangla 51.6 8.63%
BRAC Bank 79.2 5.32%
ETL 22.5 0.90%
BSC 58.2 -4.45%
PTL 31.9 -8.33%
MJLBD 120.7 1.17%
Doreen Power 144.0 4.27%
Agni Systems 27.9 0.36%
Dhaka Tribune has accumulated the stock market related data primarily from Dhaka Stock Exchange website. The basis of information collected was primarily from daily stock quotations and audited/unaudited
reports of publicly listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and
data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to news@dhakatribune.com.
Global stocks rallied Friday, with
US and German markets hitting
records after a lackluster US jobs
report raised expectations the
Federal Reserve could take a more
gradual approach to increasing
interest rates.
The Nikkei in Japan also
surged, ending at a 22-month
high, while Britain’s FTSE finished
near flat as election uncertainty
continued to weigh on sentiment.
The US jobs report showed unemployment
in May fell to 4.3%, a
16-year low. But the economy added
just 138,000 jobs last month,
far below expectations, while
wage growth remained anemic,
advanced by 0.49% to end at
16,838.1 points.
Textile equities contributed
18.2% of the week’s total turnover,
said the weekly market report
of UCB Capital Management Ltd.
5,460
5,440
5,420
5,400
5,380
5,360
5,340
5,320
5,300
rising just 0.2% for the month.
The Fed still is expected to hike
interest rates later this month,
but analysts said the employment
report weakened the chances the
central bank will accelerate tightening
efforts later this year.
“The market is beginning to rethink
the Fed’s course and whether
there will still be two interest
rate increases by the end of the
year, plus a reduction of the balance
sheet,” said Gregori Volokhine,
president of Meeschaert Capital
Markets.
“The report was not bad, but
was also not too good,” he added.
All three US indices notched
records for the second day in a
row, with the Nasdaq leading the
way with a 0.9% gain.
Dhaka Tribune
MOVEMENT OF DSEX INDEX LAST WEEK
‘Irrational exuberance’?
Some market watchers have begun
to express discomfort at the
latest stock surge. Continued worries
about politics and terrorism
raise the question of whether the
records are justified by economic
fundamentals or are another case
of “irrational exuberance,” said
Howard Silverblatt, senior index
analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
“The bottom line still appears
to be slightly unrealistic expectations
instead of irrational,” he
said, while noting that more investors
are on guard for signs of
market skittishness.
The worries include unknowns
over investigations into President
Donald Trump over connections
to Russia, and the effect of the
Debut of a new scrip, Nurani
Dyeing and Sweater Limited on
Thursday has helped textile sector
to be the most traded sector
last week.
Standard Insurance Ltd secured
the highest weekly gain of
17.5% while the worst loser, Mutual
Trust Bank share price declined
by 13.4%.
IFAD Autos held its leadership
position on the top turnover table
for a consecutive third week
with a turnover of Tk75cr over the
week with its share price appreciating
by 1.95% during the week.
DS30, the blue-chip index advanced
by 11.4 points or 0.57% to
end at 2,022.7 points, while DSE
Shariah based index declined
by 1.6 points or 0.13% to close at
1,258.9 points.
Among the traded issues 128
gained, 173 declined and 31 remained
unchanged during the
week. •
DAY 0 DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5
probes on the broader Washington
agenda. Elsewhere, Frankfurt’s
DAX 30 jumped 1.3% to a
record close at 12,822.94 points.
London’s FTSE 100 hit another
intraday record, before trimming
gains ahead of next week’s British
election. It closed 0.1% higher.
The Nikkei gained 1.6% to finish
at 20,177.28, the first time it
has crossed 20,000 since December
2015 and the highest since August
that year.
Oil prices tumbled on concerns
of a ramp-up in fossil-fuel production
following Trump’s controversial
decision to withdraw the United
States from the Paris climate agreement.
The dollar retreated against
the euro and other major currencies
after the US jobs report. •
DSE NEWS
REGENTTEX: EPS was Tk. 0.30 for January-March,
2017 as against Tk. 0.27 for
January-March, 2016; EPS was Tk. 0.83
for July, 2016-March, 2017 as against Tk.
0.68 for July, 2015-March, 2016. NOCFPS
was Tk. 0.04 for July, 2016-March, 2017
as against Tk. (0.08) for July, 2015-March,
2016. NAV per share was Tk. 29.86 as on
March 31, 2017 and Tk. 31.37 as on June
30, 2016.
PTL: The Company has informed that the
Board of Directors has decided to form
a Consortium whose name would be
Paramount-Aggretech Energy Consortium
with 1) Paramount Spinning Limited,
2) Paramount Holdings Limited & 3)
Aggretech AG, Germany for establishing
a 100 MW HFO Fired Engine Based
Power Plant on Build, Own and Operate
(BOO) Basis upon getting permission
from the concern authority at Baghabari,
Shirajgonj, Bangladesh under Bangladesh
Power Development Board (BPDB). The
Board of Directors has also decided to act
as the Lead Member and contribute 55%
Share Capital of the total share capital of
the Consortium amongst the members of
the consortium.
ISLAMIBANK: Excel Dyeing & Printing
Limited, one of the Corporate Directors of
the Company, has expressed its intention
to buy 32,038,814 shares of the Company
at prevailing market price (In the Public/
Block Market) through Stock Exchange
within next 30 working days.
NURANI: The Company has reported
its profit after tax of Tk. 16.13 million and
basic EPS of Tk. 0.40 for the 3 (three)
months period ended on 31 March 2017
(January- March, 2017) as against profit
after tax of Tk. 11.91 million and basic
EPS of Tk. 0.30 for the same period of
the previous year. It is to be noted that
basic EPS has been calculated based on
weighted average Pre-IPO paid-up number
of shares 40,000,000 in both the
periods. However, considering Post-IPO
83,000,000 number of shares the Company’s
basic EPS for the 3 (three) months
period ended on 31 March, 2017 would
be Tk. 0.19. For the period of 9 (nine)
months (July, 2016- March, 2017) ended
on 31 March, 2017 profit after tax was Tk.
47.63 million and basic EPS was Tk. 1.19
as against profit after tax of Tk. 42.24
million and basic EPS of Tk. 1.06 for the
same period of the previous year. It is to
be noted that the said EPS has been calculated
based on weighted average Pre-IPO
paid-up number of shares 40,000,000
in both the periods. However, considering
Post-IPO 83,000,000 number of shares,
Company’s basic EPS would be Tk. 0.57
for 9 (nine) months period ended on 31
March, 2017 (July, 2016- March, 2017) and
NAV per share would be Tk. 12.68 as on 31
March, 2017. •

THE lAST
WORD
• Tim Worstall
Good grief, is Bangladesh really as
bad as this? How does anyone get
anything done, how is it possible
to have an economy at all? That’s
the only rational reaction to
one part of FM Muhith’s budget
speech, where he outlines plans to
improve the ranking of the country
in the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing
Business” rankings. Bangladesh
currently ranks 176th and the aim
is to get it up to 100th over the
years.
That is, the ambition is to get
from ever so slightly better than
DR Congo, a place which doesn’t
really have a formal economy at
all, or Equitorial Guinea, a strict
dictatorship floating on a sea of
oil, Yemen, suffering a full own
shooting war, all the way up to
the position of say Lesotho or the
efficient places like Zambia. This is
a notably modest ambition -- note
that there are only 190 countries
ranked (Somalia is at the bottom,
not really even a country at present)
and a higher number is worse.
I think we can and probably
should be able to demand a rather
better performance than this. And
that takes us into a particularly
thorny economic point.
It is actually necessary for us to
have a government. Anarchism, the
Ayn Rand style Objectivist fantasies
are exactly that, fantasies. Someone,
somewhere, needs to secure
the country, organise those things
which only the imposition of state
power can organise, along with that
monopoly upon legal violence and
so on. That means a government
and taxation to fund it.
The thorny part of the point
being that all too many think that
the necessity of having some
government means that all things
must be governed, that being a
large error.
To take one little example,
there is now talk about legalising
gold imports, this talk being part
of the same budget speech. The
concern being that there is no policy
laid out and thus Bangladesh is
missing out on an opportunity.
It seems likely that there is an
opportunity being missed. There’s
very definitely a market for hand
made jewellery out there across
the globe. Bangladesh is not short
of craftsmen, the Bengali history
of fine arts and crafts is renowned.
The conversion of gold ingot
into fine pieces by the application
of that skilled labour and historical,
cultural background, yes, why
Distance to frontler score
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Starting a Business
Dealing with Construction Permits
OPINION 7
Vast numbers, nearly all in fact, of these experiments fail. Four out
of five new businesses cease to exist within five years. For reasons
like: The originators of the scheme were simply deluded all the way
through to other people just doing it better, perhaps with side routes
through the technology just don’t work for anyone wanting the
finished production
not? But to think that there must
be a policy about this is to be in
error.
What we need instead is a
policy which does not forbid nor
interfere with it. All that needs to
be done is to amend the import
regulations so that gold is a legal
import. Then we’re done.
We also don’t need to try to
distinguish between imports for
domestic consumption and for
re-manufacturing for export. We
just need to let the market, the
participants in it, make their own
decisions.
That is just an example but
it is the exemplar for the entire
economy.
Sure, there are things that
government and governance must
do. A decent bankruptcy law is
vital for any functioning economy.
We need to know who owns what
-- not so that we can keep an eye
upon it but so that transfer is possible
-- we know the seller owns
2013
Getting Electricity
Registering Property
2014
what they’re selling. Thus, land
registry is a vital task.
Laws stating that employers
may not poison or otherwise kill
off their workers seem like a pretty
good idea, even Adam Smith
insisted that government financing
of at least basic education was a
good idea.
There are these many things
which government can and should
do to create the structure within
which an economy can flourish.
But going beyond that to try to
insist that government should
be planning what economy will
then flourish is where the mistake
comes in. Because the truth about
the economy in detail is that we
just don’t know.
Technology is an ever moving
feast, what is possible for us to do
changes over time. The tastes of
the people change too. Thus, we
have an ever expanding universe
of combinations of resources and
technologies to match up with that
Getting Credit
Protecting Minority Investors
2015 2016
Paying Taxes
Trading across Borders
Enforcing Contracts
Resolving Insolvency
DT
Sunday, June 4, 2017
It’s all about the experimentation machine
PROGRESS OF BANGLADESH IN THE AREAS MEASURED BY DOING BUSINESS
ever changing consumer taste. As
Friedrich Hayek got the Nobel prize
for pointing out (and it was the basis
of his Nobel lecture) there is just
no manner in which the centre, the
government, can gain access to the
information needed to plan this.
Even Kantorovich, the only Soviet
economics Nobel winner agreed
with this point.
We really just don’t know. Thus,
we’ve got to leave it up to the
fertile imaginations of the people
to work through the possibilities.
And that’s really what the free
market is, the experimentation
machine.
Vast numbers, nearly all in fact,
of these experiments fail. Four out
of five new businesses cease to
exist within five years. For reasons
like: The originators of the scheme
were simply deluded all the way
through to other people just doing
it better, perhaps with side routes
through the technology just don’t
work for anyone wanting the finished
production.
The task of government in
economic management is thus to
create that structure within which
economic activity can occur. The
rule of law, a bit of education, providing
public goods, and so on.
But then to stop and just leave
the room for that economic activity
to happen within. Or, as Adam
Smith again put it, little else is
requisite to carry a state to the
highest degree of opulence from
the lowest barbarism -- but peace,
easy taxes, and a tolerable administration
of justice; all the rest being
brought about by the natural course
of things.
We might expand the list of
things which government can
usefully do a little these days. But
the basic concept still holds. Those
things which must be done and
which can only be done by the
government are the things which
the government must do. But once
they are done, government needs
to get out of our way as we make
headway to build that opulence.
So why shouldn’t Bangladesh
be at the top of the ease of doing
business list alongside New Zealand
-- that being the one single
thing which would propel it to
being as rich as New Zealand?
Why is the ambition limited as
to desire to be only in top 100 on
the list? •
Tim Worstall is a Senior Fellow at the
Adam Smith Institute in London.