The Bangladesh Today (04-02-2018)

ECONOMY & BUSINESS
SUNDAY,
Syeda Anjuman Ara Girls' School, founded by Anjuman Ara-Mujib Foundation, has been inaugurated at
Jagannath Dighi under Chauddagram upazila in Comilla. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and
Railways Minister Md Mazibul Hoque, who attended there respectively as chief guest and special guest,
inaugurated the school on Saturday afternoon. Speaking on the occasion, they expressed hopes that the
girls' school with modern education facilities will contribute to enlighten the society. International
Chamber of Commerce Bangladesh (ICCB) President Mahbubur Rahman, also chairman of the foundation
and the governing board of the school, delivered welcome speech. Founded by Anjuman Ara-Mujib
Foundation, the school will be run as a nonprofit. Comilla Deputy Commissioner Md Jahangir Alam,
Education Board Chairman Prof Md Abdus Salam, the school's governing board member Muzaffar
Hossain Paltu and Principal Meher Moqbula were also present. Later, the guests were taken around the
school premises and they talked with students.
Photo : Courtesy
German car
sales shrug off
new diesel woes
BERLIN : The number of
new car registrations in
Germany leapt in January,
industry data showed Friday,
even as a new scandal related
to diesel emissions shook the
vital sector.
Some 269,400 cars were
registered on the roads of
Europe's largest economy last
month, auto industry
federation VDA said, an
increase of 12 percent yearon-year,
reports UNB.
New registrations of
foreign-made cars grew even
faster than the overall market,
adding 19 percent to 79,900
units and now account for
nearly a third of the total.
Meanwhile, the market
share for diesel cars continued
to decline, accounting for just
33 percent of all new
registrations in January,
compared with 45 percent a
year earlier.
Dollar labours higher
on jobs report,
stocks drop
LONDON: Data showing
strong job creation and wage
gains in the United States fed
expectations of interest rate
hikes, sending the dollar and
US bond yields higher on
Friday, while stocks
slumped.
With 200,000 jobs added
to the US economy last
month, more than analysts
had forecast, expectations
are mounting that the
Federal Reserve will push
forward with more intest rate
hikes.
The Fed's concerns about
tepid inflation will likely be
salved by data showing wage
growth of 2.9 percent, the
largest 12-month increase in
more than nine years.
The greenback snapped
higher after the
announcement, as did the
yield on US government
bonds. Bloomberg reported
the rate of return on 10-year
US Treasury hit a four-year
high of 2.84 percent.
"Rising wages are a good
thing for the economy, but
what is good for the economy
isn't always good for the
stock market if it drives up
rate-hike expectations," said
Briefing.com analyst Patrick
O'Hare.
"The dollar clearly needed
support this week, and
January's impressive US jobs
data has come to the rescue,"
said research analyst
Lukman Otunuga at FXTM
online currency brokerage.
But analyst Craig Erlam
downplayed the size of the
gains by the dollar gains.
"Not an overly large move
in USD when you consider
size of beat on earnings and a
small beat on NFP. Sign of
USD unpopularity right
now?" he tweeted.
The dollar has been
struggling against its major
peers recently.
With dealers betting on
tighter monetary policy at the
European Central Bank and
preferable terms for Britain
when it leaves the European
Union, the euro and pound
have been making gains
against the dollar the past
couple of weeks.
Myanmar
to hold
rice trade
forum
YANGON : The Myanmar
Rice Federation (MRF) will
hold a multi-stake holder
forum for sustainable
development of rice industry
this month, the official
Global New Light of
Myanmar reported
Saturday.
Under the title "Rice Trade
Development Forum," the
event aims to maintain the
status of the country's rice
sector and exchange views
for the sectoral
development, reports BSS.
The forum will also host
panel discussions on
controlling the rice price,
farmers' problems, gaining
appropriate profits for rice
millers, rice merchants and
exporters and providing
assistance to small and
medium enterprises.
Official figures show the
country earned about 700
million U.S. dollars from 2.6
million tons of rice exports
which is a major agricultural
product as of Jan. 19 in the
current 2017-18 fiscal year.
During the period, the
country's agriculture
products export hit 2.4
billion U.S. dollars,
accounting for 25 percent of
the total exports
Challenging with erratic
weather, capacity and
technical know-how to yield
value-added products and
dependence on foreign
market demand, Myanmar
is making efforts to promote
agricultural production,
while addressing the issue of
high transportation cost.
THE
BANGLADESHTODAY
10
FEBRUARY 4, 2018
Sonali Bank to be
ideal one in couple
of years: Muhith
DHAKA : Finance Minister
Abul Maal Abdul Muhith
yesterday expressed his firm
optimism that Sonali Bank
Limited, country's largest
state owned commercial
bank, would establish itself as
an ideal bank within a couple
of years.
"I've earlier said that we'll
turn Sonali Bank into an ideal
bank. It's unlikely by 2019.
But it's my firm belief that in
a couple of years, it should be
again back to such position
(ideal bank) to render one of
the greatest services to the
government and also one of
the greatest services to the
banking sector," he said.
The minister was
addressing the Annual
Meeting-2018 of the Sonali
Bank Limited held at the
auditorium of Institution of
Diploma Engineers,
Bangladesh (IDEB) in the
city's Karail area.
State Minister for Finance
and Planning MA Mannan,
Bangladesh Bank Governor
Fazle Kabir, Bank and
Financial Institutions
Division Secretary Yunusur
Rahman spoke on the
occasion, presided over by
Sonali Bank Ltd Chairman
Md Ashraful Moqbul.
Sonali Bank CEO and
Managing Director Md.
Obayed Ullah Al Masud gave
the address of welcome.
Expressing again his
dissatisfaction over the
weaknesses of the banking
sector, Muhith said: "I'm not
at all happy about it and I
often admit that the banking
sector has weaknesses,"
But, if the banking sector of
1972-1976 and 1981 is
compared with the present
context, he, however, said the
banking sector is now going
through a 'golden era.'
Echoing with the other
speakers, the finance
minister said the Sonali Bnak
has rebound in 2017 while
the year 2018 would be a year
of moving forward for the
country's largest nationalized
commercial bank.
Referring to the demand of
the Sonali Bank chairman of
realizing service charges for
the Taka 94,000 crore L/C
that it opened against the
Rooppur Nuclear Power
Plant Project alongside
necessary steps to address its
capital deficit, Muhith said
the government would
consider these demands with
utmost importance and
sympathy.
Underscoring the need for
properly following the Know
Your Customer (KYC)
formula, the minister also
suggested the bank high ups
to properly examine and
asses a loan project proposal
before giving approval.
Mentioning that some 181
branches of Sonali Bank are
still incurring losses out of its
overall 1211 branches across
the country, Muhith said this
number is a bit high and
suggested the bank
authorities to change their
locations so that those
branches could cover their
areas properly.
Bangladesh Bank Governor
Fazle Kabir suggested for
undertaking a time-bound
action plan to gradually
making those branches
profitable which are
incurring losses over the
years.
He also suggested the Bank
for providing loans without
any fear following rules and
proper assessment,
strengthening the loan
realization measures before
filing cases against the
defaulters, creating
entrepreneurs through
providing start-up capitals,
creating compliance culture
and ensuring the practice of
proper risk management.
Highlighting the successes
of the macro economy and
the banking sector over the
last nine years, Banking
Division Secretary Yunusur
Rahman said the size of GDP
rose by 181 percent to Taka
20, 00,000 lakh crore in 2017
which is only Taka 7, 00,000
lakh crore in 2008, the
number of bank accounts
rose by 118 percent to 8.17
crore in 2017 which was only
3.76 crore in 2008.
He also informed that the
number of loan recipients
increased by 218 percent to
2.74 crore in 2017 which was
86 lakh in 2008.
Walton showcasing more than 700
models of appliances at DITF
Industrial solutions are newly added to the product lines
The country's electronics
giant Walton is showcasing
and selling out more than
700 models of various sorts
of products, including
electronics, electrical, home
and kitchen appliances,
mobile phones, laptops,
computer accessories and
industrial solutions, at the
ongoing month-long "Dhaka
International Trade Fair
(DITF)- 2018," begin at Shere-Bangla
Nagar in the capital
on January 1 of this year, says
a press release.
Targeting the visiting
representatives of the
electronics and electrical
products manufacturing
industries at the DITF-18,
Walton this year has brought
various sorts of industrial
solutions like plastic mould,
die, LGP, LDP, nut, bolts,
screws, plastic and chemical
components, electric
components, mechanical
components, hot melt
adhesive etc. These products
are the basic raw materials of
various sorts of electronics
and electrical appliances.
Walton is now
manufacturing these
products at its own factory to
meet the requirement of
basic raw materials for its
produced fridges, televisions,
air conditioners and other
sorts of appliances and thus
they are going to export
industrial solutions after
meeting their internal
demands.
Md Humayun Kabir,
executive director (PR &
Media) of Walton Group, said,
they are displaying highest
amount of consumer based
electronics and electrical
appliances so that the buyers
can buy their all desired
products from one place.
He noted that this year
Walton planned to highlight
the 'Made in Bangladesh'
labeled world-class
appliances to the fair visitors
and buyers.
This year they are
displaying and selling out
LGP, LDP, master batch,
aluminum foil tape, various
sorts of plastic and still
components as fresh
products in this year's DITF,
he added.
Centering the beginning of
DITF and New Year, Walton
has brought a good number
of new models of appliances,
including IoT based smart
fridges and air conditioners,
ionizer technology's air
conditioners that will flow
fresh air in the room, seventh
generation 15.6-inch display's
laptop that is powered by
core-i 5 processors.
Along with the existing
products, the local brand is
also displaying some
upcoming models of its
various products, including
the country's first-ever
Walton made 32-inch big
screen multi-touch Compo-
TV and few models of its LED
and Smart televisions.
Shah Shahid Chowdhury,
convener of Walton Pavilion
at DITF-18, said, they are
displaying more than 700
models of appliances in
accordance with the
demands, tastes and
purchasing power capacity of
the local buyers.
In this year's DITF-18,
Walton set up a three-storey
premier pavilion (Number-
23) with unique design.
Md. Shafiqul Alam, incharge
of Walton Pavilion,
said, they are displaying
various models of fridges, air
conditioners, televisions,
electrical appliances, and
other sorts of home and
kitchen appliances at the
ground floor of the pavilion.
Among these products, there
are 21 models of freezer, 31
models of non-frost
refrigerator and 86 models of
frost refrigerator, 103 models
of LED television, 2 models of
Ultra-HD television, 23
models of air conditioner, 24
models of rice cooker, 5
models of kitchen cookware,
13 models of iron, 6 models of
IPS, 10 models of auto
voltage stabilizer, 6 models of
fan and LED bulb, few
models of oven, induction
cooker, hair dryer, air cooler,
washing machine,
rechargeable and portable
lamp, juicer, multi-cooker,
toaster, gas stove and water
dispenser. In addition, there
are also single model of
weight machine, electric
oven, pressure cooker,
vegetable (Salad) maker, food
processor, cloth dryer,
sandwich maker, mop set,
room heater, stand mixer and
beaters, air fryers etc.
Anand Shetty, managing director of Novo Nordisk Bangladesh, and Simeen Hossain, managing
director of Eskayef Pharmaceutical Ltd, signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organizations.
Photo : Courtesy
Outgoing Fed chief Yellen says
no Wall Street 'bubble'
WASHINGTON : Outgoing Federal
Reserve chief Janet Yellen said Friday
she did not believe the major gains on
Wall Street in recent months
qualified as a "bubble," but
nevertheless warned investors to
remain cautious, reports BSS.
Yellen, who leaves her post on
Saturday and will be replaced on
Monday by Jerome Powell, made the
comments in an interview with PBS
television before the Dow closed
down more than 650 points, its
biggest drop since June 2016.
"I don't want to label what we're
seeing as a bubble, but I would say
that assets valuations generally are
elevated," Yellen said, advising
investors to "be careful to diversify in
their investments."
The US stock market has gained
more than 30 percent since President
Donald Trump took office a year ago,
but on Friday, fears about rising
interest rates following better-thanexpected
January jobs data led to the
major dip on Wall Street.
When asked about the state of the
US economy, Yellen said that "things
are looking really strong," and
highlighted the job market, "with
wages beginning to rise at a slightly
faster pace."
The US economy added 200,000
jobs in January, with unemployment
holding at
4.1 percent-its lowest level in
more than 17 years.
When asked about Trump's
decision not to renew her for a second
four-year term at the Federal
Reserve, the 71-year-old Yellen
admitted she was "disappointed."
"I would have liked to serve an
additional term and I did make that
clear," she said, in her first comments
on the matter.
Named in 2014 by Trump's
predecessor Barack Obama to lead
the Fed, Yellen was the first woman to
head the US central bank. Powell, a
Republican former investment
banker, will be one of the rare noneconomists
to fill the role.
Nazmul Hassan MP, President, Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI) visits 2
day DIU Pharma Career Expo 2018 began yesterday at Daffodil International University. Dr. Md.
Sabur Khan, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Professor Dr. Yousuf Mahabubul Islam, Vice Chancellor
of Daffodil International University are also seen in the picture.
Photo : Courtesy