14-10-2018

ECONOMY & BUSINESS
BANGLADESHTODAY 10
THE
SUnDAy, OCTOBER 14, 2018
China's foreign trade maintains steady growth
in first 9 months: Economic Watch
Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
Sarah Resort, operated by Fortis Group. All Standard Chartered Bank credit and debit cardholders will
now enjoy up to 25% discount on published room rates at the resort. Mahiul Islam, Head Retail Products
& Segments, Standard Chartered Bank, Razimul Haque Razim, Director Rewards & Alliances, Standard
Chartered Bank, Emdadul Haque, General Manager, Sarah Resort along with other senior officials from
both organizations were present at the signing ceremony held at Standard Chartered Bank head office
recently.
Photo: Courtesy
Samsung Galaxy A7 in the
country: Pre-order starts
Samsung Mobile Bangladesh
announced the pre-order of its latest
device Galaxy A7 exclusively
through Pickaboo.com, a press
release said
Galaxy A7 is continuation of the
premium build quality of Galaxy A
series, which is synonymous with
sleek design, superior camera and
high performance. The phone has
triple rear camera capable of
shooting ultra-wide-angle photos
with live focus, scene optimizer, and
pro lighting options. The 24
megapixels camera has 1.7 aperture
with pixel merging sensor which can
detect varying lights and takes
stunning shots in any lighting
condition.
Galaxy A7 squeezes a 6.0-inch
FHD+ and Super AMOLED display
into a sleek body made of metal
frame with glass back. It is powered
by an Octa-core processor coupled
with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB
internal storage which is expandable
up to 512 GB through a microSD
card.
Customers can pre-order the
device
from
China's foreign trade remained stable
in the first nine months with improved
trade structure, customs data showed
on Friday, reports BSS.
Foreign trade rose 9.9 percent year on
year to 22.28 trillion yuan (about 3.23
trillion U.S. dollars) during January-
September, according to the General
Administration of Customs (GAC).
Exports increased 6.5 percent in the
period to 11.86 trillion yuan while
imports grew 14.1 percent to 10.42
trillion yuan, resulting in a trade surplus
of 1.44 trillion yuan, which narrowed by
28.3 percent.
By and large, China's foreign trade
growth in 2018 remained steady with
progress witnessed, and the country has
been advancing the high-quality
Belarus receives
200m USD loan
from EFSD
Belarus received 200 million U.S. dollars
as the sixth tranche of the loan from the
Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and
Development (EFSD), Belarusian Foreign
Ministry said on Friday, reports BSS.
The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB)
that manages the funds of the EFSD
transferred the 200 million dollars loan to
Belarus, the ministry said.
Taking into account the previous
tranches, Belarus received 1.8 billion out of
the 2 billion dollars loan to support
domestic reforms.
Belarus signed an agreement for 2 billion
dollars loan from the EFSD in March 2016.
The loan must be granted in seven tranches
during the 2016-2018 period.
The EFSD, instituted by the governments
of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan and Russia, is tasked with
providing assistance for the member states
in overcoming consequences of the global
financial crisis, ensuring their economic and
financial stability, and supporting the
integration process in the region.
The EDB is an international financial
institution established in 2006. It now has
six member states, including Russia,
Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan
and Tajikistan.
development of its foreign trade, Li
Kuiwen, spokesperson for the GAC,told
a press conference.
In the first nine months, exports and
imports of products under the general
trade category, which are differentiated
from processing trade, gained 13.5
percent from a year ago to 13.02 trillion
yuan, accounting for 58.4 percent of the
total foreign trade, 1.9 percentage
points higher than the same period in
2017.
The country's trade with major
trading partners saw an increase during
the January-September period. Trade
with the European Union, its largest
trading partner, climbed 7.3 percent,
and trade volume with the U.S. and
ASEAN countries increased by 6.5
percent and 12.6 percent, respectively.
Export of electric-mechanical
products increased by 7.8 percent to
6.91 trillion yuan, taking up 58.3
percent of China's total export value.
China has taken measures to readjust
its export structure, with exports of
automobiles and machine tools
expanding 16.3 percent and 18.7
percent, respectively.
In the January-September period,
China imported 336 million tonnes of
crude oil, 64.78 million tonnes of
natural gas and 24.59 million tonnes of
refined oil. Imports of iron ore and
soybean dropped by 1.6 percent and 2
percent to 803 million tonnes and 70.01
million tonnes, respectively, during the
same period.
Despite in downward trend, Italy's
shadow economy still 12.4 pct of
GDP: ISTAT
Underground economic activities in Italy were worth some 210 billion
euros (242.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, the National Institute of Statistics
(ISTAT) reported on Friday, reports BSS.
The figure marked a limited increase in terms of absolute numbers,
compared to 207.3 billion euros estimated in 2015.
Yet, it showed a decrease in terms of incidence of underground economy
on the country's gross domestic product (GDP), which was estimated at 12.4
percent in 2016 against 12.6 percent in the previous year.
According to the agency, the main reason was that "non-observed
economy grew at a slower pace (1.2 percent) than the productive system as a
whole (2.3 percent)."
"The estimates for 2016 confirm a downward trend in the incidence of
non-observed component of the economy on GDP, after the 2014 peak,"
ISTAT highlighted in its report.
In fact, the drop of 0.2 percentage point (in incidence on GDP) in 2016
followed a decrease of 0.5 points recorded in 2015.
The country started benefitting from such positive, although moderate,
trend after three years of steady growth of underground activities registered
from 2012 to 2014. In 2014, the estimated incidence of such activities on
GDP was 13.4 percent.
Overall, the shadow economy is considered as the sum of unreported
income, off-the-books employment, and other business activities (for
example, undeclared rents), plus illegal activities such as drug trafficking,
prostitution, and tobacco smuggling, ISTAT explained.
The first three kind of underground activities generated a value added
worth some 192 billion euros in 2016, while illegal activities produced almost
18 billion euros.
Undeclared income made up 45.5 percent of the whole (some 95.3 billion
on total 210 billion), according to ISTAT.
Chinese investors laud Bangladesh's
stable environment
They want to invest more in Bangladesh in coming years
Quarterly Business Conference of Dhaka & Rajshahi Zone of First Security Islami Bank Limited held on
October recently at Amari Dhaka Hotel. The Conference was presided over by Syed Waseque Md. Ali,
Managing Director, First Security Islami Bank Limited. Among others, Mr. Abdul Aziz, Additional
Managing Director, Md. Mustafa Khair, Deputy Managing Director, Divisional Heads, Branch Managers of
Dhaka & Rajshahi Zones attended the Conference. The conference reviewed the operational performance
of individual branches for the period of July-September 2018 and set various targets for next periods of the
year 2018.
Photo: Courtesy
Russian PM backs switching to national currencies
in settlements between SCO countries
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry
Medvedev has spoken in favor of
switching to national currencies in
settlements between the countries of
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO), reports BSS.
"In particular you mentioned the
need to switch to mutual settlements in
national currencies. We support this
idea," he said at a meeting of the
Council of Heads of Government of the
SCO countries. But he noted that "it is
necessary to act carefully," by reducing
external markets.
"The external conditions we are
working are still difficult and can hardly
be called comfortable. The system of
strategic stability faces serious
challenges. To maintain their dominant
positions, some states use unfair
competition, introducing protectionist
measures, illegal unilateral sanctions,"
the Russian Prime Minister said.
Medvedev also noted that such
attacks are mainly directed against
Russia, China as key members of the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as
well as Iran, which is a partner of the
SCO.
The Declaration on the Establishment
of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization was inked in China's
Shanghai in June 2001 by six founding
states - Russia, China, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
On June 9, 2017 India and Pakistan
became full-fledged members of the
SCO. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and
Mongolia currently enjoy observer
status while Sri Lanka, Turkey,
Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia and
Nepal are dialogue partners.
GE pushes back Q3
earnings release to
October 30
General Electric, the once-mighty conglomerate which weeks ago announced a
new chief executive in a move meant to stem a two-year decline, has said it will
move the date of its third-quarter earnings release to October 30, reports BSS.
The company postponed the release by a week "to allow GE Chairman and CEO
Larry Culp to complete initial business reviews and site visits following his
appointment on October 1," it said in a statement.
"The company will discuss the results for the third quarter ending September
30, 2018. Culp will share his initial observations, with more detail expected in
early 2019." H. Lawrence "Larry" Culp, 55, is GE's third CEO in 14 months
following the ouster of John Flannery.
In announcing Culp's rise, the company, which was bumped from the
prestigious Dow Jones Industrial Average in June, cited his history as chief
executive of the industrial and healthcare conglomerate Danaher, where GE said
he presided over a quintupling of market capitalization.
Culp was named to the GE board earlier this year.
GE's other bombshell was that it planned to write down effectively up to $23
billion in value from its troubled power business, the prime catalyst of its nosedive
in stock market valuation.
Chinese investors at a seminar in
Beijing greatly acclaimed the stable
environment of Bangladesh which,
they said, has made the country a very
attractive destination for investment,
reports UNB.
While speaking high of the
supportive measures of the
government of Bangladesh, the
Chinese businessmen assured of
increased investment in Bangladesh in
the coming years.
The Chinese entrepreneurs made the
comments at a seminar arranged by the
Embassy of Bangladesh in Beijing
recently in celebration of the 4th
Development Fair 2018, said the
Embassy on Saturday.
Representing the country's
indomitable progress and resolute
spirit of its people, the event started
with a 'development rally.'
Embassy officials along with
expatiate Bangladeshis, students, local
Chinese, local media and press
personnel whole-heartedly joined the
rally in the morning.
Paying rich tribute to the Father of
the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman and the freedom
fighters, Bangladesh Ambassador to
China M Fazlul Karim projected the
remarkable journey of Bangladesh.
He explained how from a warravaged
devastated country,
Bangladesh emerged as a global role
model of development.
The Ambassador mentioned that this
was only possible because of the
practical, effective and timely initiatives
taken by the government.
He presented an elaborate account of
the ground-breaking achievements of
Bangladesh in different socio-economic
sectors from women empowerment,
female education, healthcare to infrastructure
development in the past few
years.
He thanked the Chinese government
for partnering with Bangladesh in its
development endeavours.
The envoy also highlighted the
positive investment environment
prevailing in Bangladesh and
encouraged Chinese investors to invest
more in the country.
A good number of Chinese business
leaders and entrepreneurs participated
at the fair and some of them spoke at
the seminar describing their experience
in Bangladesh.
The Chinese entrepreneurs highly
lauded Bangladesh's recent
achievements and said they witnessed
Bangladesh's progress with
admiration.
Some investors, who have already
made their marks in Bangladesh,
enthusiastically shared their
experiences with the audience.
The seminar was followed by a
culinary event, Pitha and Mishtanno
Utshob, which was another point of
attraction of the fair.
It was an effort to showcase
Bangladeshi culture and food which is
gradually gaining popularity in China.
An important feature of the fair was a
display corner of Bangladesh's
exportables, like jute bag, handicrafts,
ceramics, brass products, Sharis etc.
A two-day international education fair titled 'Premier Bank International Education Expo - 2018' begins
on Saturday at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, organized by Association of Foreign Admission and Career
Development Consultants (FACD-CAB). Md. Tazul Islam (M.P), Chairman, Parliamentary Standing
Committee of Power Energy & Mineral Resources Ministry graced the occasion as the Chief Guest.
Managing Director & CEO of the Premier Bank Limited M. Reazul Karim, (FCMA) was present at the
inaugural ceremony as special guest along with the presence of Mohammad Shamim Murshed, Head of
Retail Banking, the Premier Bank Limited; Md. Tareq Uddin, Head of Brand Marketing & PR, the
Premier Bank Limited; Md. Mustafizur Rahman, President, (FACD-CAB); Monirul Haque, Member
Secretary, (FACD-CAB).
Photo: Courtesy