08-03-2019

ECONOMY & BUSINESS 10
FRIDAy, MARCH 8, 2019
Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) Major General
Mohd Habibur Rahman Khan, BSP, ndc, psc promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General yesterday.
Chief of Army Staff General Aziz Ahmed, BGBM, PBGM, BGBMS, psc, G and Quarter Master General
Lieutenant General Md. Shamsul Haque, psc adorned Major General Habib with the Lieutenant
General rank badges at the Army headquarters.Before joining BEPZA, Lt. General Habib was
Commandant, MIST and then Engineer in Chief of Bangladesh Army at Army Headquarters. He was
commissioned in the Corps of Engineers in Bangladesh Army in 1981.
Photo: Courtesy
Asian markets mostly
higher as Shanghai
extends rally
A Shanghai rally led gains
across most Asian markets
Wednesday as Chinese
investors grow increasingly
optimistic over trade talks
with the US.
With expectations that
Washington and Beijing will
eventually strike a tariffs deal
already baked into equity
prices, analysts say officials
will need to provide some
clarity on progress to give
markets another step up.
There are also warnings that
with optimism so high, there
could be a lot of
disappointment if the final
deal does not live up to the
hype, or the two sides fail to
even reach an agreement.
The talk is that high-level
negotiations are ongoing in
order to pave the way for a
signing ceremony between
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping
later this month.
"A mid-March meeting …
remains the expected next
step, but if trade
representatives are unable to
agree on the final terms of
implementation and
enforcement measures, we
could see the trade truce rally
fade," said OANDA senior
market analyst Edward Moya.
Still, after a slow start
Shanghai closed 1.6 percent
higher to build on Tuesday's
rally that came on the back of
China's decision to slash taxes
and ramp up spending, as
leaders look to pep up the
stuttering economy.
Mainland Chinese markets
are up more than 20 percent
this year thanks to trade
hopes and following a series of
monetary easing measures to
kickstart economic growth,
which hit its slowest pace in
three decades in 2018.
Slow growth hits Aussie -
Hong Kong rose 0.3
percent, while Sydney
finished 0.8 percent higher
after data showed Australia's
economy virtually ground to a
halt in October-December
owing to tepid household
spending and a weakening
housing market.
The news has fuelled
speculation the central bank
will have to cut already
record-low borrowing costs,
cheering equity markets but
sending the Australian dollar
tumbling about 0.6 percent
against the greenback.
Elsewhere, Manila jumped
1.4 percent, Mumbai added
0.4 percent and Taipei gained
0.5 percent, while Wellington
edged up 0.2 percent.
However, Tokyo ended
down 0.6 percent, Singapore
was off 0.1 percent and Seoul
fell 0.2 percent.
On currency markets the
pound struggled to recover
from losses against the
greenback after talks between
British and EU negotiators
failed to hammer out a revised
Brexit deal that Prime
Minister Theresa May can
pass through parliament.
US private hiring
beats expectations
in February: ADP
Hiring by private US
companies again beat
expectations in February,
pointing to continued robust
health of the labor market,
according to a survey
released Wednesday.
Private companies hired
183,000 new workers in
February, far stronger than
the 175,000 economists
were expecting, the survey
showed, according to payroll
services firm ADP.
The report is scrutinized
for hints of the direction of
the crucial government jobs
report due out Friday, and
despite frequent deviations,
the data seem to confirm a
solid but slowing job market.
Firms that produce goods
added 44,000 while the
dominant services sector
hired 139,000, both sharply
lower than the prior month.
Hiring in January was
revised up to 300,000, the
highest since February
2006, according to ADP,
which originally reported a
213,000 gain.
"Job gains are still strong,
but they have likely seen
their high watermark for this
expansion," said Mark
Zandi, chief economist of
Moody's Analytics.
Chinese shares
enjoy further
gains
Shanghai stocks staged
another rally Wednesday,
extending its latest winning
run to a fourth day, following
China's tax cut pledge and on
hopes for the China-US trade
talks.
The benchmark Shanghai
Composite Index climbed 1.57
percent, or 47.85 points, to
3,102.10 and the Shenzhen
Composite Index, which
tracks stocks on China's
second exchange, was up 1.49
percent, or 24.43 points, at
1,660.41. The Hang Seng
Index in Hong Kong added
0.26 percent, or 76.00 points,
to 29,037.60.
Rupee slips 11 paise
to 70.60 vs USD in
opening trade
The rupee depreciated 11
paise to 70.60 against the US
dollar in opening trade
Wednesday on increased
demand for the greenback
from importers and banks.
Forex dealers said,
strengthening of the
American currency in the
overseas market weighed on
the domestic currency.
However, fresh foreign fund
inflows, easing crude prices
and positive opening in
domestic equities supported
the rupee and restricted the
fall. The rupee opened weak at
70.60 at the interbank forex
market down 11 paise over its
last close. The local currency
however pared the initial loss
and was trading ar 70.55.
The rupee Tuesday had
strengthened by 43 paise to
close at 70.49 against the US
dollar.
Foreign investors put in Rs
751.92 crore on a net basis in
capital markets Tuesday,
provisional exchange data
showed.
Origin and species:
fighting illegal
logging with science
A timeworn laboratory in Britain's Royal
Botanic Gardens may not seem like the obvious
epicentre of efforts to halt international illegal
logging, reports BSS.
Beakers bubble away on a hotplate, while
suspect guitars that have been sent by customs
officials for testing sit on top of shelves lined
with tattered old journals and reference books
in a multitude of languages.
But scientists at the Wood Anatomy
Laboratory, part of the research centre at the
gardens in Kew, southwest London, are
working on a new global project to help
precisely identify the origin and species of
timber.
Illegal logging is estimated to account for 15
to 30 percent of all timber traded worldwide,
according to Interpol, with an estimated
annual value of $51 billion to $152 billion (45
billion to 134 billion euros) in 2017.
Much of the import and export business
relies on paper trails for verification.
However experts hope that their new project
can, in future, provide enforcement agencies
with some hard science that can quickly
identify through checks whether a wood
species is as claimed, and exactly where it was
grown.
"I'm hoping it will really help to reduce illegal
logging," said Peter Gasson, the Kew
institution's research leader in wood and
timber.
Chunks of wood from Laos are stacked in a
pile, alongside other slices of timber with
yellow sticky notes identifying them.
The laboratory's samples originate from far
and wide and some date back well over a
century.
Lying around besides the Leica and Nikon
microscopes is a piece of African blackwood
collected during British explorer David
Livingstone's Zambezi expedition, dated 1860.
There is method however in the apparent
miscellany at one of the world's largest wood
sample collections.
Six chests of drawers hold 100,000
microscope slides of fragments, sorted in Latin
by family, genus and then species.
Each specimen contains three different slices
through the wood:
transverse, tangential and radial.
"We're trying to build up and future-proof
the reference collection of wood samples of all
the commercial timbers used in the world,"
said Gasson.
"We want a big, comprehensive library - and
that's going to take a long time," added the
expert, who started his life's work in the Kew
lab as a student in 1977.
While the Kew experts have the know-how to
identify the species, they need help pinpointing
where the tree originates, an expertise being
provided by a separate partner team in
northern England.
By combining the wood analysis at Kew with
isotope testing of different timbers in
Yorkshire, the project should provide law
enforcement agencies with a key tool to help
rapidly establish whether the timber has come
from legal sources.
Kew will be able to determine the species of
wood and the so-called stable isotope testing -
looking at the chemical composition within the
wood and patterns reflecting local rainfall and
prevailing winds - can identify where the tree
was grown.
The project is also in partnership with the
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a not-forprofit
body certifying sustainably-managed
forests around the world which account for
about 10 percent of the planet's productive
forests.
The 200 million hectares of FSC-certified
forests hold around 2,000 species and the
Germany-based organisation will be collecting
geo-referenced samples to start amassing the
database for use in fighting illegal logging.
Michael Marus, FSC chief information officer
and information technology director, said:
"The science is there; what is needed is
reference samples from forests which contain
location data.
Walton Digital Campaign
Season 4 gears up sales
The ongoing nationwide
Walton Digital Campaign
Season-4 has geared up the
Sales of the local brand's
electronics, electrical and
home appliances across the
country, says a press release.
The campaign turned the
entire country into a festive
mood following massive
branding and rally with
band-parties.
Buyers were thronging the
local brand's outlets to pick
up various sorts of appliances
and then getting various
worth's of cash vouchers or
free products after registering
their purchased items.
With the aim of preparing a
customer database to provide
online based swift and best
post sales services, Walton
has been conducting digital
campaign across the country
since last year.
On January 9 of this year,
Walton started the
campaign's season 4 all over
the country.
Under the season 4,
customers of Walton brand
fridges, televisions, air
conditioners, laptops,
computers, washing
machines, generators and
microwave ovens are offered
cash vouchers up to Tk 1 lakh
or different sorts of free
products like motorcycles,
laptops, fridges, televisions,
home and electrical
appliances.
Uday Hakim, executive
director of Creative and
Publication Department of
Walton Group, said, two sorts
of initiatives had been taken
to ensure the customers'
participation into the
campaign.
Firstly, they greatly focused
on conducting huge branding
of the campaign, mentioning
it he said, thus they decorated
all plazas and distributor
outlets with colourful banner
and festoons.
They also erected arcades
at the important points of
every district and upazila, he
said adding: they arranged
rally and road show with
well-decorated carriages.
Secondly, they offered sure
cash vouchers up or free
products to the customers on
the registration of the
purchased items, he noted.
Under the offer, a large
number of people has been
already received Tk 1 lakh
worth of cash vouchers in
different regions of the
country, he said adding:
besides, thousands of
customers have been
received different sorts of free
appliances through
registering products.
Amdadul Haque Sarker,
executive director of Sales
Department of Walton
Group, said, the campaign
has been received a sound
response from the customers
across the country. The
customers
were
spontaneously registering
their appliances purchased
from Walton Plazas or
distributor outlets, saying it
he added, thus the process of
preparing customer database
has been accelerated.
Area managers of different
zones of Walton informed
that total of 12 customers
received Tk 1 lakh worth of
cash vouchers till March 4,
2019, by which each of them
later purchased various sorts
of electronics, electricals,
home and kitchen
appliances. Of them,
someone gifted different
sorts of appliances purchased
by the cash vouchers to their
dear and near ones.
Chattagram region of Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd organized a Prize Distribution Program among
the winners of month long iBanking Campaign at Islami Bank Training & Research Academy at
Agrabad recently. Mohammed Monirul Moula, Additional Managing Director of the Bank distributed
the prizes as chief guest. Presided over by Md. Amirul Islam, Senior Executive Vice President of
the bank, Md. Mahboob Alam, Executive Vice President and Head of Agent Banking Division, Md.
Nayer Azam, Head of Chattagram North Zone, G.M. Mohd. Gias Uddin Quader, Head of Chattagram
South Zone, Mohammed Shabbir, Head of Khatunganj Corporate Branch and Meah Md. Barkat
Ullah, Head of Agrabad Corporate Branch addressed the program as special guests. Islami Bank conducted
the campaign from 25 September 2018 to 25 December 2018. Highest i-recharge, fund transfer,
iPaySafe users and utility bill payers have been awarded under the campaign. Photo: Courtesy
France unveils new tax for
global internet giants
France on Wednesday introduced a
bill to tax internet and technology
giants such as Google and Facebook
on their digital sales, putting it
among a vanguard of countries
seeking to force the companies to pay
more in the markets where they
operate.
The French bill was discussed at
cabinet level and will be submitted to
parliament in early April.
Speaking to reporters, Economy
Minister Bruno Le Maire described
the levy as "a first step" in setting up
"a 21st century taxation system".
"It's a question of justice for our
fellow citizens" and for "our
businesses", he said, adding "no one
can accept that big digital firms pay
14 percent less tax than our small and
medium firms".
"If we want to be able to continue to
finance our public services, our day
nurseries, our hospitals, our schools,
we must tax value where it is
created," he added.
The tax, to be applied retroactively
from January 1, sets a three percent
levy on digital advertising, websites
and the resale of private data by
internet giants.
It should bring in 400 million
euros ($452 million) to the public
purse this year, and 650 million by
2022, according to Le Maire - an
amount the Le Monde newspaper
called "a small sum" but "highly
symbolic." Left-wing politicians
denounced the measure as too feeble.
"Bruno Le Maire is taking on these
giants with a water pistol," Ian
Brossat, a leader of the Communist
party, told Liberation newspaper.
And Manon Aubry, a leader of the
France Unbowed party, told France
Inter radio it was like "putting a
plaster on a wooden leg".
The government hopes the move
will catch on abroad despite an
earlier failure to reach consensus at
the European Union level.
Britain, Spain, and Austria have
said they too intend to unilaterally
tax the giants, while Japan,
Singapore and India are also working
on such schemes.
Paris says it is now seeking
"common ground" on the issue with
fellow members of the Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) in order to
reach a worldwide accord.
Talks are ongoing among 127
countries at the OECD in a bid to
reach "a consensus-based, long-term
solution in 2020," the international
organisation said in a statement in
January.
An interim report should "be
presented to the G20 during 2019," it
added, speaking of the group of
industrialised and emerging nations.
President Emmanuel Macron
came to power in 2017 promising to
increase levies on global tech and
internet groups, seeing their often
minimal tax rates as part of a
backlash in France and Europe
against globalisation.
Having failed to persuade his
European partners to introduce an
EU-wide tax - because of objections
from low-tax jurisdictions such as
Ireland and fears of provoking US
President Donald Trump - France
will now go it alone with its own new
mechanism.