17-10-2021

SuNDAY, OCTOBeR 17, 2021
8
Managing Director of Karmasangsthan Bank, Md. Abdul Mannan and executives of the Bank paid a rich
tribute to the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman by placing wreaths at his grave
at Tungipara in Gopalganj. They offered prayer for the departed soul of Bangabandhu and other martyred
members of his family who were killed on 15 August 1975.
Photo: Courtesy
Bitcoin tops $60,000 on
US fund approval hopes
NEW YORK: Bitcoin breached the $60,000
mark for the first time since April on growing
optimism that American regulators will
greenlight the first US futures exchange-traded
fund for the cryptocurrency, reports BSS.
The digital currency was up more than 40
percent from a month ago, reaching $62,253 at
2050 GMT, according to Bloomberg News
data, which reported that the US Securities and
Exchange Commission could allow the ETF to
trade next week.
The SEC has rejected attempts to create a
Bitcoin ETF since 2013.
"An SEC Bitcoin ETF approval is a watershed
moment for the crypto industry as this could be
the key driver for getting the next wave of
crypto investors," said Edward Moya, senior
market analyst at OANDA.
An ETF is a financial instrument that can
include different assets and be traded on an
exchange like other securities. A futures ETF
means the product will be bought or sold at set
price at a later date.
The SEC fuelled speculation of the imminent
approval after writing the following advice on
one of its accounts on Twitter: "Before
investing in a fund that holds Bitcoin futures
contracts, make sure you carefully weigh the
potential risks and benefits."
The ETF would add to an eventful year for
the world's leading cryptocurrency, which hit a
record high at $64,870 in April and became a
legal tender in El Salvador, the first country to
adopt it officially.
China, meanwhile, has cracked down on
trading and mining cryptocurrencies, which
are created through solving complex
World Sight Day celebrated
with various activities
October 14th, 2021 marks
the World Sight Day, which
is an annual day of
awareness celebrated on
second Thursday of October
each year to focus awareness
on blindness and vision
impairment. Like all other
parts of the world, the Day is
also being observed in
Bangladesh with necessary
arrangements and activities.
Marking the celebration of
the Day, National Eye Care
of the Directorate General of
Health Services, Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare
and International Nongovernment
Organisations
(INGOs) Forum for Eye
Health have jointly
undertaken different
initiatives to raise awareness
on blindness and vision
impairment across the
country, a press release said.
The theme of this year's
World Sight Day is 'love your
eyes'.
According to the World
Health Organisation more
than 2.2. billion people, a
quarter of the world's
population, have a visual
impairment, with four times
as many people affected in
low- and middle-income
countries. Nearly everyone
on the planet will experience
an eye health issue in their
lifetime and more than a
billion people worldwide do
not have access to eye care
services.
Over half of this vision loss
is preventable or treatable,
but a lack of quality eye care
services means that many
people don't get the care
they need. And countries are
losing out as a result, as it is
estimated that the
productivity loss of visual
impairment and blindness is
$410.7 billion globally each
year.
On the 23rd of July 2021,
the United Nations General
Assembly adopted the
'Vision for Everyone;
accelerating action to
achieve the Sustainable
Development Goals'
resolution committing the
international community to
eye health for the 1.1 billion
people living with
preventable sight loss by
2030. The resolution was
unanimously adopted by all
193 countries of the United
equations-an endeavour that consumes
enormous amounts of energy.
Bloomberg, which cited unidentified people
familiar with the matter, reported that unlike
past Bitcoin ETF applications that the SEC
rejected before, the proposals made by
financial firms ProShares and Invesco are
based on futures contracts.
The proposals were filed under mutual fund
rules that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has said
provide "significant investor protections", the
news agency reported.
"This is a key development for the crypto
space as it would allow many investors who
were on the fence to enter the market in more
traditional ways," said Walid Koudmani,
analyst at XTB online trading.
An ETF would reassure investors "about
previously associated risks such as lack of
regulations and the possibility of having their
wallet hacked", Koudmani said.
There are ETFs that include Bitcoin in other
countries but getting one in the United States
would take the cryptocurrency to another level.
"In America's case, it's the largest, most
important market. To date, they (traditional
investors) haven't had a simple vehicle in which
to invest in Bitcoin," Charlie Erith, CEO of
ByteTree Asset Management, which specialise
in cryptocurrencies, told AFP
Erith cautioned that "the impact on the
market might be overblown. You might see a
short selloff but it won't be meaningful".
But, he added, "long term, it's an important
development. It signals that authorities are
getting more comfortable with people owning
cryptoassets".
Nations. The adoption of
this resolution, and the
committee through which it
was adopted, makes it clear
that eye health is a priority
development and human
rights issue in the present
world.
National Eye Care is
arranging rally, discussion
meeting, advocacy &
awareness programs
thorough electronic, print &
social media. 130
Community Vision Centres
at upazila health complexes,
64 district hospitals & base
Hospitals (Medical College
Hospital) are also
celebrating this day with
different activity under the
guidance of National Eye
Care. National &
International NGO's
US stocks rise
again, finish
with weekly
gains
NEW YORK : Wall Street
stocks scored another
winning session Friday
following good economic data
and earnings, concluding a
positive week on a strong
note, reports BSS.
US retail sales posted a
surprise 0.7 percent increase
in September, according to
government data, pushed by
broad gains that extended
beyond gasoline and autos.
The better-than-expected
report, coupled with strong
earnings from Goldman
Sachs, lifted stocks further
after major indices surged
more than 1.5 percent on
Thursday.
"The US economy has lost
some luster, but demand
appears resilient in the face of
lingering supply-chain
disruptions," said Greg Daco
of Oxford Economics.
"With the health situation
having
improved
considerably over the past few
weeks, consumer spending is
firming and high-frequency
data points to an acceleration
in employment growth."
The broad-based S&P 500
finished at 4,471.37, up 0.8
percent for the day and about
1.8 percent for the week.
working in eye care sector of
Bangladesh are also
organizing different
programs themselves & also
through their partner
hospitals in co-ordination
with National Eye Care to
mark this day.
Emphasizing the
significance of the Day,
Health Minister Zahid
Maleque MP says: "World
Sight Day is an important
day for Bangladesh as this
day reminds us of the
importance of sight and eye
health. The Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare
has adopted various
initiatives including raising
awareness about receiving
eye heath care treatments
from the eye health facilities,
said the health minister.
Biden signs
debt increase
bill into law
WASHINGTON: US President
Joe Biden signed into law
Thursday a bill to lift the
nation's borrowing authority,
averting the threat of a firstever
debt default-but only for a
few weeks, reports BSS.
On Tuesday the Democraticcontrolled
House of
Representatives voted along
party lines to pass the stop-gap
$480 billion hike, which
advanced from the Senate last
Thursday after weeks of heated
debate.
Without this increase in the
debt limit, the Treasury warned
that the federal government
would be incapable of securing
and servicing loans after
October 18. This would have
reverberated around the world
as an economic catastrophe.
This increase in the debt
ceiling "is expected to be
sufficient to allow the Federal
Government to continue to
meet its full commitments
through early December," the
White House said in a one
sentence statement
announcing Biden signed the
bill.
The new arrangement
merely kicks the can down the
road, possibly to complicate
another major funding
deadline-a shutdown that
would begin from December 3
when the government's coffers
theoretically run out.
On the occasion of the
centenary of the birth of
Father of the Nation
Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman, a tree
distribution program was
organized by the
LankaBangla Foundation at
the head office of Dhaka
North City Corporation
(DNCC) near Gulshan. With
the theme "Let's plant trees
to build Bangabandhu's
dream country", Khwaja
Shahriar, Managing
Director and CEO of Lanka
Bangla Finance Limited
inaugurated the program by
handing over saplings to
Dhaka North City
Corporation's Md. Selim
Reza, Chief Executive
Officer and Brigadier
General Md. Zobaidur
Rahman, Chief Health
Officer, a press release said.
Through this program,
various types of tree saplings
will be provided as gifts to
children under the age of
two who are born and living
in the area under Dhaka
North City Corporation. The
Lanka Bangla Foundation
will work with Dhaka North
BEIJING: China's economic growth is
expected to have slowed further in the
third quarter, according to an AFP poll of
analysts, with a mounting energy crisis
and property market tremors casting a
pall as the country's post-Covid recovery
lost steam, reports BSS.
While the world's number-two
economy bounced back quickly from the
coronavirus outbreak last year, with
gross domestic product growth
returning to pre-pandemic levels,
economists say further slowdown is
"inevitable".
Growth is forecast to come in at 5.0
percent on-year for July-September by
the 12 analysts polled by AFP,
representing a sharp slowdown from the
7.9 percent clocked in the previous three
months.
They also downgraded their full-year
growth expectations to 8.1 percent, from
the 8.5 percent predicted in a July poll.
Official figures will be released on
Monday.
Analysts said China's growth
slowdown mainly stems from policy
tightening this year in key areas
including the property sector and a drive
to cut emissions.
Residential real estate activity has
slowed with tightened regulations and
credit policies for developers, along with
guidance to banks to slow mortgage
lending, according to Oxford Economics.
The travails of property giant
Evergrande-which is struggling under a
US jobless claims dip below
key pandemic threshold
WASHINGTON: New
applications for US
unemployment benefits
dipped below 300,000 for
the first time since the
pandemic began, a milestone
in the labor market's recovery
from the devastation wrought
by the virus last year, reports
BSS.
President Joe Biden
heralded the data as a victory
for his policies.
The tally of weekly
applications for jobless aid
became one of the most
visible signs of economic
ravages of Covid-19, as the
total surged into the millions
in March 2020.
Claims have declined
steadily this year as vaccines
allowed employers to rebuild
their staff, and the total
dropped to 293,000 in the
week ended October 9, the
lowest level since the crisis
started, the Labor
Department reported
Thursday.
"With both Covid-19 cases
and unemployment claims
declining, it is clearer than
ever that America is in the
midst of an historic economic
recovery-one that continues
to lead the world," Biden said
about the data.
Since taking office in
City Corporation (DNCC) to
distribute saplings for the
next 5 years.
The main objective of this
tree distribution program of
the LankaBangla
Foundation is to encourage
all to plant trees on their
own initiative to make the
golden jubilee of
independence and the birth
centenary of the Father of
the Nation special
meaningful with the aim of
greening Dhaka city,
increasing the forest
resources of the country and
January, Biden has staked his
presidency on both fighting
off Covid-19 and revitalizing
the economy through
massive spending bills, one of
which he succeeded in
passing, though two others
aimed at infrastructure and
social programs remain
mired in Congress.
Even as claims inch closer
to 256,000, the level on
March 14, 2020, the last week
of normalcy before the
pandemic shutdowns began,
American workers face
headwinds.
These include supply
chains snarls that have
pushed prices up, as well as
the Delta variant of the virus,
which has fueled a spike in
cases in recent weeks though
that now appears to be
ebbing.
Nonetheless, Ian
Shepherdson of Pantheon
Macroeconomics said the
labor data predict that better
days are ahead.
"Claims won't keep falling
at the pace seen over the past
couple weeks, but the trend
clearly is downwards and as
the economy re-emerges
from the Delta wave, layoffs
will decline further," he wrote
in an analysis.
Applications from workers
maintaining environmental
balance etc. Moreover,
LankaBangla Foundation
has been organizing tree
distribution programs in the
country every year as part of
its Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR)
activities to prevent land
degradation, fruit
production, long term
environment and
biodiversity conservation.
Along with other senior
officials of both the
organizations there also
present on the occasion
mountain of debt worth more than $300
billion-is dragging down sentiment
among prospective buyers, it added.
Christina Zhu, of Moody's Analytics,
said a slowdown in property investment
and house prices could hit growth as real
estate investment accounts for a large
share of fixed asset investment, which
she said accounts for more than 40
percent of total GDP.
"The two major risks for the remainder
of the year are the property market debt
problem and power shortages," Zhu
added.
Power rationing in recent weeks, along
with surging raw material costs and the
government's climate push, have led to
reduced mining activities and
manufacturing production.
Such disruptions "will not only put
pressure on (the) domestic labour
market and consumption, but also have
ripple effects on global trade and prices",
Zhu warned.
But UBS economists believe Beijing
will further fine-tune policies to avoid a
sharp power crunch, having already
introduced guidelines to raise coal
production and imports.
The actual hit to GDP will depend on
how this is managed, they added.
Meanwhile, the government is trying
to recalibrate the economy to one driven
by consumers and away from
investment and exports.
But officials presently have to walk a
fine line between supporting growth and
seeking jobless benefits
remained elevated for much
of 2020 before vaccines
brought a decisive decline
this year, though the fastspreading
Delta variant's
wave of infections arrested
that progress in recent weeks.
Initial claims last week fell
by 36,000 from the prior
week, while the report said
another 21,624 claims, not
seasonally adjusted, were
filed under the now-expired
Pandemic Unemployment
Assistance program, which
was created to aid freelance
workers not normally eligible
for aid.
All told, more than 3.6
million people were receiving
jobless benefits under all
programs as of the week
ended September 25, the
latest for which data was
available.
"The claims data are
consistent with an improving
employment situation,"
Nancy Vanden Houten of
Oxford Economics said in an
analysis.
"We expect further
progress in the months ahead
as the health situation is
improving following the
surge in cases over the
summer from the Delta
variant."
LankaBangla distributes tree
were Dhaka North City
Corporation's Lt Col Md.
Golam Mostafa Sarwar,
Deputy Chief Health
Officer; Dr. Md Emdadul
Haque, Health Officer and
LankaBangla Finance's
Mostafa Kamal, Head of
Board Secretariat and
Regulatory Affairs;
Mohammad Hafiz Al Ahad,
Head of Human Resources
and Muhammad Habib
Haider, Head of General
Infrastructure and
Services.
China growth dips to 5pc in third
quarter on energy woes: AFP poll
keeping a lid on inflation with factory
gate prices rising at their fastest rate in a
quarter of a century.
Despite still-strong foreign demand,
factors like extreme weather and fresh
virus outbreaks, on top of energy
shortages and the cooling housing
market have all weighed on China's
economy, said Gene Ma, head of China
research at the Institute of International
Finance.
Flooding shuttered coal mines earlier
this month, while extreme weather has
destroyed crops and a series of regional
lockdowns have brought large cities to a
standstill with just a handful of Covid-19
cases.
"China's remarkable post-Covid-19
recovery ran out of steam by the summer
of this year," he added.
Consumption remains a drag with
passenger car sales likely plunging in
September, said Hao Zhou, senior
emerging markets economist at
Commerzbank.
Regional lockdowns and a "zero
Covid" strategy would also have weighed
on the services sector, as well as
disposable income, Zhou added.
"Hence, further economic slowdown
looks inevitable," he said.
Some have called for more targeted
policy support.
The key, said DBS bank senior
economist Nathan Chow, is to "alleviate
cash flow pressure for the affected
sectors and companies".