09-08-2022

TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2022
8
Dhaka Bank Limited has signed an agreement on August 04, 2022for providing cash management services
to Omera Petroleum Limited at Dhaka Bank Limited's Gulshan Head Office.Mr. Mustafa Husain,
SEVP & Manager, Gulshan Branch, Dhaka Bank Limited and Md. Atiar Rahman, Head of Finance &
Accounts, Omera Petroleum Limited signed and exchanged the agreements on behalf of their respective
organizations in presence of Emranul Huq, Managing Director & CEO, Dhaka Bank Limited. Senior officials
of both the organizations were also present at the signing ceremony. Under the agreement, Dhaka
Bank Ltd will provide cash management services to the client.
Photo : Courtesy
With an understanding the need and importance to develop and grow and to ensure the new joiners
can contribute in the best possible ways, Premier Bank Limited arranged a week-long Foundation
Training program on Credit Module for the Trainee Junior Officers starting from 7th August 2022.
Managing Director & CEO of the bank M. Reazul Karim, FCMA was present as the chief guest and inaugurated
the training program. DMD & CFO Sayed Abul Hashem FCA, FCMA; SEVP & CCO Anisul
Kabir, SEVP and Head of Corporate Banking Mohd. Jamil Hossain CMA and SEVP & Chief Risk Officer
Khondaker Rahimuzzaman also graced the inauguration session with their presence. Photo : Courtesy
Japan's SoftBank
reports Q1 net
loss of $23.4b
TOKYO : Japan's SoftBank
Group on Monday reported
a huge net loss of $23.4
billion in the first quarter,
after central bank interest
rate hikes worldwide caused
tech shares to tank.
The telecoms firm that has
turned into an investment
behemoth posted a net loss
of 3.16 trillion yen, nosediving
from a net profit of
761.5 billion yen in the same
April-June period the
previous year.
A weaker yen and the
"global downward trend in
share prices due to growing
concerns over economic
recession driven by inflation
and rising interest rates"
contributed to the slump, it
said.
Among its portfolio
companies that suffered
large losses for the quarter
were South Korean e-
commerce giant Coupang
and US meal delivery
platform DoorDash,
SoftBank added.
SoftBank's big stakes in
global tech giants and
volatile new ventures have
made for unpredictable
earnings, and it has lurched
between record highs and
lows in recent years.
Markets struggle as
strong US jobs boost
Fed rate hike bets
HONG KONG : Asian markets struggled
Monday and the dollar held big gains as a
blockbuster US jobs report ramped up bets that
the Federal Reserve will announce more sharp
interest rate hikes as it tries to tame runaway
inflation.
While the employment reading-which was
more than twice as high as expected -- indicated
the world's top economy remained resilient
despite rising prices and borrowing costs, it will
complicate the bank's plans to tighten monetary
policy.
Traders have hoped that with several
indicators pointing to a slowdown, including
GDP figures showing a technical recession,
policymakers could begin to ease back on their
pace of rate hikes.
Now, speculation is growing that the Fed will
have to announce a third successive 75 basispoint
increase next month, particularly as
officials have said their decisions will be datadependent.
"Friday's payroll report indicates an
overheated labour market that continues to
tighten further," said SPI Asset Management's
Stephen Innes.
"Hence at minimum, the markets expect
another 100 basis points of Fed funds rate
increases over the next three meetings... with
risks skewed towards significant increases."
All eyes are now on the release this week of
US July inflation data, which is expected to
show a slight slowdown from June but still at
four-decade highs.
The "report seems very unlikely to offer
'compelling evidence' of a slowdown needed for
the Fed to pull away from its aggressive
inflation-fighting mode." Innes added.
The jobs figures left Wall Street's main
indexes mixed Friday, and Asia followed suit
with markets fluctuating in early trade.
However, there was some relief that tensions
had calmed since Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan
last week sparked a furious reaction from China
that saw it conduct days of live-fire military
drills around the island.
Hong Kong dipped along with Sydney, Seoul,
Singapore, Taipei, Manila, Jakarta and
Wellington.
Tokyo edged up and Shanghai was flat, with
better-than-expected Chinese trade data offset
by fresh worries about Covid lockdowns in the
country that threaten the economic recovery.
The prospect of higher interest rates sent the
dollar surging, and it held on to those gains in
Asia. Bets on a recession across leading
economies continued to weigh on oil prices as
investors worry about the impact on demandfigures
last week indicated Americans were
driving less now than in summer 2020 at the
height of the pandemic.
A rise in US stockpiles was partly responsible
for a 10 percent drop in the commodity last
week, pushing WTI below $90 for the first time
since February.
Prime Bank & DESCO (Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited) has partnered up for online prepaid
electricity bill collection. The agreement was signed at a ceremony held at the DESCO head office situated
at Nikunja in Dhaka where officials from both organizations were present. The agreement
between Prime Bank & DESCO will allow customers of DESCO to pay their prepaid electricity bills at
their nearest Prime Bank branches and other alternative delivery channels. Through this agreement
the transaction will be realized and updated in DESCO database in real time. Engr. Md. Kausar Ameer
Ali, Managing Director, DESCO; KhZoherul Islam, Joint Secretary & Executive Director (Finance),
DESCO, Engr. A.K.M Mahiuddin, Executive Director (Procurement), DESCO; Shams Abdullah
Muhaimin, DMD & Head of Transaction Banking Division, Prime Bank, Mohammad Farhan Adel,
Senior Vice President & Head of Cash Management, Prime Bank along with other high officials from
both the organizations were also present during the ceremony.
Photo : Courtsy
Markets sink as talk of Pelosi Taiwan
trip fans China-US tension
HONG KONG: Asian
markets tumbled Tuesday
on geopolitical fears after
reports that House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi would visit
Taiwan fanned China-US
tensions, reports BSS.
Traders were already
skittish after a string of
data showed economies
beginning to take a hit
from surging inflation and
central bank interest rate
hikes aimed at taming
prices.
A possible meeting
between Pelosi and
Taiwanese President Tsai
Ing-wen is sure to anger
Beijing, which views the
island as its territory and
has said the White House
was playing "with fire".
While observers do not
think the move will spark a
conflict, US officials said
China was preparing
possible military
provocations that could
include firing missiles in
the Taiwan Strait or "largescale"
incursions into
Taiwan's airspace.
White House National
Security Council
spokesman John Kirby
World's biggest
chocolate plant
restarts after
health scare
BRUSSELS : A factory in
Belgium billed as the
world's biggest chocolatemaking
plant said it
restarted operations
Monday after closing for six
weeks to clean up a
salmonella contamination.
Three of the 24
production lines at the
plant in the town of Wieze
resumed and the first
delivery took place, said
Barry Callebaut, the Swiss
company that runs the
factory.
The plant-which supplies
industry giants such as
Hershey, Nestle and
Unilever but not to
consumers directly-was
shut down at the end of
June after salmonella
bacteria was found in one
lot.
Zurich-based Barry
Callebaut said it halted
shipments and informed
clients in time to prevent
contaminated chocolate
making its way to shops.
It identified lecithin,
added to smooth food
textures, as the source of
the contamination,
prompting weeks of
extensive cleaning.
"We remain cautious
because this operation is
unprecedented, the process
of cleaning and disinfection
takes a lot of time," a Barry
Callebaut spokesman,
Korneel Warlop, told AFP.
He said that while the
factory was currently turning
out only a "fairly low volume",
it planned to reactivate more
production lines "in the weeks
to come". Belgium's food
health agency said it was
continuing to monitor
production from the plant.
FRANKFURT : German industrial
production rose gently in June, official
figures published Friday showed, as
analysts worried about the outlook for
Europe's largest economy.
Factory output was up 0.4 percent from
the previous month, federal statistics
agency Destatis said in a statement.
The agency revised down its estimate
for May, showing a small 0.1 percent drop
in production instead of a 0.2 percent
increase as first reported.
Production in Germany was being held
back by an "extreme shortage" of
components as the war in Ukraine and
the lasting impact of the coronavirus
told reporters there was
"no reason for Beijing to
turn a potential visit
consistent
with
longstanding US policies
into some sort of crisis".
Still, the spike in tensions
between the world's two
superpowers has sent
shivers through trading
floors, compounding
worries that Russia's
invasion of Ukraine could
escalate into a wider war.
Reports of the visit hit US
stocks, with all three main
indexes reversing an early
rally to end in negative
territory.
And Asia followed suit.
Hong Kong and
Shanghai led losses,
shedding around three
percent, while Taipei was
off about 1.8 percent.
Tokyo was more than one
percent lower, while
Sydney, Seoul, Singapore,
Wellington and Jakarta
were also well down.
And on currency
markets, the safe-haven
yen jumped to a twomonth
high against the
dollar, and the Taiwan
dollar dropped 0.7 percent.
"Risk is mounting," said
Stephen Innes of SPI Asset
Management.
"As Pelosi is almost sure
to visit Taiwan on Tuesday,
now it is in China's hands
to see if the situation
escalates," he said, adding
that while "it could be little
more than a tempest in a
teapot still, international
and Taiwan investors are
pretty concerned".
"No party wants a real
war, but the risk of mishap
or even aggressive war
game escalation is real,
which could always lead to
a tactical mistake."
The flare-up in tensions
comes less than a week
after Biden and Xi Jinping
held phone talks during
which the Chinese
president warned the
United States not to "play
with fire" regarding the
island.
However, Ayako
Yoshioka, at Wealth
Enhancement Group, told
Bloomberg Radio the crisis
may be another "shortterm
dislocation" for
investors but "it's always
concerning when they do
happen".
The selling on markets
comes as investors try to
assess the outlook for the
global economy as leaders
try to bring down inflation
by lifting rates while at the
same time maintaining
growth.
Data this week showed
the US economy was in a
technical recession, China
was being battered by
Covid lockdowns around
the country, and Europe
was on the brink as an
energy crisis caused by the
Ukraine war compounded
its own inflation problems.
Traders will be keeping a
close eye on the Friday
release of US jobs data,
which will give fresh
insight into the state of the
economy, with a weak
reading providing the Fed
some room to ease back on
its rate hikes.
On oil markets, both
main contracts extended
Monday's sell-off on falling
demand expectations as
economies slow.
Mercantile Bank Limited recently signed an Agreement with SME Foundation
to avail cost free revolving Fund of Govt. Stimulus Package for supporting
small and medium entrepreneurs who were affected by Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr. Mofijur Rahman, Managing Director of SME Foundation and Md.
Quamrul Islam Chowdhury, Managing Director & CEO of Mercantile Bank
signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations. In an occasion
arranged at capital's Pan Pasific Sonargaon Hotel Adil Raihan, DMD &
CSBO of Mercantile Bank and Managing Director of SME Foundation
exchanged the covenant. Mohammad Faruque Ahmmed, SVP & Head of SME
Financing Division of Mercantile Bank along with senior officials from both
the organizations were also present.
Photo : Courtesy
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bangladesh
Investment Development Authority (BIDA) and Grameenphone, jointly
launched Graduate Employment in Private Sector Programme under an
alliance called "FutureNation" 07 August, Sunday at a hotel in Dhaka, to
create economic opportunities for all and accelerate the journey towards a
smart Bangladesh by 2041. Future Nation, an alliance of the private, public,
and development sectors, is created to accelerate the Nation's future
economic growth by enhancing the skills and potential of youth by identifying
opportunities for development, employment, entrepreneurship, and
investment in the post-pandemic situation.
Photo : Courtesy
German industrial output up in
June despite sombre outlook
pandemic scrambled businesses' supply
chains.
Almost three-quarters of companies
surveyed by Destatis reported
bottlenecks and problems procuring raw
materials and components.
A sector-wide breakdown showed that
production of capital goods increased by
one percent in June. The output of semifinished
goods increased by 0.3 percent
and that of consumer products was up 1.1
percent.
The June increase was "not enough to
reverse declines earlier in the year and
left output well below pre-pandemic
levels", said Andrew Kenningham, chief
Europe economist at Capital Economics.
Industrial output plunged by 3.7
percent in March as companies reeled
from the economic impact from Russia's
invasion of Ukraine in February.
The level of output was still 5.8 percent
below its pre-pandemic level,
Kenningham said.
"Things are going to get more difficult
in the second half of the year" as energy
prices rise and a dry summer made
Germany's commercially important
waterways hard to navigate, he said.
Output was "likely to contract" over the
second half, he said.