Daily News Recap
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Inflation eases in May, helped by falling food prices
Inflation slowed to 6.19 percent in May, which is close to the government's annualised target for
the fiscal year, due to a decline in food prices. The trend in prices reversed after accelerating to
6.32 percent, a six-month high, in April from 6.27 percent in the previous month. Food inflation
stood at 6.23 percent last month, down from April's 6.48 percent.
The low inflation in India as well as in the international markets and the stable exchange rate
contributed to the fall. “Our inflation is directly linked to Indian inflation as we import a lot of food
items such as rice and lentil from the country,” Kamal said. Non-food inflation however went up a
bit: it was 6.14 percent in May from 6.08 percent in April.
http://www.thedailystar.net/business/inflation-eases-may-helped-falling-food-prices-95155
Open-pit mining from Barapukuria mine's northern part planned
The government plan to extract coal through open-pit mining from northern flank of Barapukuria
mine to fuel power plants seems a forlorn possibility as even necessary feasibility study has not
yet been done, industry-insiders said. Despite having no feasibility study done, Finance Minister
AMA Muhith, however, announced a plan in his budget speech for fiscal year (FY) 2016 for
extracting coal from the north side of the mine by using open method.
The plan on budget papers also carries a set target of extracting around 110 million tonnes of
coal over the next 25 years, with an estimated haul of 4.0-5.0 million tonnes per annum. Mr Muhith
also spotted coal as main source of fuel and elaborated on a government plan to generate 10,051
megawatts of electricity through building a number of coal-fired power plants.
The planned coal-based power projects include the setting up of a 1,320 megawatt (MW) plant
at Rampal by Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company, a 1,200MW plant at Matarbari with
assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), four units of 1,200MW plants
having the total generation capacity of 4,800 MWs at Moheshkhali and a 1,320MW plant at Paira
of Patuakhali with the financial assistance from China, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore.
http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2015/06/11/96152
Low pressure hits households, industries
Some areas in and around the capital are experiencing short-supply of gas, hurting industrial
production, normal household activity and car refueling at filling stations. Officials said an abrupt
fall in gas production caused the gas crunch at the user-ends.
Ashulia industrial belt, Mirpur and Narayanganj were the worst-affected areas, a senior official of
the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd (TGTDCL) told the FE Wednesday.
The gas official, however, assured that the supply of the fuel would be normal within the next
couple of days with the increase in supply.
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Capital Market Research Department
Daily News Recap
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Country's overall natural gas production is currently hovering around 2,600 million cubic feet per
day (mmcfd), if not any major disruption, against a known demand for over 3,000 mmcfd.
www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2015/06/11/96153
Welcoming FDI in insurance sector
The initiatives so far taken by the government over the decades to boost the non-responsive life
insurance sector of Bangladesh have not been enough to drive any radical change, other than a
few steps taken in the last four years or so by the IDRA (Insurance Development and Regulatory
Authority), which has come into force under the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority
Act, 2010.
However, the news of implementation of the 2013 regulatory order for allowing 60 per cent foreign
direct investment (FDI) in the insurance sector is positive enough for the nation's financial
services industry, because new entrants will introduce competitively priced and need-based
products for easy acquisition and/or retention of consumers and thus the service standard will get
a lot better. IDRA Chairman Shefaq Ahmed said that the local market would be more competitive,
if the foreign insurance companies enter the market. If the LIC and Taiyo Life transfer their
technical know-how and advance management techniques to Bangladesh, the local insurance
industry would be benefited, he added.
http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2015/06/11/96079
BTRC to buy 10 spectrum analysers
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has decided to buy 10 spectrum
analysers in a bid to replace its existing outdated spectrum monitoring machines. The commission
is planning to buy handheld version of spectrum analyser to ensure more flexible use which will
also be more intelligent than the existing ones, said BTRC officials.
He said the spectrum monitoring of BTRC would be strengthen with addition of the new machines.
‘Now as the spectrum use is more focusing on the data use than the voice, we also need better
equipment to monitor the proper use of spectrum,’ another official said.
http://newagebd.net/128071/btrc-to-buy-10-spectrum-analysers/#sthash.kh5uVe3P.dpuf
Bangladeshi RMG facing stiff competition in US market
Bangladeshi RMG producers are now facing stiff competition to penetrate into the market of the
United States in the wake of the production cost hike and losing competiveness. Yet, export of
Bangladeshi RMG products to the US market has grown by 7% in April 2015, to US$1.8bn, a
good rise from 2.3% decline in 2014, according to data recently released by OTEXA.
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Capital Market Research Department
Daily News Recap
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Besides, overall export to the US market also seen a 7.24% gain to $1.9bn. RMG manufacturers
attributed production, political unrest and safety inspection launched by the global retailers’
platforms the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and Alliance for Bangladesh
Worker Safety. Myanmar, the emerging exporter of the RMG products to US market has posted
a 123% growth to more than $8m in the first four months of this year.
RMG export to the US market from Vietnam also increased by 16.5% to $799m while India’s
export growth grew by 9.82% to $1.4bn. China’s export to the US market rose by over 1%, which
is a positive sign for Bangladesh as it was expected that this share would be shifted to Bangladesh
from Chaina.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2015/jun/11/bangladeshi-rmg-facing-stiff-competitionus-market#sthash.3D27VNoD.dpuf
Telcos' mixed reactions over regulator's move
The telecom regulator's move to introduce mandatory tower sharing mechanism has sparked
mixed reactions among the country's mobile phone companies. Bangladesh Telecomm-unication
Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has recently approved the guidelines for tower sharing licences,
paving the way for a third party to develop and control mobile network infrastructure.
The leading cell-phone operator, Grameenphone (GP), has termed the fresh initiative a major
barrier to ensuring operational efficiency and expected network roll-out. It also says network
construction cost will increase as the third party will do business. Besides, the operators might
lose flexibility while selecting an appropriate footprint for their tower set-up. "Currently, we're
significantly sharing our mobile towers among the operators," said chief corporate affairs officer
of Grameenphone Mahmud Hossain.
He said the operators have been sharing some 40 to 50 per cent towers developed since 2008
when the regulator introduced the passive network sharing guidelines. He said previously, there
were no such guidelines to share the network.
http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2015/06/11/96122
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Capital Market Research Department
Daily News Recap
Thursday, June 11, 2015
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