Business News

Daily News Excerpt

Thursday, July 15, 2021

Quick Snap

New e-tax filing system likely in Sep, Chattogram Customs target to earn 11% of national budget in revenue this year, NBR to launch home-grown online system September 1, Two more SMEs to go public, BSEC probing abnormal prices in buy orders, Banks cut back on loan write-off, CDC Group announces $30m trade finance loan to City Bank, Target setting revised for 2nd phase, BIDA OSS to offer 14 more services, Deposits in NBFIs drop in Q1, LafargeHolcim sales, profit jump, Baraka Patenga Power makes debut today, BGMEA to urge govt to keep factories open from 31 July, Envoy Textile to invest Tk176 crore to expand spinning project

News Focus

Macro Economy News:

New e-tax filing system likely in Sep

  • The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is likely to launch its new online tax return filing system in September this year, said officials yesterday.
  • The system will enable taxpayers to furnish their income, expenditure and wealth statements without going through the hassle of visiting tax offices.
  • The development comes nearly a year past the NBR deciding to develop the system with its own resources placing its initial scheme, Bangladesh Integrated Tax Administration System (Bitax), on technical audit.

Chattogram Customs target to earn 11% of national budget in revenue this year

  • Chattogram Customs House, the country’s largest customs station, has set an ambitious revenue target of Tk65,435 crore for the current fiscal year, which constitutes nearly 11% of this year’s national budget.
  • The revised target for the last financial year was Tk64,303.60 crore.
  • The customs house authorities say that despite the pandemic, more than 23% growth was achieved in the just concluded financial year, relative to the previous year.

NBR to launch home-grown online system September 1

  • The National Board of Revenue is going to launch a new online income tax returns filing system on September 1 for individual taxpayers.
  • Taxpayers will be able to file their income tax returns online from the current fiscal year 2020-2021 through browsing the NBR web site even on their mobile sets.
  • Earlier in November 2016, the revenue board launched e-filing system developed by Vietnamese company FPT under the Bangladesh Integrated Tax Administration System (BiTax).
  • But only 21,104 taxpayers filed their tax returns online during the five fiscal years between FY2016 and FY2020. Of those, a total of 7,209 income taxpayers, 0.33 per cent of the total 22 lakh returns, filed their tax returns online in FY2020.

Market News:

Two more SMEs to go public

BSEC probing abnormal prices in buy orders

  • The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has launched an investigation to understand the circumstances behind abnormally high prices being placed in buy orders for newly listed Sonali Life Insurance.
  • On July 12, the stocks jumped to Tk 86.5, or by 440 per cent, from Tk 16. Its board had declared dividends the previous day, so it was open to movements, be it a rise or fall, that day. The prices offered in some of the buy orders for each share interestingly ranged from Tk 300 to as much as Tk 1,050.

Bank & NBFI News:

Banks cut back on loan write-off

  • Loans written off by banks declined sharply in the first quarter of this year as the lenders’ capacity to keep 100 per cent provisioning against their delinquent assets has decreased because of the slowdown in their business.
  • Usually, loans are written off when they are entirely provisioned and there is no realistic prospect of recovering them. These loans are shifted to off-balance sheet records.
  • Between January and March, loans amounting to Tk 101 crore were written off, down 87.35 per cent from a quarter earlier, according to data from Bangladesh Bank.
  • Banks, however, wrote off only Tk 33 crore in the first three months of last year.

CDC Group announces $30m trade finance loan to City Bank

  • CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, has announced the close of a $30 million trade finance loan to City Bank, one of Bangladesh’s top performing private banks, said a press release on Wednesday.
  • The loan facility will provide systemic liquidity that will support continued import and export activities and help bolster the country’s economic growth.
  • CDC’s investment will enable City Bank to extend foreign currency trade credit to local banks as well as local importing and exporting businesses, and is expected to generate up to US$100 million of additional trade every year.

Target setting revised for 2nd phase

  • The stimulus package for the cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) has entered into its second phase with amending the target fixation method, officials said.
  • Under the revised formula, the central bank has fixed the annual target for Tk 200 billion financial package, considering the net outstanding of CMSME loans as on December 31, 2020 instead of gross outstanding of the same calendar year.
  • The net outstanding has been fixed after deducting the amounts of non-performing loans (NPLs) and interest suspense of the CMSME loans of banks and non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs).

BIDA OSS to offer 14 more services

  • The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) is set to integrate 14 more services of five public and private organisations into its online one-stop service (OSS) to further facilitate business operations. The services include visa extension, exporter enrolment, approval of factory machine layout, trade body membership certification, and online bank account opening.
  • The service providing organisations are the Department of Immigration and Passport (DIP), Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka (MCCI), City Bank Limited, Directorate of Factory and Establishment Inspection (DIFE), and Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
  • The BIDA launched its virtual OSS in February 2019 following enactment of the OSS Act 2018. The agency would add four more services to the virtual platform today (Thursday).

Deposits in NBFIs drop in Q1

  • The amount of deposits in the country’s non-bank financial institutions fell in the January-March quarter in 2021 as people’s trust in the sector is yet to be restored.
  • Bangladesh Bank data showed that the deposits in NBFIs dropped by Tk 563.56 crore quarter-on-quarter in the January-March quarter of the year 2021.
  • The deposits in banks increased by Tk 8,499.5 crore in the January-March quarter, taking the total deposits in the country’s banking sector to Tk 12,98,971.9 crore at the end of March 2021.
  • Deposits in banks and NBFIs usually increase gradually but the situation has changed following the surfacing of massive irregularities in the NBFI sector recently that had prompted the government to initiate a process of liquidation of People’s Leasing and Financial Services in 2019.Key point of the news

Cement News:

LafargeHolcim sales, profit jump

  • Sales and profits of LafargeHolcim Bangladesh jumped in the second quarter of 2021 (April to June) thanks to a newly launched business of aggregate and the inclusion of new products in its portfolio.
  • Net sales of the multinational cement maker rose 79 per cent to Tk 473 crore in the quarter, which was Tk 264 crore in the same period the previous year.
  • Its profits jumped 248 per cent to Tk 111 crore, which was Tk 32 crore. In the period, its earnings per share stood at Tk 0.96, which was Tk 0.28 year-on-year.

Fuel & Power News:

Baraka Patenga Power makes debut today

  • Baraka Patenga Power is making its shares trading debut on Dhaka Stock Exchange and Chittagong Stock Exchange today (Thursday) under settlement category “N”.
  • The DSE trading code for the power generation company is “BPPL” and DSE company code is 15324 while the CSE scrip ID is 20024 and scrip code is “BPPL”.
  • The stock market regulator — Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) — allowed the company to explore the cut-off price of its shares through eligible investors’ bidding on January 5 of this year.
  • The company raised Tk 2.25 billion by issuing 73,770,488 ordinary shares under the book-building method. Its IPO subscription was held between June 13 and June 17.Key point of the news

Textile News:

BGMEA to urge govt to keep factories open from 31 July

  • Apparel exporters have decided to appeal to the government to allow export-oriented garment factories to run from 31 July amid the strict lockdown that will be in effect then. They say this will help them export the scheduled shipments on time. Otherwise, they will face losses.
  • The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) may make a formal request to the government by Thursday, said its Vice-President Shahidullah Azim.

Envoy Textile to invest Tk176 crore to expand spinning project

  • World’s first platinum certified green factory Envoy Textile Limited has decided to invest Tk176 crore to enhance production capacity of its spinning project.
  • The project is scheduled to be completed by July 2022, subject to the health environment condition.
  • The new project’s production capacity will be 3,710 tonne yarn per year.
  • Out of the total investment amount, the company will provide Tk56 crore from its retained earnings and the rest will come from the banks.