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The World Bank country director has felt that central bonded warehouse, regional cumulation, allowing yarn import through land ports and lowering of ‘high’ tariff rates would enhance competitiveness of the local garment industry.
   Christine I Wallich stressed that the rival textile and garment lobbyists should work out a win-win formula and suggested a time-bound adjustment process to withdraw protection from the garment industry.
   The Board of Investment executive chairman Mahmudur Rahman, however, defended protections for the local garment industries, which, he viewed, have gained enough strength and expertise to attract foreign buyers.
   The issues were debated at a seminar on ‘FDI and Productivity in the Garment Industry,’ organised jointly by the lending agency, in association with the British Department for International Development (DFID) and the Canadian International Development Agency at the World Bank’s local office on Monday.
   The World Bank country head suggested that there could be a textile upgradation fund with ‘precisely defined eligibility mechanism’ to help technology transfer in the sector, she suggested. ‘Both sides have to make some comprise.’
   Wallich wondered why Bangladesh has not yet accepted regional cumulation. ‘What matters if someone offers me $100 and my neighbour $100?’ she asked, referring to textile industry’s apprehension that such an arrangement would benefit India at the cost of local industry.
   A representative of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, which vehemently opposed the SAARC cumulation, retorted, ‘It matters because such an option jeopardises an industry (Bangladesh’s burgeoning textiles industry).’
   The World Bank country chief also floated the idea of allowing duty-free access of readymade garments made up of textile raw materials produced in India to the Indian market — something that could be available under a bilateral free trade agreement that New Delhi insisted on Dhaka’s singing.
   Anwar Choudhury, the British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, emphasised on breaking the myth that foreign operation is bad for local business. ‘It makes earlier for local firms to copy,’ he said referring to the quality of Bangladeshi websites that are ‘as good as those of America’.
   Maintaining that the government had logic in favour of protecting the garments industry, Mahmudur Rahman said local firms have ‘inherent capability’ in attracting foreign buyers and also foreign investment.
   He also found contradiction in the Bank’s study which lauded foreign direct investment in countries like Cambodia and Mauritius (Mahmud also mentioned Sri Lanka’s name in this regard) as none of these three are in the list of top 10 garment suppliers in the US market. China tops the list in which Bangladesh is the 10th position.
   He regretted that none of the ‘ill-luck’ least developed countries, including Bangladesh, from Asia enjoys advantage in exporting garments to the US market.
   Mahmud explained that the tariff rate is not a problem for the garment industry since this business is based on back-to-back letter of credit although higher tariff is an incentive for leakage. ‘I have no problem in accepting central bonded warehouse except the problem of leakage,’ he added.
   The Board of Investment chief pointed out that the board this week endorsed proposals of investment numbering 161 — still lowest in recent times due to bomb scare — and out those proposals, 80 were related to textiles and garments, five of those from foreign investors.
   A study presented in the seminar claimed that foreign firms are 20 per cent more productive than the local ones and they attract more international buyers for Bangladesh’s apparels.
   Presenting the study titled ‘foreign investment and firm productivity,’ the Bank’s researcher Hiau Looi Kee attributed the productivity advantage of the foreign firms to their ‘access to the management and technical know-how of their parent firms.
   ‘Foreign firms present the best practices and domestic firms learn from them. FDI firms train workers who later join domestic firms,’ she said.
   Bangladesh had earlier restriction on foreign investment in setting up readymade garment units outside export processing zones and the government last year withdrew it, in view of the phase-out of the quota for garments from January 1, 2005.
   Hafiz GA Siddiqi, vice chancellor of North-South University, explained that the rapid growth of the garment industry in Bangladesh started in the presence of foreign investment, especially two firms from South Korea.
   Another discussant, M Musa, pro-vice chancellor of the East-West University, said employers in Bangladesh are found unwilling to pay and train the workers properly. Foreign investment in garment sector can contribute to better payment and working condition increasing productivity, he added.

The Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, Mirza Azizul Islam, says sudden interest rates hike may have some impact on the capital market, but it may not be too big as the country's capital market is not very sensitive to macro developments.
   He also says that the country’s businesses and industries are yet to build strong linkages with the capital market, which could be their major source of fund.
   The SEC chief feels the market trend, which is somewhat bearish, will be short-lived.
   In an exclusive interview with New Age, Islam elaborates his plan to strengthen the Commission as the regulatory body in the true sense of the term.
   Excerpts:
   How do you evaluate the current trend of capital market?
   The current trend of the capital market gives considerable optimism, due to the market variability and daily turnover. Although very recently, market shows a declining trend with bit of anxiety, it is a temporary phenomenon. One reason is, some investors are moving to primary market for new initial public offerings (IPO) in pipeline. In fact, all the IPOs in recent time have been heavily oversubscribed reflecting for greater demand. The market should come back to its normal level within few weeks, as subscription for new IPOs will be closed and people will get back funds deposited for subscription.
   Do you think that increased interest rates, following the IMF advice, have had any impact on capital market investment?
   Advisability of increase in the interest rates, for macroeconomic management in present context of Bangladesh required review. As far as it is a matter of the Bangladesh Bank and the Ministry of Finance, I should not elaborate. But any unanticipated increase in interest rate has adverse impact on capital market and it is a global picture. In our case, the rate hike is clearly unanticipated, as both the finance ministry and the central bank until very recently had been urging commercial banks to reduce interest rate and suddenly there was a turnaround.
   This may, however, have a negative impact on capital market, as the market is not very sensitive to macro developments compared to others. Generally, increase in interest rate makes dividend income less attractive, causing people move out from market. But there are lot of investors who have stronger interests in capital gains rather than bank-interest. So, it is difficult to say, what certainly happened due to sudden rate hike.
   As SEC is suffering from manpower shortage, what steps have you taken to address the problem?
   As the SEC is a statutory body, it is a requirement that any increase in sanction strength has to be cleared by the government. It is a very time-consuming process, as it needs approval from the finance ministry as well as the ministry of establishment. There is another problem.
   I had informal discussions but responses from relevant quarters are not positive as there is an argument if salary structure of the SEC is revised then it has to be done for all the statutory bodies. In fact, in Bangladesh it is generally not realised that marketability and working experiences in SEC is quite different as such experience is very helpful for bank and non-bank financial institutions.
   Members’ inefficiency hinders SEC functions - do you agree?
   One positive think I can say is nobody is holding up files. I should not comment publicly on individual performance of the members. I don’t face any obstacles by members on functioning as SEC chairman and in that sense I am not very unhappy.
   What steps have you taken for faster disposal of long-pending share scam cases?
   Frankly, I am not very optimistic. Within the current system we are doing our best and four or five cases are now ready for trial. But there are many problems and I don’t know how to overcome. I don’t put up any formal proposal for creation of a separate court. It was proposed earlier and the concerned ministry turned down.
   How do you look at the current economic trends of the country and link it to capital market?
   The role of capital market is to intermediate surplus finance and make it available to those who can undertake productive investment activity. Investors have three options for funds - family source, bank source and capital market. Due to inherent desire to maintain family control on business, in Bangladesh most investors don’t want to come to the capital market.
   So the link between capital market and macro economic performances is not strong. Nevertheless, some link is emerging. Currently, some non-traditional companies are showing interest in the capital market partly due to high borrowing cost. A multinational company has written us for initial public offering, and we have request from independent power producers.
   The overall macro economic performance is by and large positive as performance in private sector business is good. In the current fiscal year, growth rate is likely to increase further, the private investment is on rise.
   How do you evaluate the existing inflationary trend that puts the economy under pressure? Is monetary instrument enough to contain the inflation?
   There are two-counter active forces. With higher inflation, the real value of dividend will be less. Receiving a 10 per cent dividend within inflation rate of seven per cent, you actually get three per cent dividend. On the other side, inflation is typically accompanied by some increase in money supply. And if some part of increased money income is reflected in the capital market in the form of greater demand, then the prices of shares are likely to be higher. Thus your opportunity for capital gain will increase. So the eventual impact of inflation depends on net impact of two opposing forces. The inflation rate in Bangladesh is not too high compared to many neighbouring countries.
   Well, the application and success of monetary instrument mostly depends on nature of inflation. In the present context of Bangladesh, whether increase in the interest rate is suitable to contain current nature of inflation or whether the government should consider other means to curb inflation may be a question. But I don’t want to elaborate on the issue.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has barred distribution of allotted units of Grameen Mutual Fund from the omnibus accounts of three merchant banks.
   The units, allotted to the portfolio account holders, should be kept in the suspense account of the Fund opened with CDBL and deposited into the concerned allottees’ beneficiary owners accounts only, the regulatory body said in its directive issued on Monday.
   The merchant banks are : Bangladesh Mutual Securities Ltd, Capital Market Service Ltd and Raspit Securities and Management Ltd. ‘We have taken the decision for greater interest of the shareholders,’ said a senior official of the SEC.
   ‘The units allotted to the portfolio accountholders, who have applied through these merchant banks, will receive their units usually,’ he added.
   The lottery of Grameen Mutual Fund primary shares has already been held, and the asset management company, AIMS of Bangladesh, is ready to distribute shares to the allotted and reimburse funds, those who have not won in the lottery.
   Following the SEC directive, those who have applied through these merchant banks and won the lottery, will not be able to avail of the allotment letters immediately.
   ‘Their shares will be kept in suspense accounts, till the SEC completes investigation,’ said the managing director and chief executive of AIMS, Yawer Sayeed.
   ‘The investors need not to be worried, as their shares will be deposited into their own BO accounts,’ he added.

The government has decided to increase price of jet fuel from today by about Tk 4 per litre for domestic and 4 cents for international routes, to adjust to global fuel price hike.
   The increase in jet fuel price will lead Bangladesh Biman to hike airfare up to six per cent in different routes, the civil aviation and tourism minister, Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin said.
   With the latest upward adjustment, jet fuel price rose to Tk 46 from Tk 41.75 at the Zia International Airport and to Tk 45.50 from Tk 41.25 at the Shah Amanat International Airport, Chittagong.
   For operators on international routes, the price has gone up to 56 cents from 52 cents at the ZIA, while it rose to 55 cents from 51 at the Chittagong airport.
   ‘If Bangladesh Biman or private carrier GMG takes jet fuel for domestic routes from Dhaka they will have to pay Tk 46 for per litre from today. If Biman, GMG or other foreign airliners take fuel for international routes, they will have to pay 56 cents,’ said a source in the energy and mineral resources division.
   He said the jet fuel price for international route was less than that for local routes, as the government did not impose duty on jet fuel for international routes.
   The jet fuel price was last increased on June 23 by about Tk 3 a litre. The state oil monopoly, the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, imports around 3 lakh tonnes of jet fuel from Kuwait annually.
   The energy officials said soaring global oil price would now cost the BPC about $77 a barrel, up from $73 in July.
   The BPC incurred a loss of about Tk 4 crore in July. The government has decided to increase the price to help the corporation avert further loss, an official said.
   Mir Nasir told reporters on Monday that the price hike of jet fuel would affect Biman’s operation cost. ‘We will have to adjust the airfare to the jet fuel price hike,’ he said.
   The minister said they would increase airfare up to six per cent on different routes. ‘A decision in this regard would be taken soon,’ he said.
   The national flag carrier owes BPC Tk 477 crore, as outstanding jet fuel bill.

Sudan is interested to give more scholarships to Bangladeshi students and import skilled manpower and pharmaceuticals from Bangladesh for helping the Sudanese economy flourish.
   The newly appointed ambassador of Sudan to Bangladesh, Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, said this while presenting his credentials to the president, Iajuddin Ahmed at Bangabhaban on Monday.
   Speaking on the occasion Iajuddin Ahmed asserted that Bangladesh was committed to promoting international peace, cooperation and security on the basis of mutual respect and peaceful resolution of all disputes through dialogue.
   He hoped that Bangladesh and Sudan should increase the trade volume.
   He requested the Sudanese government through the ambassador to open their mission in Dhaka and invited Sudanese investment in Bangladesh.
   Welcoming Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, based in Islamabad and concurrently accredited to Bangladesh, the president mentioned a cordial bilateral relation existing between the two countries and reiterated Bangladesh’s determination to further consolidate and develop relations with Sudan.
   He conveyed his regards and compliments to the president of Sudan, Omar Hasan Ahmed El Bashir. He expressed his deepest shock at the sudden demise of the vice-president of Sudan, John Garang in a tragic helicopter crash.
   The Sudanese ambassador appreciated the role of Bangladesh peacekeepers in Sudan and said Sudanese people were ‘very pleased and they have affection for Bangladeshi peacekeepers’.
   The ambassador conveyed the invitation from the president of Sudan to the president of Bangladesh to visit the African country at a convenient time.
   On his arrival at Bangabhaban, the President’s Guard Regiment gave guard of honour the ambassador.
   The foreign secretary, Hemayet Uddin, the secretary to the president, Abu Solaiman Chowdhury, and other high government officials were present on the occasion.

Eyeing on the Bangladesh textile sector, globally acclaimed information and communication technology company, KOMPAKAR, is all set to open a development centre in Bangladesh and three Southeast Asian countries, a report said Monday.
   The world famous Malaysian company, KOMPAKAR Inc Bhd., an integrated ICT solutions provider will set up at least four development centres, including one in Bangladesh, to boost its presence in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region.
   ‘We are the first in Malaysia and among 100 companies in the world with the rating,’ KOMPAKAR deputy-executive chairman Looi Kien Leong was quoted as saying by the Kuala Lumpur-based Business Times in an interview.
   ‘Our strategy now, before moving to the US, is to set up a cluster of development centres in the region. The first will be set up in Indonesia within four months,’ said Looi.
   It currently has a development centre in Chennai, India, but this is outside ASEAN.
   Looi said apart from Indonesia, the company would set up centres in Thailand, Bangladesh and Myanmar due to their specific strong industry domains and lower set-up cost.

The Japanese ambassador to Bangladesh, Matsushiro Horiguchi, termed tourism as one of the ‘most effective mechanisms’ to improve the negative image of Bangladesh.
   ‘It could be one of the most effective mechanisms to improve the negative image of Bangladesh, if many foreigners visit here as tourists, remove their prejudices by seeing the actual Bangladesh and share their experiences with other people upon their return,’ he said in a message in the Japan-Bangladesh E-Bulletin’s 32nd issue.

The Standard Chartered Bank Limited completed the purchase of American Express Bank Limited’s business and branches in Bangladesh, said a press release.
   The chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Bank Bangladesh, Osman Morad, and the senior country executive of American Express Bank Limited, Qamar Hussain, signed the documents for their respective organisations on July 31.
   In June, Standard Chartered formally announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire the commercial banking business and branches of American Express Bank Limited in Bangladesh. The latest signing was made on the completion of the purchase process following relevant statutory approvals.
   Over a three-month transition period ending October 31, all the assets and liabilities of American Express, including customer deposits and loans, will be transferred to Standard Chartered. It is planned that American Express will cease to operate as a commercial bank in Bangladesh with effect from November 01 and all its branches and cash booths will be converted to the SCB brand and operating platform as on such date.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in Bangladesh launched a promotional campaign programme, where the bank offers gifts every week through raffle draw, to the users of its ATMs in Dhaka and Chittagong, said a press release.
   The offer that started on August 01 will remain valid till October 31.
   The first draw was held recently with the users of the ATM in Dhaka and Chittagong during the first week of the campaign and the customer service manager of the bank’s Dhaka main office, M Moniruzzaman, handed over the gifts to the winner of the week.

Most Asian oil product prices could draw support from tighter supplies this week, as domestic shortages will cut Chinese gasoline exports, and diesel flows out of the region could help to lift the market out of its doldrums.
   Traders eyed more fixtures to ship Asian diesel to the strong European market, after Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley booked 90,000 tonnes of low sulphur diesel for arbitrage shipments next month.
   The economics were workable as European diesel prices remain at lofty levels after crude gains and on worries over growing consumer demand, while high regional prices put off many Asian buyers, dealers said.
   ‘Low sulphur gas oil is improving because of the arbitrage opportunity but the 0.5 per cent sulphur market is still bad. There are not many buyers out there,’ said a dealer.
   Gas oil’s September swaps discount to October was likely to stay depressed as some players want to keep the East-West spread wide, in order to offload surplus diesel to the Western market.
   Dealers also hope Northeast Asian buyers will start stockpiling kerosene ahead of peak winter demand.
   Their demand will help to support the jet-kerosene market, keeping the product’s swaps spread to diesel at a robust premium of over $6.00 a barrel, traders say.
   Asian naphtha and gasoline prices will draw support from rising demand and balanced-to-tight supply.
   Chinese trader Unipec bought a 25,000 tonne open spec naphtha cargo for both September and October delivery and is still seeking one more cargo for September, a sign that the region’s biggest oil consumer could be turning from net exporter to importer.
   ‘There is an overhang of naphtha cargoes in Europe but there’s nothing done to bring them to Asia. Supplies in this region look relatively balanced,’ a Singapore-based dealer said. Dealers said strong Indonesian demand will boost gasoline prices at a time when China is cutting exports to meet peak summer demand back home.
   But Taiwan might export more gasoline next month, as refiner Formosa Petrochemical Corp. restarted a crude unit and residual fluid catalytic cracker late last week.
   The refiner’s total run rate was expected to hit full tilt in the next few days.
   Fuel oil cargo inflows are low for a third consecutive week, with most of August’s arrivals having landed and September arrivals limited by a closed East-West arbitrage window.
   ‘The market is definitely strengthening, relative to the last two months when it was really bad. The big question is how much improvement there is going to be,’ a Singapore-based fuel oil trader said.

Oil held steady above $65 a barrel today after spiking late last week when rocket attacks in Jordan and reduced oil supply from Ecuador highlighted the world’s thin cushion of spare production capacity.
   The US crude eased 20 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $65.15 a barrel in Asian trade today, around 3 per cent lower than a record high of $67.10 hit earlier this month. London Brent crude slipped 1 cent to $64.35 a barrel.
   The oil prices jumped over $2 a barrel on Friday, partly recovering from a mid-week slump, after two missiles fired at US ships in Jordan’s Aqaba port fuelled market concern over the security of supplies from its oil-rich neighbours.
   Despite the speculative gains, some traders said worries that higher prices are eating into economic growth and the looming end of the peak- demand summer gasoline-driving season in the United States could weigh on prices in coming weeks.
   ‘The atmosphere in the market is still weak, especially after we saw weak prices after the strong data on US oil stocks,’ said Sano Keiichi, assistant manager in the commodities business unit at Sumitomo Corp.

Marielle de Vries, a single mother of six, doesn’t have much choice about what to feed her family for dinner.
   These days, it’s likely to be cold sandwiches — the two bags of groceries she picked up last week from a program for the poor contained a loaf of white bread, cold cuts, nuts, tomatoes and a pineapple.
   ‘It’s bad in Africa, but people are going hungry here too. It’s just that no one sees it,’ the 36-year-old said after lugging her provisions out of the God’s Pasture church building.
   Soup kitchens and bread lines seem out of place in this affluent country long known for its generous welfare system, administered until recently by generations of socialist-leaning governments.
   After years of strong growth, the economy has ground to a near standstill and since April 2004, the number of people receiving free food packages at the Dutch Food Bank has jumped from 600 per week to nearly 5,000. Thousands more go without.
   The most recent preliminary figures from the government’s Bureau for Social and Cultural Planning indicate that at least 11 per cent of the Dutch population, or between 700,000 and 800,000 households, lived in poverty in 2004, after the figure had declined steadily in the late 1990s to a low of 10.1 per cent in 2000.
   The Netherlands’ economy showed the worst performance in the 25-country European Union in the first quarter of 2005, contracting 0.5 per cent.

China’s economy will grow between 8.0 and 8.5 per cent from 2006 to 2010, a considerable slowdown from two years of nine per cent growth and above, state press reported Monday, citing a government thinktank.
   A falling trade surplus and decreased employment in the five years to 2010 are expected to put the brakes on China’s GDP rate that in the first half of the year expanded by 9.5 per cent, the China Business News reported.
   A slowdown to around 8.3 per cent growth was appropriate, the newspaper said, citing Chen Dongqi, a senior official with the Academy of Macroeconomic Research at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planning body.
   Han Yongwen, a director general of the Comprehensive Department for the National Economy at the NDRC, said that although China had maintained an average growth rate of 9.4 per cent, it had incurred many costs in doing so.
   Such growth levels were not advisable or sustainable, as overtly focusing on gross expansion ignores the structure of the economy and the quality of the growth, Han said.

The international arm of China National Petroleum Corp has reached agreement to buy all of PetroKazakhstan Inc for 4.18 billion dollars, the Canadian-listed Kazakh oil and gas company said Monday.
   The offer has been approved by the boards of both companies, but is subject to approval by two thirds of votes cast by PetroKazakhstan shareholders at a meeting to be held in October, the same month the transaction is expected to close, the company said in a statement.
   The deal amounts to 55 dollars per share and represents a premium of 24.4 per cent on the price of PetroKazakhstan shares in New York over the 20 most recent trading days.
   According to unconfirmed press reports, India’s Oil Natural Gas Corp, in conjunction with tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, had also made an offer for PetroKazakhstan.
   The China offer is being put forward by China National Petroleum Corporation International, which was set up last year between CNPC and its subsidiary, Petrochina.
   The deal for PetroKazakhstan comes amid growing energy demand in China and follows an unsuccessful 18.5 billion dollar bid earlier this month by China National Overseas Oil Corporation to buy the US-based Unocal Corporation.

China’s rapidly widening income gap has reached dangerous levels, risking social instability by 2010 if the present trend continues, a government report warned today.
   ‘China’s growing income gap is likely to trigger social instability after 2010 if the government finds no effective solutions to end the disparity,’ the Ministry of Labour and Social Security warned in the China Daily.
   Su Hainan, president of the ministry’s income research institute, found income disparity in China had reached the crucial ‘yellow’ stage—the second most serious in a scale of four defined by the institute.
   The situation would deteriorate to the most dangerous ‘red’ stage in 2010 if no effective measures were taken within the next five years, he said.
   The institute found the income gap in China had been expanding quickly since 2003 despite a series of government measures to raise the income of the impoverished people. President Hu Jintao’s government took power in 2003, vowing that eradication of poverty was one of its top priorities.
   Su was not optimistic about bridging the urban-rural gap as urban incomes were growing nearly twice as fast as rural incomes.

Iraq on Monday suspended all oil exports from its southern fields after a power failure, industry sources said.
   ‘The exports were stopped from 7:00 am (0300 GMT) after power failure affected the Zubair 1 pumping station,’ a source said.
   At least two thirds of Iraq’s 1.6 million barrels per day of oil exports come from the southern oilfields.
   Iraq’s vast oil reserves, the world’s second biggest after Saudi Arabia, are largely concentrated to the north and the south of the country.

Australia and China Monday began a second round of talks on a free trade agreement that could eventually be worth some 20 billion dollars to the Australian economy, officials said.
   Ric Wells, a senior trade official, was leading the Australian delegation in talks with Zhang Xiangchen, vice director of China’s Ministry of Commerce’s world trade department, officials from both sides said.
   Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile last week said the free trade agreement was a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ for his country and urged his negotiators to outline barriers faced by Australian industry in doing business with China during the talks.

Japan’s major banks, hunting for new profit sources after cleaning up a decade-long bad-loan mess, are taking their earnings quest to a new arena: the country’s growing credit card market.
   Once content to offer savings accounts and little else to retail customers, banks are racing to become full-service financial firms in a shift highlighted by recent alliances between banks, card companies and other speciality consumer lenders.

DSE news
   DSE requested all its members not to establish any internet connectivity in their MSA or TWS as well as to any computer within member house’s Local Network. The member houses are also requested not to put, insert or load any outsider floppy disc or CD in the said computers to avoid all sorts of virus problem.
   DSE informed all concerned that a compliant box has been set up at the reception of Securities and Exchange Commission at Jiban Bima Tower at Dilkusha C/A in Dhaka. Any compliant related to the capital market or the Commission may be dropped at the compliant box during office hours. In addition, compliant may also be sent to the Commission by letter or by e-mail.
   
   Transaction
   One of the sponsors of Prime Bank, Quazi Sirazul Islam, Bank, reported his intention to sell 15,000 shares out of his holdings of 2,52,799 shares of the Bank while one of the directors of the bank, Nazma Haque, reported her intention to buy 15,000 shares of the Bank at prevailing market price through Stock Exchange within next 30 working days
   Md Nazrul Islam Khan, Yunus Ahmed, MA Kalam, Rahima Khatun and Md Naseem Kalam, all are sponsors/directors of Janata Insurance Company, reported their intention to sell 5,000 shares each of the Company while Tabassum Kaiser, Syeda Shaireen Aziz, Farahnaz Chowdhury, Savera H Mahmood and Zannatul Ferdous Zeena, other sponsors/directors of the Company reported their intention to buy 5,000 shares each of the Company at prevailing market price through Stock Exchange within next 30 working days.
   
   Dividend warrants
   Bata Shoe requested the concerned shareholders to collect their final dividend warrants for the year 2004 within 25 August during office hours from the company’s share liaison office at BB Avenue at Gulistan in Dhaka.
   Chittagong Vegetable informed that the dividend warrants of the Company for the year 2002-2003 are being delivered during office hours from the Share Department of the Company at Dilkusha C/A in Dhaka.
   
   Net Asset Value
   On the close of operation on 28 July 2005, ICB AMCL 1st MF reported Net Asset Value (NAV) of Tk 132.76 per unit on current market price basis against face value of Tk 100.
   
   Eagle Star Textile reports loss
   As per audited accounts as on 30 June 2004, Eagle Star Textilet reported net loss of Tk. 4.44 crore as against corresponding year’s loss 5.03 crore. The company reported a negative per share earning of Tk 8.41.
   
   Spot Trade
   Only spot trade is allowed on Sandhani Life Insurance Ltd shares from 22 August to 24 August 2005 as the Record date of the Company is on 25 August 2005. Trading of shares of the company will remain suspended on Record date 25 August 2005.
   Sources: DSE, CSE

Box set at SEC to receive complaints
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the regulatory body of the capital market, set up a box at its office to receive complains from the investors. Complains relating to the capital market or the commission may be dropped at the box, put at the reception of the SEC office, during office hours, according to the website of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). In addition, complains may also be sent to the commission by letter or by e-mail. The email addresses are secbd@bdmail.net and secfa@bol-online.com. When contacted, SEC officials said a box has been set in the office but it is not a new for the regulatory body. Executive Director of SEC Monsur Alam told UNB that the box has been set just for creating awareness among the investors of the capital market. 'We used to get a large number of complains in the past which came down in recent time,' he said. Sources said the investors had faced severe difficulties to lodge complains, as the box was not in the display for couple of years. Commenting on the procedure of the action against the received complains, an official of the SEC seeking anonymity told the UNB that the SEC would scrutinize the complains first and then inquire into it and go for stern action against responsible persons or companies. Investors of the country's main bourse said that after the installation of the new automated system in the DSE for transaction, the SEC fears any kind of irregularities that forced them to set up the complain box as a symbol of action.
— UNB

Airtel cuts ISD rates to Rs 3 a minute
Airtel slashed ISD charges to Rs 3 per minute from Rs 15 a minute and introduced a Re 1 a minute tariff for STD calls. The reduction is under a new scheme, 'Airtel 1-2-3 Offer' and is only applicable for users in Mumbai circle. In addition, the mobile service provider has reduced calls to television quiz show, Kaun Banega Crorepati 2 by Rs 4 a minute. Calls to the show would be now charged at Rs 2 a minute from the earlier Rs 6 a minute, while SMSes to the show would be charged at Rs 2 a message, an Airtel release said. The benefits are being rolled out along with its new pre-paid pack of Rs 699 pack. 'Airtel is revolutionising ISD calling by offering ISD calls to USA and Canada at Rs 3 per minute. It will play a major role in making national and international long distance telephony affordable,' Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd Chief Executive Officer (Mobility) Jayant Khosla said. The company's STD rates of Re 1 matches a similar long distance rate announced by Orange, a fortnight ago. Airtel is the fourth largest mobile operator in Mumbai circle and has a total subscriber base around 8.30 lakh.
— Business Standard

Sugar imports fail to bring down prices
THE wholesale Karachi commodity markets showed stray changes in the prices of essential items mostly on the lower side as some commercial traders and importers liquidated their long positions fearing further fall.The market sources said that the arrivals from upcountry markets were fairly steady and did not allow major changes on any essential counter despite reports of slow ready demand.Some types of pulses and wheat were leading among them but the decline was too small to attract buyers and some retailers made modest support at the falling trends.
— Dawn

Car exports up, imports down in
first half
China, the world's fastest growing car market, saw a fast growth in automobile and related products exports in the first six months of 2005, while the imports dropped due to several factors. During the January-June period, China exported 4.877 billion US dollars worth of automobiles, components and spare parts, representing a year-on-year increase of 38.3 per cent, with the exports of automobiles standing at 378,800, nearly 143 per cent that of the corresponding period of 2004, the People's Daily said on Monday. The foreign exchange earnings from auto exports amounted to 762 million US dollars, 162 per cent that of the same period of last year. During the period, China's exports of sedans witnessed a 183 per cent surge to 9,600 units, recording the fastest growth rate.
— Xinhuanet

Alcatel plans to hire 200 engineers
ALCATEL SA, the worlds biggest supplier of broadband Internet equipment, plans to hire 200 engineers in China by the end of the year to help expand its research and development workforce there by 10 per cent. The Paris-based company will set up an R&D site in Chengdu in southwestern China¡¯s Sichuan Province, hiring engineers that will focus on developing telecommunications equipment, Regine Coqueran, a spokeswoman for Alcatel said Friday. China, the world¡¯s fastest growing major economy, had 363 million mobile-phone subscribers and 337 million fixed-line users at the end of June, according to China¡¯s Ministry of Information Industry. Second-quarter gross domestic product rose 9.5 per cent from a year earlier. Chengdu is called China¡¯s Silicon Valley,¡± said Coqueran. The facility will be ¡°more a center for product development than innovation,¡¯¡¯ she said. The equipment maker spent 13 per cent of 2004 sales on research and development. Alcatel¡¯s Chinese unit Shanghai Bell currently has about 2,000 engineers working in R&D, including about 100 people in Chengdu focusing on optical equipment, according to Coqueran. She declined to say how much the company is investing.
— Xinhuanet

Russia pays off third of Paris Club debt
Russia completed early repayment of more than a third of its debt to the Paris Club group of Western creditor countries, a finance ministry official said today, according to the state-run news agency RIA-Novosti. A 2.3-billion-dollar (1.9-billion-euro) payment was made Friday and Monday—the final part of a 15-billion-dollar early repayment that began last month to 16 of the Paris Club’s 19 member countries, the official said. The 15-billion-dollar tranche was part of an overall debt to the Paris Club countries that on January 1 equalled 43.1 billion dollars, according to the finance ministry. The balance of the debt is due to be repaid in 2020. Last October, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was ready to make early payment of debt to the Paris Club, mainly due to the rise of the price of oil. Russia is a leading exporter of oil and when prices are high its foreign earnings
rise.
— AFP