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The central bank on Tuesday fixed the interest rate for import financing of essential commodities at 12 per cent to ensure adequate supply and contain inflation, according to a circular.
   The circular said the rate has been revised at a temporary basis to check the rising prices of essential commodities including rice, wheat, pulses, chick peas, grean peas, edible oil, sugar, dates, spices and onions.
   Prices of essential commodities have gone up sharply as the flood severely damaged crops and prices of commodities went up in the international market, the circular added.
   Point-to-point food price inflation reached to 9.8 per cent in June compared to 8.05 per cent in May and 7.54 per cent in June last year, according to the statistics bureau.
   According to a preliminary report of the agriculture ministry, standing crops, jute, vegetables and seedbeds worth Tk 591.29 crore on about 1.10 lakh hectares of land in 56 districts have so far been affected by the flood.
   Eminent economist Atiur Rahman said the government must ensure that importers do not resort to over- or under-invoicing.
   ‘In some cases, importers say they want to import 10,000 tonnes of rice but actually import 9,000 tonnes and it should not happen,’ he said.
   Customers should get the benefit of interest rate cut, he said adding, it would also have a psychological impact on the traders as they cannot say anymore that the banks are not doing anything for them.
   He also suggested that the government should provide subsidies on interest rates to the importers considering the crisis.
   The central bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed on Monday stressed on adequate supply of essentials and also added that increased domestic production and stable imports were necessary.
   The average inflation increased by 7.22 per cent in the fiscal 2006-07 compared with 7.17 per cent in the previous fiscal.
   Price level in the rural areas rose by 9.14 per cent on a point-to-point basis and 7.3 per cent on average while in the urban areas inflation was 9.35 per cent on a point-to-point basis and 7.03 per cent on average.
   Non-food inflation increased by 8.34 per cent on point-to-point basis in June compared to 6.4 per cent in June last year while average non-food inflation was 5.9 per cent.
   Prices of all major commodities except sugar increased in the 2006-07 fiscal.

The Securities and Exchange Commission at a meeting on Tuesday approved the draft margin loan rules that bar the merchant banks from giving loans to their boards’ members, employees and their relatives.
   Under the approved draft rules, merchant banks will also have to follow the ratio set by the SEC in giving loans to their clients, said Farhad Ahmed, executive director of SEC.
   (The ratio depicts the value of the collateral in relation to the loan. If the ratio, for example is 1 to 2, then the clients will get loans that are twice the value of the collaterals, and if the ratio is 1 to 5, they will get loans that are five times the collaterals’ value.)
   Currently, there is no SEC guideline on offering margin loans and the merchant banks follow their internal code of conduct to approve loans to investors.
   ‘The rules will come into effect after issuance of the gazette notification,’ said Farhad. ‘The draft margin rules will be published in several newspapers for eliciting the public’s opinion or suggestions before issuing the gazette notification.’
   He said that under the rules the SEDC would, from time to time, set the ratio in which merchant banks would offer loans to their clients.
   Merchant banks, under the rules, will be allowed to offer loans against shares, debentures, mutual funds and government securities and against the items the SEC approves, said Farhad.
   The closing price of the securities plus the net asset value of the securities divided by two will be the method of evaluating a share, he said.
   Merchant banks will have to inform their clients of the amount of fees and charges prior to giving loans, said the SEC official. ‘The client will also have to be notified of any change in the fee and charge.’
   At the end of July, amid a sharp rise in share prices and liquidity, the SEC asked the merchant banks to be prudent in giving loans to their clients and asked them to provide the SEC with information on their own loan guidelines and the ratios they maintain in giving loans.
   An allegation that the merchant banks were giving too many loans to their investors and directors prompted the regulatory body to take the initiatives mentioned above, said SEC sources.
   The SEC at the meeting also discussed an assessment conducted by it recently of the level of compliance to its corporate governance guidelines issued early last year for the listed companies.
   As per the assessment, 31.18 per cent of the companies complied fully with the guidelines, 56.66 per cent complied partially and 12.16 per cent did not comply at all, said Farhad Ahmed.
   The SEC considered the level of compliance a good beginning, said meeting sources.

Stocks bounced back
   Tuesday on the buying spree from the investors after a two-day slump.
   The general index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange gained 70.82 points or 3.16 per cent to close at 2310.58, while its blue chips index, DSE20, advanced by 47.25 points or 2.38 per cent to close at 2034.84.
   Chittagong Stock Exchange’s selective categories index gained 104.30 points or 2.83 per cent to close at 3793.67, while its blue chips index, CSE30, advanced by 141.76 points or 2.76 per cent to close at 5270.99.
   ‘Market gained as the investors bought shares in a repositioning move after recent fall,’ said Yawer Sayeed, managing director and chief executive of Aims of Bangladesh.
   He said stocks prices fell substantially in last few weeks as the market witnessed price correction after a three-month bull run.
   Of the total 202 issues traded at the DSE on Tuesday, 160 advanced, 32 declined and 10 remained unchanged and out of total 104 issues traded at the CSE floor, 81 advanced, 15 declined and eight remained unchanged.
   Turnover at the DSE also increased to Tk 114.97 crore from the Monday’ Tk 105.82 crore. The CSE turnover, however, decreased to Tk 11.25 crore from Tk 12.31 crore.
   Summit Power retained top position in the turnover leaders’ list at the DSE with total transaction of Tk 12.23 crore.
   Summit Power on Monday reported to the bourses that its board of directors recommended right share at the rate of 4R:5 (four right shares for every five existing shares) at Tk 145 each (including a premium of Tk 45 per share) subject to clearance/approval of EGM and SEC.
   Other turnover leaders at the prime bourse were Square Pharmaceuticals, Dhaka Electric Supply Company, BRAC Bank, United Commercial Bank, Southeast Bank, National Bank Ltd, Power Grid Company Bangladesh, Prime Bank and Pubali Bank.

Country’s third clinker processing plant, with an annual capacity of 66,000 tonnes will start commercial operation on August 25, said officials of the first locally owned unit of such kind.
   The Tk 20 crore Niloy Cement Clinkerisation Industries — the third backward linkage plant in cement industry after the multinational Lafarge Surma and state owned Chattack Cement in Sylhet, is located at Boshundia in Jessore.
   Niloy on Tuesday entered a purchase agreement with Nitol Cement Industries that will buy the entire output of Niloy to produce finished cement.
   Niloy officials said the unit would reduce import dependency for clinker and boost export opportunity if government supports are provided.
   Executive chairman of the Board of Investment, Mushtaq Uddin Ahmad, senior executives of Pubali Bank and Premier Bank addressed the ceremony chaired by Nitol-Niloy Group’s chairman Abdul Matlub Ahmad.
   Matlub said the country’s demand for cement clicker is around seven million tonnes now and growing, at between 15 and 20 per cent each year while. He said since there was no limestone quarries, Bangladesh imports a major portion of clinkers.
   He said if the government offers bonded warehouse facility to integrated cement plants, Nitol and a few other cement producers could earn several hundred million dollars by exporting finished cement to India where there is a huge demand supply gap.
   He noted that country’s steel industries especially the Corrugated Iron Sheet Manufacturers would also be able to earn several
   hundred million dollars with bond facility.
   Replying to a question, Matlub said they have supply
   agreements with limestone miners in the Indian state of Meghalya, bordering Bangladesh, and he hoped to import limestone from Myanmar.
   The investment board chairman told the ceremony that the government has been following a liberal policy to offer bond
   facilities to all potential export industries.
   The head of the state investment board said the government was working on a policy that would guide smooth authorisation of foreign investment projects in energy and mining sector.
   Once the policy, being worked out by the ministry of energy and mineral resources, is finalised, fate of several pending projects proposed by foreign investors including Indian Conglomerates-TATA and MITTAL, would be decided.

A three-member team of the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Tuesday met finance adviser Mirza Azizul Islam at his office at the secretariat.
   ‘We discussed issues involving long-term development of the country’s stock market
   including improvement of the bond market, increasing
   supply of shares and involving non-resident Bangladeshis,’
   said Ahmad Rashid Lali, senior vice-president of the Dhaka bourse.
   The stock exchange’s president Abdullah Bokhari and chief executive officer Salahuddin Ahmed Khan were also present.
   Rashid said the finance adviser assured the team about offloading shares of state-owned companies in the stock market.
   Salahuddin said the team had requested the finance adviser to make plans keeping in mind the country’s capital market as a source of financing.
   ‘The finance adviser also gave assurance of his support in developing the bond market,’ he said.
   The issue of non-resident investors’ accounts was also discussed, he said.
   Mirza Aziz, also a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, regulator of the capital market,
   in his budget speech announced that in the 2007-08 fiscal, the shares of a number of state-owned enterprises would be off-loaded in the capital market.

The National Board of Revenue will hold a meeting with Bangladesh Bank and other commercial banks on Sunday to remove confusion over saving instruments.
   ‘We feel there has been a confusion over our directive about imposition of 10 per cent tax at source on interest income from government’s savings instruments, and we’ll have to make it clear,’ NBR member (income tax policy) Ali Ahmed said.
   The meeting will be held at the Bangladesh Bank at 3:30pm. BB deputy governor Ziaul Hasan Siddique will be present at the meeting.
   Ali Ahmed said the NBR found that some banks are deducting tax at source from the interest earned during the 2004-06 period, which is a violation of the NBR order.
   He said the board received a very negligible amount from the saving instruments in the last three fiscal years as the taxpayers were found reluctant to show the interest income in their tax returns.
   The NBR suspended imposition of tax at source on the interest income from saving instruments from 2004 saying that the taxpayers will have to include such income in their annual tax returns.
   The NBR issued the order on July 10 imposing 10 per cent tax, deductible at source, on annual interest income exceeding Tk 25,000 from savings instruments.

The government is still hopeful of a positive response from Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Saud to take over Rupali Bank.
   ‘We’re still hopeful that the Saudi Prince will take over the bank,’ Privatization Commission chairman M Abu Solaiman Chowdhury told newsmen after a view-exchange meeting at his office with the buyers of privatized state-run mills and factories.
   But, he said, if the Prince refuses to take over the bank, they would offload its shares in the capital market.
   The Privatization Commission is waiting to sign a sales and purchase agreement with the Saudi Prince as it decided in August last to sell the state-run bank to the Saudi Prince at a cost of $ 330 million.
   Prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Saud was the highest bidder for the bank where his nearest contestant was Domestic Investment Consortium. But after that the Saudi Prince was dillydallying to end the process of handing over the bank.
   The government asked the Saudi Prince to complete the deal for selling and purchasing the bank by July 15. But they did not respond to that deadline.

Air Arabia will start operation of three additional flights on the Chittagong-Sharjah route in every week from September 1.
   The airline will operate additional flights from Sharjah to Chittagong on every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Now the airline operates two flights per week — on Monday and Friday — on the route.
   The flights will depart Sharjah at 07:15 and arrive at Chittagong at 13:50 local time. On the same days, the flights will depart Chittagong at 14:35 and arrive in Sharjah at 17:30 local time.
   Air Arabia uses a fleet of nine brand new aircrafts to operate flights to 29 destinations in 19 countries.

OPEC has slightly increased its estimate for world oil demand growth in 2007 despite current economic turmoil, the powerful cartel said in a report Tuesday.
   ‘World oil demand growth in 2007 is forecast at 1.3 million barrels per day, or 1.5 per cent, slightly higher than the estimate for last month, reflecting additional oil needs for Japanese power plants,’ the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its monthly report.
   UN inspectors said last week that the world’s largest nuclear power plant in Japan will be closed for months, after an accident there on July 16.
   OPEC noted that ‘over the last four weeks, prices for benchmark WTI (West Texas Intermediate — the US benchmark) crude oil have exhibited extreme volatility,’ as the world economy has experienced stock market and other economic fluctuations.
   ‘There is no doubt that the above uncertainties have clouded the outlook for oil demand,’ OPEC said. It said US economic problems such as the ‘recession in the housing sector, in particular the sub-prime mortgage market’ have precipitated ‘fears of a global economic slowdown.’
   In addition, ‘OECD oil demand, affected by the warm winter, led to a decline in oil consumption in both Europe and the Pacific.’
   But ‘non-OECD oil demand was as strong as expected. Booming economies pushed oil demand up by 3.5 per cent or 1.22 million bpd, year-on-year, in the first half of 2007. China, the Middle East and India accounted for the largest share of oil demand,’ OPEC said. It said however that demand for OPEC crude would drop slightly in 2008, ‘expected to average 30.8 million bpd, representing a decline of 239,000 bpd from the current year,’ in its monthly report for August.
   Oil prices were weaker in Asian trade Tuesday on continued worries that US energy demand will eventually be hit by financial market turbulence, dealers said in Singapore.
   New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery fell 10 cents to 71.52 US dollars per barrel from 71.62 dollars in late US trades Monday.
   Brent North Sea crude for September delivery was eight cents lower at 70.15 dollars.
   ‘Investors are cautious given current financial market turmoil,’ said Societe Generale.
   ‘Market fundamentals remain supportive but the sub-prime crisis is still a key issue,’ it said.
   Analysts at US investment bank Goldman Sachs said that the recent declines in oil prices, which were driven by speculators exiting the market, would be short-lived.
   They added that prices would find support from tight global supplies and fierce demand for crude oil from the likes of China and the United States — the biggest global energy consumers.
   Meanwhile, Iran said its policy stance in OPEC would not change, after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a decree Sunday which, in a surprise move, replaced oil minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh with the head of the national oil company, Gholam Hossein Nozari.
   In one of his final statements as oil minister of OPEC’s number two producer and the world’s fourth biggest, Vaziri Hamaneh said last month that Iran firmly opposed a hike in OPEC’s crude oil output to keep oil prices down.
   In Paris, the International Energy Agency last week called on OPEC nations to increase production to cope with an expected surge in winter demand in the northern hemisphere.
   OPEC countries are to meet in Vienna in September to make a decision about whether to change their output quota, but members have insisted that the oil market is well supplied.

The United States asked the World Trade Organisation to mediate a copyright trade dispute with China, saying bilateral talks have failed to close loopholes that allow counterfeiters to flourish.
   It marked the third time in less than a year that the United States has sought a WTO dispute settlement panel to help resolve trade frictions with the leading emerging superpower, whose ballooning trade surplus has become a political flashpoint.
   Washington filed a complaint with the WTO against China in April, alleging China’s legal regime for protecting and enforcing copyright and trademark protections was unfairly deficient.
   Chinese-made counterfeit goods — from software and DVDs to luxury leather goods and watches — are widely available in the US market.
   Bilateral talks held in early June within the framework of the WTO dispute process proved fruitless, the office of the US Trade Representative said.
   ‘The United States and China have tried, through formal consultations over the last three months, to resolve differences arising from US concerns about inadequate protection of intellectual property rights in China,’ USTR spokesman Sean Spicer said in a statement.
   ‘That dialogue has not generated solutions to the issues we have raised, so we are asking the WTO to form a panel to settle this dispute.’
   The US request will be considered by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body at its next meeting, scheduled on August 31, the USTR said.
   ‘In pursuing this action, the United States is seeking to eliminate significant structural deficiencies that give pirates and counterfeiters in China a safe harbor to avoid criminal liability,’ the trade office said.
   Spicer said that China had taken ‘tangible steps’ in recent years to protect intellectual property, but ‘we still see important gaps that need to be addressed.’
   There was no immediate official reaction from the Chinese government.
   The United States, joined by Canada and the European Union, requested a WTO panel in September 2006 to help settle a dispute over automobile parts. The complainants accuse China of imposing charges that unfairly discriminate against imported auto parts.
   In July, the United States, joined by Mexico, asked for a panel to mediate a dispute over allegedly illicit Chinese subsidies.
   In the documents lodged with the WTO, the two countries target tax breaks they claim China offers to companies if they buy Chinese supplies instead of imported goods or that appear to be based on a firm’s export performance.
   Both cases are still under way.
   When bilateral consultations fail, the WTO in principle has six months to resolve the dispute. Usually the trade body sides in favour of the party bringing the complaint, but the loser has the right to appeal and the dispute can drag on for years.
   The gaping and growing US trade deficit with China — which hit 232.5 billion dollars last year, according to official US figures — has triggered a backlash in the United States.
   US lawmakers are pushing for legislation to allow for sanctions against Beijing over what is seen as its manipulation of the yuan exchange rate to gain an unfair trade advantage.
   Critics of China in the United States say the yuan currency is undervalued by as much as 40 per cent, making Chinese exports cheaper.
   China revalued its currency in July 2005 and Beijing has since repeatedly said it will allow the yuan to strengthen as part of overall reforms to a financial system it says would risk full collapse with a full flotation.

World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy said in remarks published Tuesday that time was running short in the deadlocked six year-old Doha round of talks on reducing barriers to global commerce.
   ‘These negotiations have been the focus of our work over the past year and the time remaining in which to conclude them runs short,’ Lamy said in a foreword to the WTO’s annual report.
   Chief negotiators put forward compromise proposals to the 150 WTO members last month in two crucial and hard-fought areas in the talks, agriculture and industrial goods, in an attempt to break the deadlock.
   They asked trading nations to mull over the proposals during a summer break and to return to Geneva in September for intensive negotiations to seal an agreement.
   Lamy said a deal would send ‘a much needed message of confidence to governments, economic agents and the public’ and would reinforce the foundations of the global economy.
   ‘If we are to conclude these negotiations in the near future, as the WTO members have pledged to do, we will need to make significant progress as soon as possible in the crucial areas of agriculture subsidies, tariffs on agriculture and industrial products,’ he added.
   The Doha Development Round of trade liberalisation talks, launched in the Qatari capital in 2001, is aimed at cutting subsidies and import duties primarily to help developing nations to take advantage of expanding global trade.k

Vietnam will up the pace of reform and make transactions more transparent in a bid to further attract foreign investments, prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Monday.
   ‘The government of Vietnam would like to affirm that we will seriously implement our commitments to the international community,’ he said in a speech to Singapore-based business executives at the start of a two-day visit in Singapore.
   Vietnam’s total trade with the rest of the world is currently at 85 billion US dollars, rising 20 per cent a year over the past 20 years, the premier said. Foreign direct investment has reached more than 80 billion dollars.
   Vietnam, Southeast Asia’s rising economic star with an economic growth rate of 8.2 per cent last year, joined the World Trade Organisation in January, plugging the country to the global economic mainstream.
   Dung said the economy was expected to witness higher growth in the coming years in line with the government’s goals to raise per capita incomes to 1,200 US dollars by 2010.
   He urged investors to look at opportunities in his communist-ruled nation, noting that Vietnam has a young population and abundant work force and that Vietnam would be a ‘fundamentaly industrialised country’ by 2020.
   In a bid to achieve this, the prime minister said Vietnam’s plans to issue one billion dollars worth of government bonds next month.
   But he said Hanoi would also closely monitor conditions in the global financial markets, which have been shaken by problems associated with the US sub-prime credit sector.
   The prime minister also said Vietnam will sell stakes in four state-owned banks.
   Under its membership terms, hammered out with the United States, other trade partners and the WTO over more than a decade, Vietnam must scrap a range of tariffs, subsidies and other barriers that protect local industries.
   In return, Vietnam — a major exporter of oil, textiles, footwear, rice, seafood and coffee — will face fewer hurdles in selling its goods abroad.
   Building key infrastructure and training a top quality work force remained the two major challenges, the premier said.

India Inc is steadily making inroads into Pakistan with as many as 424 Indian companies, manufacturing consumer goods, registering their products with Trademark Registry of the Intellectual Property Organisation in this country.
   There had been substantial increase in registration of trademarks by the Indian firms with the opening of formal trade between the two countries in 2003, Dawn daily quoted officials as saying.
   Forty-five Indian products were registered with the Trademark in 2003, 92 in 2006 and about 43 in the first six months of 2007.
   The registration of Indian products began in Pakistan in 2001 and 42 companies obtained trademark registry.
   The highest number of Indian products, 46, related to bleaching preparations for laundry use, soaps, perfumery, cosmetics, and hair solutions etc.
   As many as 45 Indian products were registered in the class of products falling under pharmaceuticals, veterinary preparations, sanitary preparations for medical purposes, food for babies, material for stopping teeth, dental wax, disinfectants, fungicides and herbicides.
   Trademark Registry director Mohammad Mohsin said that the department provided full protection to products made in India or elsewhere without any discrimination against imitations sold in the local market.
   He cited a case when an attempt was made to sell imitations of products registered in Pakistan by the Indian business group Tata.

The European Central Bank pumped fresh funds into the market for the fourth time in four trading days Tuesday, as the jangled nerves of investors around the globe proved difficult to soothe.
   Amid ongoing turmoil on world markets stemming from the crisis in the US home loan sector, the Frankfurt-based ECB injected 7.7 billion euros ($10.5b).
   It has poured more than 200 billion euros into the market since Thursday, far more than it pumped out to calm nerves in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
   Stock markets worldwide had rallied Monday in response to the coordinated action of the ECB and the US and Japanese central banks.
   But on Tuesday the bourses in London, Paris and Frankfurt opened lower amid continued uncertainty over the possibility of a global credit crunch.
   The concerted action to ensure commercial banks had enough liquidity to continue making loans appeared to be bearing some fruit in Asia and the United States however.
   The Bank of Japan said it would withdraw 600 billion yen ($5.0b) from the money market, which was read as a sign that concerns in Asia were beginning to ease.
   ‘With the central banks supplying liquidity there is a moment of respite in the market, but we can’t let our guard down as we will be looking to see if there is any more negative news,’ said Shigeru Nakane, a senior client manager at Resona Bank in Tokyo.
   Japanese share prices ended the day 0.27 per cent stronger while stocks in Hong Kong climbed 0.53 per cent, reversing early losses as investor focus shifted to prospects of improved earnings results due out this week.
   And Chinese share prices rose 1.09 per cent to another all-time high, extending the previous day’s record-breaking performance.
   Sentiment also brightened after the US Federal Reserve on Monday injected a further two billion dollars into the financial system within the first 10 minutes of the trading session and said it was ready to do more if necessary.
   US shares rose modestly as investors regained confidence.
   ‘The global financial markets should continue to settle down now that global central banks have shown their intent to inject enough liquidity into the banking system to insure the free flow of money between major financial institutions throughout the world,’ said Frederic Dickson, chief market strategist of DA Davidson.
   But he said investors would have to remain vigilant.
   ‘This doesn’t mean that current problems with mortgage-related credit have disappeared. Conditions in the mortgage credit market will probably worsen before its get materially better,’ Dickson warned.
   The ECB, which sets monetary policy in France, Germany, Italy and the 10 other nations that use the euro, sought to calm continental investors, saying the worst appeared to be over for now.
   ‘The ECB notes that money market conditions are now close to normal,’ it said.
   But it said ahead of Tuesday’s cash injection that it was ‘still offering the opportunity to cover any remaining liquidity needs’ before loan to European banks comes this week.
   Later in the day it poured in an additional 17.5 billion euros in its traditional monthly refinancing operation.

US producer price inflation, which tracks the prices paid for goods leaving American factories and farms, rose by more than expected last month mainly due to higher energy costs, the government said Tuesday.
   The Labour Department said producer price inflation ticked up 0.6 per cent in July after declining 0.2 per cent in the prior month. Analysts had only anticipated a 0.1 per cent rise for July.
   The snapshot was released a week after the US Federal Reserve opted to keep US short-term interest rates on hold at 5.25 per cent, saying inflationary threats remained the biggest threat to economic growth.
   The central bank has been battling to ward off potential inflationary threats.

India and Malaysia have adopted a report recommending the establishment of a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement between the two countries, whose bilateral ties are on an accelerated upward swing.
   The 158-page report by a Joint Study Group was signed and adopted by India commerce secretary Gopal K Pillai and Malaysian International Trade and Industry secretary general Abdul Rahman Mamat on behalf of their respective governments over the weekend.
   The JSG has recommended that the India-Malaysia CECA may cover trade in goods, trade in services, investment and other areas of bilateral economic cooperation and partnership.
   A top official at the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur said that the group had recommended that the negotiations on trade in goods, trade in services, investment and other areas of bilateral cooperation commence simultaneously.

Farm output growth in the Philippines slowed to 3.5 per cent in the six months to June, the government said Monday as a dry spell hit the north of the country.
   The figures were well below the 5.4 per cent growth posted in the same period last year, the agriculture department said in a statement.
   Last week Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap conceded that production targets this year are no longer within reach but that the looming drought could still be mitigated since the central and southern sections of the country are enjoying normal rainfall levels.
   The government had earlier set a 5.0 per cent growth in agriculture this year.
   Crops, which accounted for 47 per cent of total output, led by the country’s two major staples, rice and corn, grew 2.63 per cent in the first half, the department said.

Banglalink signed a corporate agreement with the Maharaja Fertiliser and Agro Industries Limited of Rajshahi recently under its ‘enterprise’ package.
   Tanvir Ibrahim, head of Corporate Sales of the banglalink, and M Ohidur Rashid, general manager of the Maharaja Fertiliser and Agro Industries Limited, sign the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations in Rajshahi, said a press release.
   M Azmal Hossain, assistant manager of the Maharaja Fertiliser and Agro Industries Limited, and Mian Mohammad Rashedul Hasan, assistant manager of Corporate Sales of the banglalink, were also present at the deal signing ceremony.
   Under the agreement, the Maharaja Fertiliser and Agro Industries Limited is enjoying special tariff and value added services of the banglalink which has significantly reduced the communication cost of the fertiliser company.

AKTEL signed an agreement with the Pragati Life Insurance Limited on Thursday to provide life insurance coverage to the staff and employees of Pragati Life Insurance.
   Kamshul Kasim, managing director of TMIB (AKTEL), and M Shefaque Ahmed, managing director and actuary of the Pragati Life Insurance Limited, singned agreement at a city hotel on behalf of their respective organisations, said a press release.
   Other senior officials of both the companies were present at the agreement signing ceremony.
   Under the agreement, the staff and employees of AKTEL shall enjoy group life insurance coverage of the Pragati Life Insurance. The group life insurance policy includes, life coverage, accidental death and disability.

The European single currency fell below 1.36 dollars on Tuesday as the greenback was boosted by its status as a safe haven in times of financial instability, dealers said.
   The euro was also held back by weaker - than-expected eurozone growth which diluted prospects of another interest rate hike from the European Central Bank from the current level of 4.00 per cent.
   Elsewhere, the British pound sank beneath 2.00 dollars, as sliding inflation also dampened expectations that the Bank of England would raise borrowing costs in the coming months from 5.75 per cent.
   In early European trade, the euro fell to 1.3563 dollars - the lowest point since July 2 and the first time it had fallen under 1.36 dollars since July 10.
   The euro later stood at 1.3583 dollars, which compared with 1.3608 late in New York on Monday.
   ‘Uncertainty, market volatility and hence risk aversion remains evident in the financial markets,’ said Derek Halpenny, senior currency economist at The Bank of Tokyo - Mitsubishi in London.
   He added: ‘These signs are becoming less evident suggesting that the action from global central banks in recent days to supply the necessary liquidity has helped stabilise confidence.
   ‘In the foreign exchange market the main beneficiaries of the turmoil has been the dollar and the yen.’
   On Tuesday, the ECB injected 7.7 billion euros into the money market to calm liquidity fears in the wake of the crisis in the US home loan sector.
   Later in the day it injected an additional 17.5 billion euros in its traditional monthly refinancing operation.
   The euro faltered after news that economic growth in the 13 - nation eurozone slowed to a lower – than - expected 0.3 per cent in the second quarter, compared with 0.7 per cent in the previous three months, official figures showed Tuesday.
   While the second quarter figures pre - date the current market turmoil induced by the US home loan sector crisis, they were unlikely to boost market sentiment, analysts said.
   ‘Growth slowing from its previous pace in the second quarter ... is likely to weigh on the euro, but as we know, the market environment is dominated by sub – prime/credit woes and not the data for now,’ said CIBC analyst Jodie Tiller.
   In London, the pound dived as low as 1.9995 dollars on Tuesday after official data showed that Britain’s 12-month inflation rate fell by its biggest amount in more than five years during July.
   Britain’s consumer price index annual inflation surprisingly slowed to a rate of 1.9 per cent in July from 2.4 per cent in June, pushed down by falls in food prices and furniture, as well as utility and petrol costs.

Transaction
   Standard Bank
   Kazi Akramuddin Ahmed, one of the sponsors/directors of the bank, has furter reported that he has completed his sale of 25,000 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through stock exchange as announced earlier.
   NCC Bank
   Aslam-ul-Karim and Din M Rana both are sponsors of the bank, have further reported that they have completed their sale/buy of 5,000 shares each of the bank at prevailing market price through stock exchange as announced earlier.
   Exim Bank
   Meer Joynal Abedin, Nahida Akter, Md Nazrul Islam Swapan and Md Altaf Hosain all are sponsors of the bank, have further reported that they have completed their sale/buy of 1,19,010 shares each of the bank at prevailing market price through stock exchange as announced earlier.
   Md Faizullah, another sponsors of the bank, has reported his intention to sell 1,30,000 shares out of his total holdings of 4,99,845 shares of the bank while Md Nazrul Islam Mazumder while sponsors of the bank has reported his intention to buy 1,30,000 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through stock exchange within next 30 working days.
   GQ Ball Pen
   Qazi Md. Salman Sarwar, Sarah Huq and Sana Huq all are sponsors/directors of the company, have reported their intention to sell 30,000, 10,000 and 20,000 shares out of their total holdings of 1,86,400, 1,09,630 and 92,478 shares respectively of the company at prevailing market price through stock exchange within next 30 working days.
   South East Bank
   Md Rafique Chowdhury, one of the sponsors of the bank, has reported his intention to sell 1,20,000 shares out of his total holdings of 5,83,277 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through stock exchange within next 30 working days.
   UCBL
   M A Kalam Ltd, one of the corporate sponsors/directors of the bank, has reported its intention to sell 3,500 shares out of its total holdings of 29,292 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through stock exchange within next 30 working days.
   
   Category degraded
   Himadri
   The Company will be placed in ‘A’ category from existing ‘B’ category with effect from August 15 as the company declared @ 10pc cash dividend for the year 2006.
   
   Trade
   Maq Paper
   Trading of the shares of the company will also be allowed in spot market from August 15 to 22 as book closure will start from August 26.
   ICB AMCL Islamic Mutual Fund
   Trading of the shares of the Fund will remain suspended on record date on August 15.
   Social Investment Bank
   Normal trading of the shares of the bank will resume on August 15 after record date.
   Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd
   Trading of the shares of the company will remain suspended on record date on August 15.
   Source: DSE, CSE

Canon organises Dealers’ Night
Canon’s sole distributor in Bangladesh, JAN Associates, organised a dealers’ night at a local hotel recently to share its overall market performance in the past couple of months. On the night, the company granted the ‘Master Dealer’ award to Sys International and ‘Best Performance Award’ to Tilottoma Computer for outstanding sales performance since June, said a press release. Another 12 dealers were granted cash prize for consistent marketing of Canon system products. On the basis of market performance in last two months Canon has granted an incentive of $20,000 (Tk 15 lakh) among its dealers. The managing director of JAN Associates, Abdullah H Kafi, made a brief presentation on the market achievements and the probable market targets for Canon’s system products. The dealers granted cash prize for their consistent sales performance on Canon system products were Sys International, Tilottoma Computer, Computer Village, Business Link, Sweep Computer, Shurid Computer, Index IT, Techno Care, iMart Computer and Techno Age.
— New Age

China retail sales
up 16.4pc
Chinese retail sales, a key gauge of consumer spending, rose 16.4 per cent in July compared with a year earlier, government data showed Tuesday. Sales totaled 699.8 billion yuan ($92b) and compared with a 16.0 per cent rise in June, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement. Sales in the first seven months of the year increased 15.5 per cent from a year earlier to 4.9 trillion yuan, the NBS added. China’s economic planning agency has said it expects retail sales growth of 12 per cent for all of 2007 but a steady rise on the back of wealthier Chinese consumers is likely to push the figure higher. Consumer prices, another indication of the activity of China’s consumers, rose a startling 5.6 per cent in July from a year earlier, the government said on Monday.
— AFP