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The interim government on Monday launched a new import policy order that reduced the number of restricted categories of import items from 131 under the previous policy order to only 25 in line with the lenders’ prescription for further trade liberalisation.
   The Import Policy Order 2006-09 has imposed restrictions on entry of some items into the country mainly on the grounds of religious sensitivity, and health, environment and national security concerns, keeping virtually no safeguard for the local industries.
   ‘The efforts [in many countries] during the past four decades to keep industries competitive based on high import duty has failed. [So,] Our industries have to be internally competitive to cope with the global challenges,’ the finance and commerce adviser, AB Mirza Azizul Islam, told a media briefing on the policy order at the commerce ministry.
   He claimed the new import policy order was supportive of a process for more trade liberalisation and business competitiveness. ‘The policy has been simplified in keeping with the changes being taken place under the World Trade Organisation and in the free market economy.’
   Any necessary changes will be incorporated into the policy by issuing statutory regulatory orders, Mirza Aziz added.
   The previous Import Policy Order 2003-06 had first restricted import of 131 categories of items, the number of which later came down to 60 and was curtailed again to 25 through an SRO issued in 2005. That policy had remained valid till May 14 Monday as the government failed to formulate a new one in due time, that is by July 2006.
   The import items restricted under the new policy include pork, any print or electronic publication and good that may hurt people’s religious sentiment, any obscene or horror publication including one made on compact disk, tape and film, waste and radioactive materials, certain reconditioned equipment, substandard or stock-lot commodities, all kinds of egg, and any map which does not delineate Bangladesh’s geographical territory properly.
   Commerce ministry sources said the multilateral lending agencies had been persistently exerting pressure on the government to make the list of restricted import items slimmer and the new list of 25 categories of products might see further depletion.
   Under the Import Policy Order 1985-86, as many as 752 categories of products were restricted following the harmonised system code. The number reduced significantly once the country embarked on the lender-driven economic reforms, such as the structural adjustment programmes, in the early 1990s that are held responsible by various quarters for closures and worsened condition of many local industries.
   The government claims the new import policy offers opportunities to the export-oriented industries to become more competitive by providing easy import facilities. ‘How the private sector will now react to the policy and cash in on the opportunities is up to them,’ said Mirza Aziz.
   The policy has vested the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association, instead of the National Board of Revenue, with the authority to issue utilisation declaration certificates against back-to-back letters of credit for imports of raw materials by readymade garment units. RMG units will also be allowed to import as samples 0.3 per cent of their exported products instead of 0.2 per cent as under the previous policy order.
   Asked if there is any risk of misuse of the authority given to such a trade body, the commerce secretary, Firoz Ahmed, said the change had been made after due consultations with the relevant authorities and that it was basically aimed at cutting short the lead time for exporting garment products.
   The import policy also has a provision that allows recognised industrial units to import capital machinery and accessories worth up to $35,000 in stead of the previous $25,000 without opening any LC.
   Under the policy, the registration fees of trade and industrial bodies and indenting firms have been raised to increase the government’s non-tax revenue income, the adviser said.
   The policy also has imposed a four-year age ceiling on import of second hand or reconditioned motor vehicles and made it mandatory to import them from their country of origin only.
   Other new provisions in the policy include restriction on import of poultry birds afflicted with avian influenza, formalin-treated fish, and sodium cyclamate. In case of importing meat from the European countries, the policy makes it mandatory to have the certification that the meat is free of mad cow disease.
   At the briefing, the adviser also claimed that the policy would facilitate rapid import of essential commodities and thus keep the price level stable by increasing their inflow to the domestic market.
   He, however, conceded that the domestic prices of many items these days were determined by the price level in the international market. He said the commerce ministry had been keeping a constant watch on the global market situation.
   He has also received the report of a Centre for Policy Dialogue study on the commodity market situation, the adviser said, adding that necessary steps would be taken in this regard.
   ‘I am not concerned over the overall inflation. What concerns me more is the inflation in essential commodity prices,’ he said in reply to a query of the newsmen.

Turnover on the Dhaka Stock Exchange Monday rose to Tk 117.36 crore, the highest since February 18, due to buying spree of the institutional investors on expectation of bigger foreign portfolio investment.
   ‘The participation of the institutional investors increased on expectation of bigger foreign portfolio investment,’ said Moin Al Kashem, senior vice-president of Prime Finance and Investment.
   He said the recently concluded two-day Dhaka international investors’ conference raised the expectation of bigger participation of the foreign investors in the country’s stock markets at a new level.
   The DSE, Chittagong Stock Exchange and Citigroup jointly organised the international conference titled ‘Bangladesh: The New Investment Frontier’ at the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel on May 10-11.
   On Sunday, the DSE turnover was Tk 82.96 crore while it was Tk 75.61 crore on Thursday.
   Turnover on the CSE also increased to Tk 20.46 crore from the Sunday’s Tk 15.55 crore. On Thursday, the CSE turnover was Tk 15.11 crore.
   Buying spree pushed the stock prices up for the fourth day on the DSE floor.
   The DSE general index gained 18.52 points or 1.02 per cent to close at 1828.96, while the blue chips index, DSE20, advanced by 14.27 points or 0.96 per cent to finish at 1476.73.
   The total market capitalisation on the prime bourse rose to Tk 41,420 crore, the ever highest in the history of country’s stock market. On Sunday, the DSE market capitalisation stood at Tk 41,022 crore.
   Earlier on May 3, the market indicator crossed Tk 40,000 crore mark for the first time.
   CSE selective categories index gained 49.51 points or 1.72 per cent to close at 2923.16, while the blue chips index, CSE30, advanced by 55.97 points or 1.46 per cent to finish at 3886.25.
   Power Grid Company Bangladesh topped the turnover leaders on the DSE with a total sale of Tk 15.96 crore while the state-owned electricity company was second biggest turnover leader on the CSE with Tk 2.17 crore.
   BRAC Bank was the second biggest turnover leader on the DSE with Tk 14.83 crore while the private commercial bank topped the turnover leaders on the CSE with Tk 2.21 crore.
   Summit Power, Square Pharmaceuticals, Southeast Bank, Pubali Bank, Prime Bank and AB Bank were among the top 10 turnover leaders on both DSE and CSE.
   Dhaka Electric Supply Company and Heidelberg Cement were also among the top 10 turnover leaders on the DSE while Rupali Bank, Shahjalal Islami Bank and Bextex were among the top 10 turnover leaders on the CSE.

The two-day 36th meeting of the board of directors of the Asian Clearing Union will begin at the Sheraton Hotel today. The Bangladesh Bank governor, Salehuddin Ahmed, who has been elected chariman of the union, will chair the meeting.
   The union was established in 1974 to settle multilateral payments and to promote monetary coopeartion among its member countries.
   The central banks of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are members of the union.
   Afghanistan is also taking part in the meeting as an observer.
   The Bangladesh Bank executive director, Khandakar Muzharul Haque, who chairs the ACU technical committee, will make a presentation at the meeting.
   The committee recommended improvement in services of the banks in the member countries and increase the number of members.

Nobel peace prize winner Mohammed Yunus will attend a US senate hearing, scheduled for Wednesday morning, and place his arguments in favour of duty-free access for apparels made in Bangladesh and a few other least developed countries to the United States.
   Apparel sector leaders in Bangladesh are hoping that Yunus will be able to convince US lawmakers to understand the positive impact of preferential market access for Bangladesh and other LDCs.
   Sources close to Yunus and the leaders of factory owners told New Age that Yunus was to fly from Caracas to Washington on Monday to attend the hearing.
   ‘Professor Yunus’s presentation at the hearing will mobilise support for the demand for duty free access of Bangladesh and some other LDCs,’ said Anwar-ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association.
   AKM Fazlul Hoque, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association, said they had informed Yunus of the position of the garment industry in Bangladesh.
   ‘We told him that we badly need duty-free access to US market as the exporters in LDCs are now under growing pressure from the exporters in China and other developed countries,’ he said
   In line with its pledge at WTO forums to give trade benefits to poor economies, the United Stats a couple of months ago started gathering opinions of the public and stakeholders on the issue. As part of the process, the finance committee of the US senate is set to hear the issue.
   During a recent visit to the United States, BKMEA and BGMEA leaders discussed the issue with US senators and high officials.
   After their return to Bangladesh end-April, they urged Yunus to go to Washington. The US senate also invited Yunus.
   Fourteen least developed countries, including Bangladesh, have long been lobbying for a duty-free access of their products to the US market.
   The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association earlier spent a huge amount on a US-based lobbyist farm and arranged a visit of Yunus to convince the US lawmakers to initiate a duty free-access bill for LDCs as the one in force for African and Caribbean nations.
   In 2006, the United States, which is the single largest market for Bangladesh apparels, imported apparels worth $2.91 billion. Bangaldeshi apparels were subject to tariff rates between 14 per cent and 17 per cent in major categories.

The Privatisation Commission is expected to sign the final sales and purchase agreement with Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia by this month to disinvest 93.26 per cent shares of the Rupali Bank for $458 million.
   ‘We hope, the SPA [sales and purchase agreement] will be signed this month. Even if the prince does not come in person, somebody will be here on his behalf to sign it,’ the commission’s chairman, M Abu Solaiman Chowdhury, told New Age on Monday evening.
   The chairman met the finance and planning adviser, AB Mirza Solaiman Chowdhury, on Sunday and discussed the latest developments in the privatisation of the Rupali Bank.
   The finance ministry, as custodian of the national exchequer, expects the price for Rupali Bank to be paid in the shortest possible time to see augmentation in the inflow of foreign exchange, said sources in the ministry and also in the commission.
   ‘Once the SPA is signed, the cheque of $458 million will be handed over to us,’ said Solaiman, referring to his talks with the finance ministry and his constant contact with representatives of the Arab prince.
   When asked about the stalemate in Rupali Bank’s disinvestment process, an official of the commission said that ninety-nine per cent of the pending issues related to the selling of the bank’s shares had already been settled. ‘What little problems that are left are related to investment, hardly to privatisation,’ he added.
   The commission recently wrote to Prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Abdul Rahman Al Saud to come to Bangladesh and sign the agreement. The two sides signed the draft of the sales and purchase agreement in October 2006 after the prince won the bidding with a $330 million offer to acquire 67.26 per cent of the shares of the bank in August 2006. Later the government agreed to sell another 26 per cent of the shares in response to interest shown by the prince.

Bangladesh Krishi Bank arranges three weeks ‘Modhumela’ programme beginning from Tuesday at its 947 branches of the country to disburse and recover loans.
   It is desired that bank will disburse quality loans and recover all types of classified loans during the programme in the Bengali month of Jaistha, said a release.
   A special importance has been given to contact with all the borrowers personally.
   The officers and staff of the branches will invite their customers through drum beating, leaflet, miking and frequent publicity at villages and hat-bazars during the May 15-31 Modhumela programme.
   To make the programme successful, the bank management has already sent high officials from its head office to field level for strengthening the loan disbursement and recovery activities.
   Through the recently concluded programme ‘Shuvo Halkhata’ Krishi Bank disbursed and recovered loans at desired level.

The central bank Monday asked the banks to keep at least 10 per cent capital against their risk weighted assets in a bid to safeguard depositors’ interests by improving risk management ability.
   The new rule would force banks to increase their equity and statutory reserves. But state-run banks may face trouble in complying with the directive due to a large number of non-performing loans as well as dues to various government agencies such as the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, bankers said.
   The Bangladesh Bank asked the banks to ensure the ratio within December 31, 2007. The BB directive came in line with its plan to implement Basel II, a banking norm that is designed to improve a bank’s ability to manage and face risks in day to day banking gradually. ‘It is a very good move. It will safeguard depositors’ money,’ Syed Abu Naser Bukhtear Ahmed, chief executive of the state-run Agrani Bank, told this news agency.

Geert W Boven, executive vice president of Etihad Airways, is scheduled to arrive in the city today to attend the official opening ceremony of Etihad Airways Bangladesh’s new office at Gulshan.
   During his brief visit, he is also expected to join the anniversary party of Etihad Airways Bangladesh at Hotel Sheraton. The airways marked its first successful year in Bangladesh on May 4.
   Geert joined Etihad Airways as vice president at the end of 2005 bringing over 27 years of professional experience. He has overall responsibility for worldwide sales, ground services, catering and in-flight cabin crew services, said a press release.
   Between May and October 2006, Geert was appointed as acting CEO until a new CEO was appointed.
   Prior to joining Etihad Airways, he was the CEO of OAD Group, a Dutch tour operator.

Corporate investment in France, which economists say will do more to spark a recovery in the listless French economy than consumption, should rebound this year after stagnating in 2006, a survey showed on Monday.
   But analysts reacted cautiously to the report, noting that previous such predictions had failed to bear fruit.
   The national statistics institute INSEE, citing a quarterly survey of business leaders, said in the manufacturing sector alone investment was likely to expand 5.0 to 7.0 per cent.
   ‘A decline in investment in the automobile industry was offset by an increase in the capital goods sector,’ INSEE reported.
   Investment in capital goods production is forecast to rise 15 per cent this year, up from 11 percent predicted in the agency’s January survey. The auto sector, by contrast, was likely to experience a 7.0 per cent fall in investment, compared with a 5.0 per cent decline projected in January.
   Newly elected French leader Nicolas Sarkozy, who will assume the presidency on Wednesday, campaigned on a platform of market-orientated reforms to booste French industry through tax incentives, deregulation and an increase in consumer purchasing power.
   But analyst Nicolas Bouzou of the research group Asteres argue that investment rather than consumption drive economic momentum in the long term.
   ‘Consumption can provide a temporary spike to growth but investment keeps it going over the long term. It’s something the Germans understand very well and new team in France would do well to keep it in mind.’
   Marc Touati, an economist with the consulting group ACDE, said the latest INSEE poll should be treated ‘with caution.’
   He said, ‘For the last five years French business leaders questioned by INSEE have said in April they expected increased annual investment, with the final result being either stagnation or a decline.’
   Touati also noted that only 17 per cent of business investment announced for this year is earmarked for increased capacity, the type of expenditure that has the potential to create jobs.
   Half of the planned investment is for renovation or rationalisation, ‘investment that in the best case either keeps employment stable, or eliminates positions.’
   At the market research firm Xerfi analyst Alexander Law described the latest INSEE survey as ‘reassuring,’ holding out the possibility that manufacturing investment would increase in 2007 for the first time in six years.
   But looming over the optimistic forecasts is the sputtering US economy, its momentum hobbled by a deteriorating housing market, Law said.
   ‘However dynamic emerging market countries might be, it is the United States that has determined the pace of global growth over the last few years,’ he said.
   In addition an appreciating euro could pose a problem for certain companies, making their goods more expensive and less competitive on world markets.
   But Law added that for the moment French businesses have managed to cope with the effects of a rising currency.

South Korea is considering partially privatising several state-owned companies in an attempt to make the stock market more competitive internationally, officials said Monday.
   Prime minister Han Duck-Soo has ordered government ministries to consider offering a 20-30 per cent stake in the companies on the market, the finance ministry said.
   ‘Our ministry has been ordered to conduct a feasibility study on this matter,’ an official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
   The move is aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of South Korea’s stock market by listing more blue chips, he said.
   Finance minister Kwon O-Kyu, speaking a conference Monday, did not specifically mention the partial privatisation plan.
   ‘The government will also seek ways to supply blue-chip stocks in the market, for Korean capital markets to achieve high growth in harmony with other sectors of the economy,’ he said.
   He said South Korea would also reduce listing requirements and procedures to encourage foreign companies to enter the bourse.

India’s fast growing economy and leaping information technology sector is attracting home more and more Indians from the Silicon Valley and the Indus Entrepreneur Group estimates that around 60,000 may have returned in recent years, a media report said on Monday.
   No region of the United States has been more affected by this trend than Silicon Valley. TIE had reported in 2003 that between 15,000 and 20,000 Indians have returned and Charter member of the organisation Vish Mishra told San Jose Mercury News that the trend had continued and about 40,000 more had gone back in the last four years.
   Mishra, who is a senior venture partner with Clearstone Ventures, said the flow of investment capital to India also has expanded, much of it from Silicon Valley VC firms.
   Clearstone Venture Partners now has an office in Mumbai, as do many other firms those either are based in or originated in Silicon Valley.
   During the 12-month period that ended in August 2006, Mishra told the paper, VC firms invested 2 billion dollars in early and late-stage companies. The report quotes a study released earlier this year by Anna-Lee Saxenian of the University of California-Berkeley and Duke University, as saying Indians founded 15 per cent of all Silicon Valley start-ups.
   The study also found that 53 per cent of the science and engineering workforce in the valley is foreign-born, and that one-quarter of immigrant-founded engineering and scientific companies set up in the United States during the past decade were by Indians.

The International Monetary Fund voiced concern on Monday that wage increases and easy credit are fuelling inflation in Estonia, and have probably put the euro out of reach until at least 2010.
   Rising incomes, high expectations that economic growth will continue, and the easy availability of low-cost finance have ‘pushed domestic demand well above sustainable levels in 2006’ and fuelled inflation, the IMF said in a report published at the end of a two-week assessment visit.
   High inflation last year forced Estonia to put off plans to adopt the euro, which it had originally aimed to do at the start of this year. No new date has been set for making the switch from the kroon to the single currency euro.
   ‘The authorities need to reassure markets about their commitment to euro adoption,’ the IMF said. ‘Inflation, pushed up by convergence-related and cyclical factors, is likely to remain above the Maastricht limit for the rest of this decade,’ it said.
   Inflation in Estonia ran at 5.5 per cent in April over 12 months.
   The strict EU-set Maastricht criteria for adopting the euro stipulate that countries must have an inflation rate no higher than the average of the three lowest rates in the EU, plus 1.5 per cent.
   The inflation average for the whole 27-member EU in March was lower than 3 per cent.
   The IMF report predicted the Estonian economy will grow by about 9.0 per cent this year, down from the GDP growth of 11.4 per cent in 2006.
   Like other former communist states that joined the European Union in 2004, Estonia’s economy has been growing at breakneck speed as it catches up to older EU member states, making it difficult to keep inflation down.
   Delays to euro adoption, plus an overheating economy and ‘political tensions with Russia’ have driven the IMF to air concerns about Estonia’s economic prospects, the report said.
   ‘The authorities need to lock in more realistic expectations and contain current risks by keeping the fiscal position tight and reinforcing prudential policies,’ the IMF said. During the IMF team’s visit to Estonia, relations between Tallinn and Moscow plummeted to their lowest level since Estonia regained independence from the USSR in 1991.
   Tensions between the neighbouring states were sparked by a decision by the Estonian authorities to move a memorial to Soviet Red Army soldiers who fought in World War II from the centre of Tallinn to a military cemetery.
   Russians, including the large community that lives in Estonia, see the statue as a sacred monument to those who fought Nazism, while to Estonians it is a reminder of 50 years of Soviet occupation.
   Estonian officials have said Russia is imposing ‘hidden sanctions’ on the Baltic state over the statue row, and had a hand in cyber-attacks launched against Estonian state websites.

Chinese investment in Africa remains a one-way street and Beijing must do more to ensure its money truly benefits the continent, the head of the African Development Bank said Monday.
   In an interview ahead of the bank’s meeting in Shanghai, its president Donald Kaberuka told AFP that China’s involvement was vital to the continent’s development but Beijing needed to give more in terms of technology transfer and reserving some key posts in Chinese projects for Africans.
   ‘Those issues, we have to deal with them. There are real and they are a source of friction,’ Kaberuka said.
   ‘In areas like textiles and some low-level products, those issues should be dealt with because otherwise that would compromise the bigger picture.’
   Kaberuka said the bank’s decision to hold its annual meeting Wednesday in China’s financial hub indicated the growing importance of Sino-African ties.
   China has launched a major push to increase its aid, investment and overall influence in Africa but has drawn accusations that it is motivated purely by the need to gain access to the continent’s oil and other natural resources.
   Beijing has been quick to highlight its construction of roads and other infrastructure in some countries and to dismiss comparisons with the past colonial plundering of African resources by Western powers.
   However, Kaberuka said China’s interest in the continent remains centred on its resources and much work is needed to ensure a more mature economic partnership.
   ‘Africa is still a commodity-dependent economy so whether our partners are looking for commodities is central to the relationship.’
   Kaberuka said Africa, with the bank’s leadership and China’s cooperation, needs to plan how to move up the economic value chain by first investing in its own infrastructure.

Chinese consumer prices rose 3.0 per cent in April, down from March but still at the government’s warning level amid growing concern about the prospect of a return to inflation, figures showed Monday.
   Coming at the start of a week of a series of key economic data, the outcome suggested the central bank might have to take resolute monetary action sooner rather than later, analysts predicted.
   ‘The central bank is facing quite a lot of pressure to rein in liquidity and adjust interest rates,’ said Zhu Jianfang, an analyst with CITIC Securities based in Beijing.
   ‘If investment also picks up, then it’s very likely that we’ll see an interest rate hike by the end of this month,’ he said, referring to fixed-asset investment figures that will be made public Thursday.
   The consumer price index, a key indicator of inflation in the world’s fourth-largest economy, was down slightly from a year-on-year rise of 3.3 per cent in March, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.
   While the headline numbers, including a month-on-month drop of 0.1 per cent, suggested a slight easing, analysts argued the opposite was more likely to be the case, with the downturn largely accounted for by a fall in food costs.
   ‘The decline in CPI was primarily caused by a 0.6 per cent month-on-month drop in food prices,’ Lehman Brothers said in a research note. ‘All other items are showing higher prices in April, suggesting that ‘core CPI’ inflation pressure may be on the rise.’
   The government is targeting an inflation rate within 3.0 per cent this year and consumer inflation is one of the key measures that the central bank monitors when deciding what monetary measures to adopt.
   In the first four months of the year, consumer inflation was up 2.8 per cent from the same period in 2006, according to the bureau.
   If this trend continues through the year, putting money in the bank could eventually imply a guaranteed loss, as the one-year deposit rate is currently just 2.79 per cent.

The prime minister of Laos arrived in Japan Monday in a bid to boost investment and tourism from Asia’s largest economy in the landlocked communist state, the foreign ministry said.
   Bouasone Bouphavanh will meet his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe ‘to further ties of amity between the two countries which include commercial ties,’ a Japanese foreign ministry official said. The Laotian prime minister ‘is here to seek further Japanese investment in Laos and increased human exchanges, particularly Japanese tourists to Laos as Laotians can’t afford visiting Japan,’ she added.
   Japan in turn is expected to ask Laos to use its influence to pressure North Korea over its nuclear weapons programme and a dispute about its past abductions of Japanese nationals.
   Laos has friendly relations with fellow communist North Korea, which has tense ties with Japan. Bouasone will also have an audience with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, and meet with Japanese business leaders and the government-backed Japan Bank for International Cooperation before leaving Thursday.

Japan’s current account surplus widened by more than a third in March, hitting unexpected records for the month and fiscal year on the back of strong exports and returns on overseas investments, figures showed Monday.
   The surplus got a boost from a steady fall in the price of crude oil, which is a major import item for Japan as the world’s second largest economy has virtually no energy resources of its own.
   Japan’s surplus, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, rose 36.9 year-on-year to hit a record 3.32 trillion yen ($27.6b) in March, the finance ministry said. The market had expected a smaller surplus of about 2.92 trillion yen.
   In the year to March 2007, the surplus rose 11.1 per cent to 21.25 trillion yen, also a record since the finance ministry introduced the current statistics in 1985. Historically, Japan has run a large surplus in its current account.
   The sharply higher surplus helped bring cheer to investors on the Tokyo Stock Exchange where share prices rose more than one per cent in morning trade, although the market ended off early highs due to concerns over corporate earnings.

Global rating agency Standard and Poor has rated Leela palaces, hotels, and resorts as one of the best challengers of 2007 that have been giving a tough time to their global counterparts.
   Leela palaces, hotels and resorts were among eight Indian hospitality firms listed by Standard and Poor as one of the best challengers of 2007, Hotel Leelaventure said in a communique to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
   The rating agency has identified 300 firms worldwide that could pose a challenge to international players in their respective fields.
   Last year, three Indian commercial banks had featured in the list. This year, however, the list did not include any bank.
   S&P has drawn the list on the basis of market capitalisation of a company, which has to be in the range of 500 million dollars to 5 billion dollars.
   The company also has to post appreciation in share prices for three years in a row, growth in earnings per share and rise in the number of employees.
   Leela has luxury hotels in Mumbai, Bangalore, Kovalam Beach, Goa and Delhi. It has also acquired land in the diplomatic enclave in New Delhi at Rs 611 crore for a super luxury seven-star hotel besides new projects at Gurgaon, Udaipur, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.
   All these would be operational between 2007 and 2010, the company said.

The dollar was steady in Asian trade Monday after a sharp rise in Japan’s current account surplus and concerns over the US housing market persisted ahead of a series of US data, dealers said.
   The dollar was trading at 120.17 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade from 120.19 in New York late Friday. The euro firmed to 1.3548 dollars from 1.3523 and to 162.79 yen from 162.56.
   Japan on Monday reported that its current account surplus rose sharply in March, beating expectations as overseas investments became more profitable and oil prices slipped.
   Dealers said they were now looking ahead to growth figures for the three months to March due out Thursday.
   ‘Improvement in growth will improve the overall Japanese market psychology. Companies are crossing their fingers for growth data that will be supportive,’ Matsumoto said. The Bank of Japan will hold a two-day monetary policy meeting starting Wednesday although the central bank’s lending rate is expected to stay on hold at 0.5 per cent.
   Governor Toshihiko Fukui will speak after the meeting, with investors awaiting his assessment of the Japanese economy’s outlook.
   Market participants expect the BoJ to hike rates one more time later this year to 0.75 per cent as Fukui has expressed a desire to normalise monetary policy to align with higher lending costs elsewhere. Investors were also looking ahead to a slew of key economic data in the United States this week to get a clearer picture on the orientation of the world’s biggest economy.
   The consumer price index and housing data, including home buyer sentiment, housing starts and building permits will be closely watched to see whether a weak housing market has spilled over onto household consumption.

As Oil prices were narrowly mixed in Asian trade Monday in a market focussed on tightness in US gasoline supplies ahead of the US summer vacation driving season, dealers said.
   At 1:50 pm, New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, was up four cents at 62.41 dollars per barrel from 62.37 dollars in late US trades on Friday.
   Brent North Sea crude for June was down four cents at 66.79 dollars. Victor Shum, of Purvin and Gertz in Singapore, said a number of factors were driving the market.
   ‘The gasoline price strains provide some support to the crude oil market although crude oil inventories in the US are at comfortable levels,’ Shum said.

Profit
   Peoples Leasing and Fin Service Ltd.
   As per audited accounts as on December 31, the company has reported net profit of Tk 147.72m with EPS of Tk 43.17 as against Tk 80.92m and Tk 23.65 respectively as on December 31, 2005.
   Safko Spinnings
   As per audited accounts as on December 31, 2006, the company has reported net profit of Tk 5.67m with EPS of Tk 3.54 as against Tk 5.26m and Tk 3.29 respectively as on December 31, 2005.
   Mercantile Insurance Co. Ltd.
   As per audited accounts as on December 31, 2006, the company has reported net profit of Tk 15.21m with EPS of Tk 10.14 as against Tk 17.35m and Tk. 11.57 respectively as on December 31, 2005.
   AB Bank
   As per audited accounts as on December 31, 2006, the bank has reported net profit of Tk 532.19m with EPS of Tk 93.08 as against Tk 162.45m and Tk 28.41 respectively as on December 31, 2005.
   Pioneer Insurance
   As per audited accounts as on December 31, 2006, the company has reported net profit of Tk 35.60m with EPS of Tk 23.73 as against Tk 34.05m and Tk 22.70 respectively as on December 31, 2005.
   
   Loss
   Modern Industries
   As per audited accounts as on December 31, 2006, the company has reported net loss of Tk 0.47m with EPS of
   Tk 3.59 as against net profit of Tk 0.30m and Tk 2.33 respectively as on December 31, 2005. However, accumulated loss of the company was Tk 75.08m as on December 31, 2006.
   Dividend
   Rupali Insurance
   The board of directors has recommended stock dividend @ 20pc for the year 2006. Annual general meeting of the will be held on July 25, 2007 at the ball room of Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, Dhaka. Book closure on July 4 to 25.
   Agrani Insurance Co. Ltd.
   The board of directors has recommended cash dividend @ 7% for the year 2006. Annual general meeting will be held on June 27 at the Bangladesh Institute of Administration and Management, 63, New Eskaton, Dhaka. Record date: June 3.
   
   Transection
   Prime Bank
   Khushe Akhter, one of the sponsors of the bank, has reported her intention to sell 12,000 shares out of her total holding of 52,066 shares of the bank while Capt Imam Anwar Hossain, one of the directors of the bank has reported his intention to buy 12,000 shares of the sank at prevailing market price through stock exchange within next 30 working days.
   
   Trade
   Rupali Insurance
   There will be no price limit on the trading of the shares of the company on May 15 following its corporate declaration.
   National Tea
   Trading of the shares of the Company will also be allowed in spot market with cum benefit from 15.05.07 to 16.05.07 as book closure will start from May 20.
   Relianc Insurance
   Trinco Ltd and Transfin Trading Ltd both are corporate sponsors of the company, have reported their intention to buy 3,777 shares each of the company at prevailing market price through stock exchange within next 30 working days.
   Source: DSE, CSE

ONGC’s Tripura plant to start power generation by 2011
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Monday said power generation from its proposed 750 MW gas-based thermal project in Palatana in South Tripura would start by 2011. Currently, ONGC is extracting three million cubic metre gas from 124 wells in Tripura and drilling is on at 64 new places in the state to fulfill the requirements of the Palatana project in which the ONGC has nearly 70 per cent stake, chairman and managing director RS Sharma told reporters in Agartala Sunday night. Nearly 4.5 million cubic metre gas per day would be needed to run the project. Sharma, who was here to oversee exploration and drilling works, also met chief minister Manik Sarkar and governor Dinesh Nandan Sahaya Sunday. The state-run oil PSU would invest Rs 5,000 crore for the Palatana project.
— PTI

Cerberus to buy majority of Chrysler for $7.4b
Private equity firm Cerberus will buy the majority of DaimlerChrysler’s struggling Chrysler Group for $7.4 billion, a fraction of the 36 billion dollars deal that created the transatlantic car union nine years ago. Cerberus Capital Management gets an 80.1 per cent stake in Chrysler and its related financial services business, DaimlerChrysler said on Monday, ending what was billed as a marriage made in heaven but never lived up to the name. The deal, months in the making, puts a major US automaker in the hands of a private equity group for the first time. ‘Cerberus is the right strategic buyer for Chrysler, with a long-term commitment to Chrysler’s growth and success.
— Reuters