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More than one in every five garment units in the country still does not pay regularly their workers who are struggling with the rising costs of living.
   A recent report of the labour ministry disclosed such callousness of the garment owners while labour rights activists claimed the situation to be even severer, which, they think, might instigate mass outbursts of workers anytime.
   A report delivered to the ministry from the office of the Chief Inspector of Factories cited that its inspection teams had visited 353 garment units in March.
   The teams found that 56 or 21.22 per cent of the factories did not pay wages and overtime payments regularly while 55 of them did not pay overtime bills at all.
   The report also showed that around five per cent of the factories still did not pay the legally-set minimum wages to their workers.
   Garment owners, however, disapproved the report arguing that due to disruption in production, mainly due to erratic gas and power supply, some owners might have faced difficulties in paying in time.
   ‘Frequent power outages or erratic supply of gas is disrupting production in factories massively. So, the owners of the factories are facing difficulties to complete the ordered production,’ said Anwar Ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
   Such disruption in production delays payments from the buyers or their agents to many small and medium factory owners, he said. ‘Some financially weak factories might be facing difficulties in paying regularly because of this.’
   ‘As per the law, every factory owner is obliged to pay monthly wages to their workers within seven working days of the next month,’ said Nazma Akter, a leader of the garment workers. ‘But, we have found workers in many factories crying for wages weeks after weeks.’
   Nazma, who represented workers in a tripartite committee that, at the end of 2006, recommended revised minimum wage for garment workers, said, ‘It is just inhuman if garment owners keep their workers unpaid while workers struggle for three meals a day with prices of foods rising continuously.’
   Labour leaders and activists say government does only ‘lip services’ regarding implementations of labour rights as they found no effective action against factory owners violating workers rights.
   Nazma Yasmin, programme officer at the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, said they found the garment owners callous about paying their workers.
   She said, ‘Almost every day workers, in a number of factories, are protesting at irregular payments or underpayments.’
   ‘If the authorities mete out exemplary punishment to some owners violating workers rights, the rest will be following rules, but the government is not doing this seriously,’ said Nazma Akter.
   Seeking anonymity, a garment workers leader in the Gazipur area, told New Age that they were in a suffocating situation under the emergency rules as they could not campaign against violation of workers rights.
   Officials at the compliance monitoring cell at the Ministry of Commerce told New Age that the government was trying to make garment owners obliged to comply with the rules.
   ‘We are trying to block necessary documents of exporters if they do not go by the labour rules,’ a senior official of the cell informed New Age.
   He added that the monitoring cell at the Export Promotion Bureau so far issued show causes to at least two garment exporting units as they flouted the rules.

Stocks dropped on Monday due to selling pressure from investors, said market operators.
   The general index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange lost 25.42 points or 0.82 per cent to close at 3061.69, while its blue chips index, DSE20, shed 21.07 points or 0.88 per cent to finish at 2380.18.
   A DSE stock broker said market witnessed a selling pressure from investors, which pushed share prices of most of the securities down.
   Chittagong Stock Exchange’s selective categories index lost 13.66 points or 0.25 per cent to close at 5545.79, while its blue chips index, CSE30, shed 75.81 points or 1.01 per cent to finish at 7431.89.
   Of the total 250 issues traded at the Dhaka Stock Exchange, 38 advanced, 203 declined and nine remained unchanged while out of 150 issues traded at the CSE, 28 posted gains, 117 dropped and five remained unchanged.
   Turnover at the DSE decreased to Tk 265.88 crore from the Sunday’s Tk 299.26 crore and the CSE turnover went down to Tk 32.84 crore from Tk 37.81 crore.
   AB Bank topped the turnover leaders at the DSE with total transactions of Tk 13.92 crore followed by United Commercial Bank with turnover of Tk 13.45 crore.
   On Monday, in response to a DSE query, UCBL informed the bourses that the court adjourned the hearing of matter numbers 01/2008, 05/2008, 10/2008 and 11/2008 relating to pending issues of the AGMs of the bank till April 29 and those would appear in the cause list on that date for hearing as part heard, DSE official website reported.
   Other turnover leaders at the prime bourse were Keya Cosmetics, Square Pharmaceuticals, Jamuna Oil Company, ACI, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, IFIC Bank, Pragati Insurance and BATBC.

The government will provide support to labour-intensive industrial sector on priority basis in the upcoming budget, NBR chairman Abdul Mazid hinted on Monday.
   The income tax slab for women entrepreneurs of the country will be reduced, he said at a seminar on the ‘Budget 2008-09: Aspiration of Women Entrepreneurs’ organised by the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the city.
   Telecommunications, cement and other hi-tech industries are capital intensive where small number of people work, but garment, cottage industries, and small and medium enterprises, are labour-intensive where a large number of womenfolk work, he said.
   Many of the women entrepreneurs will get out of the tax net after the next budget as the ceiling of income tax at individual level will be revised upward, he informed.
   The chief of National Board of Revenue admitted that the women entrepreneurs were being harassed by the tax officials, taking the advantage of their ignorance.
   He observed that the revenue officials should change their mindset and transform them to match with the present day situation.
   Mazid also informed that the NBR would impart training to the women entrepreneurs soon on tax, VAT and other concerned issues as they could disseminate the knowledge relating to taxes to other entrepreneurs.
   The big business houses can outsource some of its produces and give more concentration on its core function, he observed.
   Citing example of Toyota, he said the company assembles car but all its parts and machineries are produced by other companies.
   Addressing the seminar president of women chamber Selima Ahmad demanded that the government should reduce VAT to 5-7 per cent from the existing 15 per cent.
   She observed the revenue structure should be small entrepreneurs-friendly to help flourish the small businesses.
   But ‘their issues are not addressed properly as they do not have lobbyist at upper level of the government or in the civil society,’ she said.
   Selima said ‘some unscrupulous tax officials behave poorly and harass us for bribe.’
   Referring to the facing stiff competition from the entrepreneurs of the neighbouring countries, she observed that the government, if do not ban, should impose high tariff on importing the products which are produced in country to patronage local entrepreneurs.
   Ruba Rummana, assistant professor of Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, during her presentation at the seminar, demanded a block allocation of Tk 100 crore in the fiscal budget for development of the women entrepreneurship.
   She also demanded that the government should create assets for women and reduce income tax.

Oil prices hit a historic peak close to 120 dollars on Monday as energy supplies were disrupted in Britain and Nigeria, traders said.
   New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, jumped to 119.93 dollars on Monday, beating last Thursday’s previous peak of 119.90.
   The contract later stood at 118.92 dollars, up 40 cents from Friday’s close.
   London’s Brent North Sea crude for June rose 22 cents to 116.56 dollars on Monday after striking an all-time high of 117.56 dollars on Friday.
   ‘Crude hit record highs of 119.93 dollars amid supply disruptions in Nigeria and the North Sea which have underpinned oil prices since Friday and are likely to continue influencing the market in the short term,’ said Sucden analyst Nimit Khamar.
   ‘In Nigeria, unidentified gunmen over the weekend killed five police officers in the Niger Delta region, sparking concerns of further supply disruption in the area,’ Khamar noted.
   In Britain, a strike at a Scottish refinery in Grangemouth, west of Edinburgh, has forced energy giant BP to shut down the neighbouring Forties pipeline which supplies 40 per cent of the country’s oil and gas.
   Around 1,200 workers are staging a two-day walkout, which began on Sunday, in a dispute over proposed changes to their pension rights. The strike has sparked panic buying of motor fuel in parts of Britain.
   The Forties pipeline brings more than 700,000 barrels of crude oil ashore every day and supplies Britain and international markets. It cannot function without power and steam from Grangemouth. At the same time, Nigeria — Africa’s biggest crude producer — has also been hit by industrial action.
   ExxonMobil’s Nigerian affiliate said Monday that a 5-day strike by white collar employees had caused output losses.
   A spokesman for Mobil Producing Nigeria said the company was attempting to open talks with the strikers. He would not disclose the volume of the loss. Its production is normally about 780,000 barrels per day.
   Members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria began the strike on Wednesday after pay and conditions negotiations with the management stalled.
   Union officials had warned the strike would ‘cripple exports.’ ExxonMobil is the second largest oil company in Nigeria after Royal Dutch Shell.
   Nigeria is Africa’s biggest producer with a daily output of 2.1 million barrels but unrest in the oil-rich Niger Delta has cut exports by a quarter since January 2006.
   Last week, Shell said it had reduced output by 165,000 barrels per day following the sabotage of pipelines to the Bonny export terminal in southern Nigeria.
   Over the past two weeks, crude prices have smashed through a series of record highs, sparking widespread international concern among consumer nations.
   The market has also been supported by a weak dollar, tightening global supplies and the OPEC cartel’s reluctance to raise output, traders said.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has planned to make its competitor Jet Air Private Limited, a concern of Jet Airways, as sales and marketing agent in India amid fears of conflict of interests and subsequent business loss.
   ‘Jet is our trusted partner and has been with us for the last 30 years. We will make it our general sales agent in India,’ AM Mossadique Ahmed, Biman’s director sales and marketing, told New Age on Monday.
   The move came few months after the government turned the loss-making national carrier into a public limited company and within few weeks of signing deal for procuring new generation aircraft directly from Boeing.
   Asked whether it would lead to a “conflict of interest” between the two companies having common routes, the Biman official said, ‘Theoretically not, because Jet Air is a different company [though run by same owners].’
   But it has been reported that the Biman has been losing its market in India after Jet Airways started its operation on Dhaka-Kolkata and Dhaka-New Delhi routes in December last year. Insiders say the continuation of Jet Air as Biman’s sales agent in India would harm Biman’s business. But an influential section is learnt to have been pursuing continuation and expansion of its GSA all over India for Biman, they add.
   Jet Air Private Limited, then a Mumbai-based travel agency, was made Biman’s GSA in 1977.
   But, its concern Jet Airways has now become India’s leading private airline with 380 flights operating daily to 45 destinations worldwide, including in Bangladesh.
   The Indian private airline now operates daily flight between Dhaka and Kolkata and four flights in a week between Dhaka and New Delhi. Biman too operates with flight frequency of seven and two between Dhaka and the two Indian destinations respectively.
   Since the Jet flights started operation from Dhaka, the numbers of Biman’s passengers on Dhaka-Delhi route reduced drastically and the frequency of Biman flights went down.
   According to available statistics, Biman carried only 790 passengers between December 16, 2007 and April 10, 2008 by 10 flights. As per the flight frequency, Biman was supposed to operate 32 flights during this period.
   Biman carried a total of 1,060 passengers by 10 similar flights before the Jet started four flights a week between Dhaka and New Delhi.

The BRAC Bank Limited held its 9th annual general meeting and 6th extraordinary general meeting in the Dhaka city on Thursday.
   In the meetings, the bank declared 10 per cent stock dividend (bonus shares) for its shareholders for the year ended on December 31, 2007, said a press release.
   The shareholders approved the issuance of 1:5 right share — one right share for every five ordinary share of Tk 500 each (including a premium of Tk 400) — and increase of authorised capital to Tk 480 crore from the existing Tk 200 crore.
   Fazle Hasan Abed, chairman of the BRAC Bank Limited, chaired the meetings. The bank’s board directors Syed Humayun Kabir, Muhammad A (Rumee) Ali, Md Aminul Alam, Quazi Md Shariful Ala, Nihad Kabir, acting managing director and chief executive officer Kaiser Tamiz Amin and company secretary Rais Uddin Ahmad, among others, attended the meetings.

Bangladesh’s export to Canada had increased by more than 230 per cent in the last five years since the inception of Canada’s LDC Market Access Initiative, said Barbara Richardson, Canadian high commissioner in Dhaka at a seminar on Monday.
   From January 1, 2003, the Canadian government extended duty- free and quota-free access to imports from 48 of the worlds’ least developed countries, including Bangladesh, with the exception of supply-managed agricultural products (dairy, poultry and eggs).
   Barbara said before 2003 Bangladesh’s average exports to Canada were $163 million which rose to $452 million in 2007, significant majority of which were readymade garments.
   Foreign adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, who was present at the meeting as chief guest, thanked Canada for initiating such a unique access for the LDC products and urged other countries to follow Canada in providing unconditional access of Bangladeshi products to their markets.

India’s central bank faces a tough dilemma this week as it decides whether to ramp up its inflation fight amid warnings that too harsh credit conditions could damage an already slowing economy.
   Overly aggressive monetary tightening by central bankers at their annual policy meeting on Tuesday could tip Asia’s third-largest economy into a longer-term downturn after its rip-roaring growth, economists say.
   Upward interest ‘rate moves will have a bigger depressing impact on growth than on inflation,’ which has been mainly driven by soaring global commodity prices for food and fuel, said HSBC senior economist Robert Prior-Wandesforde.
   India entered a long slowdown in 1997 ‘and the most visible trigger was a sharp rate rise,’ noted India’s HDFC Bank chief economist Abheek Barua.
   But while the country’s economic engine is losing steam, inflation holds centre stage after more than doubling in four months to hit 7.33 per cent last week — a three-year peak.
   Curbing prices has become the key goal of the left-leaning Congress-led government, which fears a voter backlash with general elections due in a year and a host of state polls in-between.
   The price rises have hit worst the hundreds of millions of poor, whose support is vital at voting time. Indian political wisdom holds that when the price of onions goes up, ‘politicians weep.’
   Last week’s inflation number came days after the Reserve Bank of India stepped up its inflation battle by reducing cash available for commercial loans in a bid to cool demand.
   The bank hiked by 50 basis points the funds that commercial banks must park in their coffers — the so-called cash reserve ratio or CRR — to a seven-year high of 8.0 per cent.
   Economists are unanimous that the bank will keep up its tough anti-inflation talk at its meeting but are split on whether it will raise so-called ‘signal interest rates.’
   The Mumbai-based bank ‘will maintain a hawkish stance’ and there is a chance of a quarter-point rise in both the repo and reverse repo rates, said Yes Bank’s chief economist Shubhada Rao.
   The repo rate is the bank’s main inflation-fighting tool through which it lends cash to banks and influences commercial borrowing costs. It now is at a six-year high of 7.75 per cent.
   The reverse repo — the rate at which it absorbs excess cash — stands at 6.0 per cent.
   Other economists expect the bank to take a wait-and-see stance after forecasts last week of record grain harvests.
   ‘There have been some positive domestic developments,’ said Dharma Kriti Joshi, principal economist at Crisil credit rating agency.
   ‘If the bank is extra cautious, it could raise rates but with the adverse global scenario and the tightening already taken, economic growth is already on a downward trajectory and so demand pressure is easing up on its own,’ he said.
   ‘My view is they will maintain a very hawkish stance but stand pat on rates,’ he said.
   JP Morgan Asia economist Rajeev Malik also said the bank was ‘likely to hold fire’ on raising rates but will sound ‘hawkish.’
   The bank has been tightening aggressively since late 2004 to keep a lid on prices.
   Now, with the global downturn, some economists say growth could fall as low as 7.0 per cent in this fiscal year to March 2009 from around 8.7 per cent last year and 9.6 per cent the previous year — still robust but too low to make a big dent in India’s crushing poverty.
   Indian industry body FICCI said Sunday that 50 per cent of 392 companies it canvassed had reported ‘overall economic conditions had deteriorated’ in the last six months, compared with 19 per cent in its previous survey.
   ‘India’s remarkable economic success of the last few years is fading somewhat,’ Prior-Wandesforde said.
   Growth has softened at the same time as inflation has shot up, he said.

State subsidies for cheap rice sold to the poor in the Philippines may be cut amid concern over the government’s fiscal position, an official said Monday.
   ‘There is an issue about how much we are subsidising cheap rice being sold to the public, and there is an issue whether we can allow NFA to continue incurring these,’ agriculture secretary Arthur Yap said on local television.
   Yap was referring to the National Food Authority, which is the government’s rice importing agency. Manila is one of the world’s top rice importers and has been feeling the pain as prices surged to record levels.
   Government experts were discussing alternatives to the current approach such as investing to boost production instead, Yap said, while stressing that there had been ‘no firm proposal’ to trim the rice subsidy.
   Questions had been raised ‘on whether we should just transfer whatever subsidies we are spending for improving rice production,’ he said.
   International credit rating agencies have also raised fears that the subsidies could affect the Philippines’ fiscal position.
   Investment bank Credit Suisse has warned that the government may lose some 1.3 billion dollars this year in subsidising the price of rice stocks sold to the poor.
   Separately, the World Bank has said the Philippines spent 1.6 per cent of its economic output in subsidies from 2000 to 2005.
   Yap said he was to submit to president Gloria Arroyo a detailed work plan on how to improve the farming sector and transform the Philippines from a major rice importer into a self-sufficient nation.
   ‘We’re looking at least 2010 to 2011,’ to become self-sufficient, Yap said. But rising prices for fertiliser amid a projected supply shortfall may pose a challenge for the government, he said.
   ‘There is a projected shortage of 52,000 metric tonnes and that’s what we are trying to address,’ Yap said.

The 28th annual general meeting of Singer Bangladesh Ltd was held on Monday at the National Shooting Complex of Gulshan in the Dhaka city.
   Gavin Walker, president and chief executive officer of Singer Asia and director of the Singer Bangladesh Limited, presided over the meeting, said a press release.
   The meeting approved 35 per cent stock dividend for the year 2007.
   Gavin mentioned that 2007 was another successful year for the company. Singer has increased its business by 40 per cent and opened 20 new retail shops in different locations of the country, he said. The accounts of the company for the year ended December 31, 2007 were placed at the meeting and members made a critical review of the performance of the company.

The Gallerie Apex has recently opened its showroom at Joypara, Dohar in Dhaka.
   Former Navy chief Nurul Haque inaugurated the showroom inside the Ayesha Shopping Complex, said a press release.
   Syed Nasim Manzur, managing director of the company, Abdullah Al Mosaddeque, general manager, and other high officials of the company, along with the local dignitaries, were also present at the inaugural ceremony.

The dollar eased against the euro but firmed against the yen on Monday as market players waited for fresh clues on the outlook for the US economy, dealers said.
   In early European trading, the euro rose to 1.5661 dollars from 1.5624 in New York late on Friday. Against the Japanese currency, the dollar climbed to 104.46 yen from 104.39.
   Dealers were turning their attention to an interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve due on Wednesday and the accompanying statement.
   The European single currency had hit a historic peak of 1.6019 last Tuesday but then sank after soft eurozone economic data.
   ‘After days of broad swings in euro/dollar, foreign exchange markets will face another interesting and volatile week,’ said Commerzbank analyst Gavin Friend.
   The Federal Reserve was widely expected to cut its the key Fed funds rate but many analysts believe it could at the same time signal an end to the current cycle of aggressive cutting.
   ‘The accompanying Fed statement will likely signal willingness for a pause soon and offer further support for the greenback,’ said UBS currency analyst Geoffrey Yu.
   However, at Commerzbank, Friend warned that the accompanying statement could indicate the need for more Fed rate cuts.
   ‘If the statement following the rate decision shows that the Fed’s focus is still on downside risks to growth on the backdrop of rising unemployment and dwindling private consumption ... we see considerable potential for renewed Fed rate cut speculation which would put the dollar under strong selling pressure,’ he said.
   Confidence has been recovering on world stock markets recently as investors hope for a pickup in US economic growth later this year despite massive losses by major US banks on mortgage-backed securities gone sour.
   Most analysts expect the Fed to cut a quarter point off its key federal funds rate, to 2.0 per cent, at the conclusion of a two-day meeting Wednesday.
   The Fed has already slashed its key federal funds rate by a cumulative 3.0 per centage points since last August from 5.25 per cent.
   Lower rates in the United States weaken the dollar because they reduce the appeal of dollar-denominated assets such as Treasuries.
   Japan’s central bank meanwhile will hold a one-day monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, when it will also release its twice-yearly forecasts for economic growth and consumer prices. No BoJ move on rates is expected this week.
   In London on Monday, the euro changed hands at 1.5661 dollars against 1.5624 late on Friday, at 163.53 yen (163.13), 0.7892 pounds (0.7867) and 1.6165 Swiss francs (1.6166).
   The dollar stood at 104.46 yen (104.39) and 1.0323 Swiss francs (1.0346).
   The pound was at 1.9841 dollars (1.9854).
   On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold eased to 891.32 dollars per ounce from 891.50 dollars late on Friday.

FBCCI team off to Kuwait to attend 4th World Islamic Forum
A three-member delegation of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry left Dhaka on Monday for Kuwait to attend the 4th Islamic Forum to be held there from today to May 1. The forum will be inaugurated by Amir of Kuwait Shiekh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jabir Al-Sabah. The Forum has the support of many heads of state, prime ministers, businessmen, bankers, academicians and intellectuals, said a press release of the FBCCI. It will deal with a number of Islamic, regional and international economic issues from the perspective of the private sector’s role in economic and social development, as well as setting up the appropriate environment for it to undertake this role.
— BSS

India’s business confidence dips
High interest rate regime, appreciating rupee and rising cost of industrial inputs and raw material have together led to the corporate India’s confidence take a hard knock. As much as half of the Indian companies, surveyed by industry chamber FICCI, felt that the overall economic conditions had deteriorated in the last six months compared to a mere 19 per cent reporting a bleak outlook in the last business confidence survey. With this the overall Business Confidence Index has recorded a decline from 61.2 in the last survey to 55.3 in the present series. ‘India Inc is deeply concerned over the evolving economic situation with growth slowing on one hand and inflation rising on the other,’ the FICCI said commenting on the survey. ‘Companies from across the sectors have reported rising prices of industrial raw material as a serious concern with regard to their business performance.’ Industry expectations for the coming six months are also not optimistic. While 38 per cent believe that the current economic scenario will stay over the next six months, close to a third felt that things would turn worse.
— ANN