Main Page «
Front Page «
Metro «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

Economists, politicians and rights campaigners have stressed that Bangladesh needs to have its own independent policies to protect its economy from the dangers of global turmoil caused by thoughtless expansion of capitalism.
   They blamed international capitalist mode of productions, speculative investment, unjust and undemocratic role of international financial institutions and multinationals for the latest global financial crisis, worst since the Great Depression of 1930.
   They wanted the government to be extra cautious about borrowing from global lenders, make details on bilateral or multilateral agreements public, seek compensation for climate change from international forums and form a national body to operate the multi-donor trust fund for climate change.
   The points were made at a discussion on `IFIs are the major barriers to development effectiveness: Linking financial crisis to food, debt and climate Change’ organised by VOICE, a rights group, at the CIRDAP auditorium.
   Economist Professor Abu Ahmed, Workers Party leader Haider Akber Khan Rono, economist Dr. Piash Karim, Biplabi Workers Party general secretary Saiful Haq and VOICE’s executive director Ahmed Swapan Mahmud were among the speakers.
   Professor Abu Ahmed said the government should have its control over multinational companies operating in Bangladesh and there should be no subsidized rate services for the MNCs.
   They should be ready to pay the economic costs of everything, like the local private sector, if they are to operate in the country, he said.
   The economist also suggested that the government should reduce revenue budget wastage and prepare development budget with country’s own resources mobilised domestically.
   He criticised the IMF for its prescription for increasing the bank interest rate while it asked for global rate cuts.
   Social economist Piash Karim censured the international financial institutions for their dominance over international financial structures, saying that global capitalism and deregulation of business in countries were causing the financial crisis.
   Haider Akber Khan Rono of the Workers Party accused the World Bank and the IMF of undermining the democratic process of the country and impeding the economic development.
   He emphasised the role of political leadership and patriotism opposing the unjust development paradigm.
   Saiful Haq of the Biplobi Workers Party said that foreign aid caused a lot of damage to the country and demanded that those financial institutions should face public trial.
   Ahmed Swapan Mahmud of VOICE said the IFIs were sitting at the heart of global aid disbursement.
   The World Bank is a major source of finance for developing countries, while the IMF’s green signal matters in getting fund from both official and private sources, he said.
   These roles give incredible power to the two institutions which have spread their wings well beyond their original mandates, he alleged.

State lender Janata Bank has set a plan to cut a third of its jobs in five years under a lender-driven voluntary retirement scheme, a senior finance ministry official said.
   Of the bank’s 13,331-strong workforce, 4,433 employees and officers will be asked to retire between 2008 and 2012, according to the proposal submitted by the corporatised bank to the finance ministry on Thursday.
   ‘The proposal will go through a thorough scrutiny by experts, and salaries and other benefits will be examined carefully,’ said the ministry official.
   The government will keep aside Tk 1,000 crore for the Janata Bank’s VRS under the Enterprise Growth and Bank Modernisation Project, funded by the World Bank and British DFID.
   The scheme will apply to those officials and employees, who have completed 10 years at the bank.
   The retirees will get extra financial benefits ranging from 15 to 30 per cent, depending on their service periods.
   The World Bank has been in a hurry to get the bank modernisation scheme, which aims at axing a third of the state-owned banks’ workforce, implemented by December before the next political government steps in, sources in the baking sector said.
   Three state lenders — Sonali, Janata and Agrani banks — were corporatised on November 11, 2007.

Turnover at the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Thursday rises to Tk 564.48 crore, its second highest mark, as investors vied mainly for heavyweight power and pharmaceutical stocks, said market operators.
   A DSE stock broker said the debut of Summit Alliance Port Limited on Thursday also contributed to the rise of market turnover.
   DSE turnover was at Tk 511.74 crore on Wednesday, while the market indicator recorded its highest of Tk 590.51 crore on Sunday.
   On its debut day, Summit Alliance Port gained 779.25 per cent in share price to close at Tk 879.25 at the DSE. Face value of the company shares is Tk 100 each. The company’s 233,050 shares worth Tk 21.43 crore were traded at the bourse.
   The trading of the shares of Summit Alliance Port started at the DSE under ‘N’ category, which groups newly-listed companies. The company also made its debut at the Chittagong Stock Exchange on Thursday.
   In the initial public offering, Summit Alliance Port raised Tk 10 crore from public issuing 10 lakh shares.
   Dhaka stocks, however, dropped on Thursday, closing trading day of the week.
   The stock broker said the market remained downbeat since Wednesday as investors took their position after a two-day rally.
   DSE general index lost 7.43 points, or 0.25 per cent, to close at 2918.55, while its blue chips index, DSE20, shed 30.16 points, or 1.21 per cent, to finish at 2470.40.
   Of the total 239 issues traded, 82 advanced, 154 declined and three remained unchanged.
   Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company topped the turnover leaders with a total transaction of Tk 64.26 crore.
   Beximco Pharmaceuticals, DESCO, Beximco, ACI, Summit Alliance Port, Square Pharmaceuticals, Summit Power, Bangladesh Online, and Power Grid Company Bangladesh, were the remaining nine turnover leaders.
   Chittagong stocks dropped on Thursday for the second day after a two-day bull run.
   CSE selective categories index lost 42.41 points, or 0.72 per cent, to close at 5868.04, while its blue chips index, CSE30, shed 81.11 points, or 1.03 per cent, to finish at 7815.50.
   Of the total 146 issues traded on the CSE floor, 34 posted gain, 110 dropped and two remained unchanged.
   Turnover at the CSE, however, increased to Tk 109.17 crore from the Wednesday’s Tk 81.24 crore.

Oil prices slumped further on Thursday, with Brent crude briefly sliding close to 67 dollars a barrel and the lowest level for more than 15 months, as slowing energy demand took its toll, traders said.
   Crude oil futures were down more than 50 per cent from record highs of above 147 dollars reached in July, when prices had rocketed on fears of supply disruptions.
   Traders were awaiting the latest weekly snapshot of US energy inventories due Thursday for a lead on the state of oil demand in the United States, the world’s biggest consumer of crude.
   The Department of Energy’s latest data on inventories was delayed by a day owing to a public holiday in the United States on Monday.
   ‘Crude prices have continued to slide, as global recessionary concerns intensified,’ Sucden analyst Nimit Khamar said Thursday ahead of the keenly-awaited oil data out of Washington.
   Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November had slumped to 67.17 dollars a barrel — the lowest point since late May, 2007 — in early London trade.
   It recovered to 68.60 dollars by about 1145 GMT, down 2.10 dollars from Wednesday’s close.
   The contract had ended down 3.73 dollars on Wednesday as mounting fears of a global recession raised expectations of a prolonged slowdown to worldwide energy demand.
   In Thursday trade, New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for November delivery, was down 1.46 dollars at 73.08 dollars a barrel after sinking as low as 71.21 — a level last reached in late August, 2007.
   ‘The fears about this global credit crisis leading to an extended economic slump, and perhaps a recession, really are causing investors to bail out of equities and also oil,’ said Victor Shum from the Purvin and Gertz energy consultancy.
   The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cut its estimate for growth in demand for oil this year and in 2009 on Wednesday largely because of an ‘excessive’ easing of demand in the United States.
   For 2008, the cartel slashed its estimate for growth in demand to 550,000 barrels per day, giving average total demand of about 86.5 million bpd.
   The cartel was to hold a special meeting on November 18 to discuss the global financial crisis and its impact on the oil market. Several OPEC members are calling for a cut to the organization’s crude output to shore up prices.
   ‘Until there are clear indications out of OPEC, I think we can expect more downward volatility,’ Shum said on Thursday.
   Oil prices had skidded on Wednesday on recession fears and also following news that a Nigerian court had ordered Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell to hand over land to locals — a key demand of armed rebels camped in Nigeria’s crude-producing region.

Wall Street shares limped higher in early trade Thursday but markets in Asia and Europe took another punishing hit, with Tokyo suffering its worst loss in two decades, as recession clouds deepened over the global economy.
   The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 0.57 per cent shortly after the start of trading in New York. Nearing the close in European deals, London was down 2.21 per cent, Frankfurt lost 1.23 per cent and Paris shed close to 4.76 per cent.
   Renewed panic had erupted in trading rooms earlier Thursday, with Tokyo closing down more than eleven per cent and European indices briefly shedding almost 6.0 per cent.
   Two key interbank lending rates, Libor and Euribor, eased further on Thursday despite the sharp losses on world stock markets.
   The lower rates were an indication that banks were becoming less reluctant to lend money among themselves.
   Bank skittishness over the past few weeks, when lenders were weighed down by soured mortgage-related debt, contributed to an acute credit crisis that threatened the health of the global financial system.
   On Thursday the three-month London interbank offered rate in dollars fell to 4.5025 per cent from Wednesday’s rate of 4.5500 per cent.
   The three-month Euribor rate, the benchmark in the eurozone, dropped to 5.090 per cent from Wednesday’s rate of 5.168 per cent, reversing much of the surge in the crisis after the collapse of Lehman Brothers bank a month ago.
   Earlier Thursday, Japan’s Nikkei ended down 11.4 per cent, wiping out most of its gains earlier in the week. It was the index’s second-largest percentage loss ever and the steepest fall since a stock market crash in October 1987.
   Elsewhere, Hong Kong lost 4.8 per cent, Seoul sank 9.4 per cent, Mumbai shed 2.11 per cent and Sydney tumbled 6.7.

Shipping adviser MA Matin on Thursday called upon the shipping experts to maintain quality and commitment to attain success in the field.
   ‘As shipbuilding may become a thrust sector in near future, I hope we will not miss the opportunity to develop our country,’ he told the inaugural function of the World Maritime Day-2008.
   With director general of Shipping Department Captain AKM Shafiqullah in the chair, the function was also addressed by Shipping secretary Sheikh AK Motahar Hossain and managing director of All Seas Ltd Khondakar R Zaman.
   Later, the shipping adviser handed over awards to three companies for their commendable role in the shipping sector.
   The companies are Ananda Shipyard and Shipway Ltd, Karnaphully Ship Builder and Highspeed Group of Companies.

ICB Islamic Bank Ltd on Thursday launched data center, said a press release.
   Chairman of ICB Islamic Bank inaugurated the data centre at a function which was attended by senior officials the bank and stake holders.
   The ICB Islamic Bank Ltd is a subsidiary of ICB Financial Group Holdings AG which is committed to provide international standard electronic banking services to its clients in all areas of banking.
   ICB Islamic Bank operates in Bangladesh with a total of 31 branches across the country based on Islamic Shariah. Its authorised capital is Tk 10 billion and paid up capital Tk 7 billion.
   The bank will introduce on-line banking from January next. The launched data centre will facilitate the housing of computer systems and associated components, such as communications and storage systems. It will ensure connectivity among all branches becoming a hub for financial transactions and also create a state of the art data warehouse.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has extended the deadline for regularising the BO accounts to December 31 this year.
   BO account holders will have to submit either bank certificate or photocopy of National Identification Card (signed by investor himself) by the deadline to regularise their accounts.
   SEC issued the order in this regard on Thursday. It was third such extension so far. The order will also be applicable for opening new BO accounts.

A major annual export fair has opened in southern China amid gloom over slowing trade caused by the global economic crisis, state media reported on Thursday.
   The China Import and Export Fair in Guangzhou city opened Wednesday facing its greatest uncertainty in years due to world financial woes, volatility in the price of raw materials and a stronger yuan, the China Daily said.
   ‘The financial turbulence may have a relatively big impact on China’s exports. We need to be on high alert,’ vice-minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng was quoted as saying at the gathering, which is viewed as a key indicator of Chinese trade activity.
   A top official with Haier Group, a leading maker of appliances and other household goods, was quoted as saying growth in foreign exports had slowed dramatically.
   Zhang Bin, a senior manager with the company, said overseas sales volumes grew by around 10 per cent in the first three quarters of 2008, down from about 30 per cent growth a year earlier, and the future looked grim.
   ‘The number of buyers from the US and Europe this time has greatly fallen. US buyers don’t want to attend such fairs even in their own country,’ he said.
   ‘The short-term impact of the crisis has become obvious.’
   Zhang predicted the effect could last for at least a year.
   Naghi Yasil of Dubai, who purchases building materials, said he had attended 10 such fairs, always signing long-term export deals worth millions of dollars.
   ‘But because of uncertainties about the consumption market early next year and prices of raw materials and commodities, I will mainly sign short-term deals this time,’ he was quoted as saying.
   China said on Monday its exports in the first three quarters hit 1.074 trillion dollars, up 22.3 per cent over the same period in 2007.
   However, economists widely expect exports to take a hit as downturns in key markets such as Europe and the United States deepen further.
   The fair runs until November 6.

With recession fears for the US economy growing by the day in the wake of a global financial crisis, analysts are pondering the questions of how deep and how wide the downturn will be.
   Most economists say the extraordinary efforts by Washington and other governments to stem the credit crisis appear to be helping confidence but will not prevent recession in the world’s biggest economy.
   Those fears were hammered home Wednesday with unusually bleak reports on US retail sales, which represents the bulk of US economic activity, and a key regional manufacturing index.
   Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, said that even if credit flows are restored, the troubles are not over for the entire global economy.
   ‘The world economy is still headed into a recession despite the global financial market rescue effort,’ Weinberg said.
   ‘The decline will be deep and protracted. It has already started. Nowhere is the economic house in greater disorder than Euroland, although some may argue that Japan is a bigger mess.’
   On Tuesday, San Francisco Federal Reserve president Janet Yellen became the first central bank official to acknowledge that a recession is probably underway in the United States.
   Yellen said she expected essentially no growth at all in the third quarter and ‘an outright contraction’ in the fourth quarter.
   ‘Indeed, the US economy appears to be in a recession,’ she said.
   Reinforcing those fears, the Commerce Department reported that US retail sales — a key to economic activity — slumped 1.2 per cent in September, the sharpest drop since August 2005 and weaker than market expectations.
   ‘People have dropped shopping. This happened even before the total meltdown in the stock markets. What is ominous is that the declines in spending were broad-based,’ said Joel Naroff at Naroff Economic Advisors.
   Naroff said it is only a matter of time before the recession becomes official.
   ‘The real issue is how long this will last and how deep a slump will it be,’ he said.
   ‘The answer to that is not clear as it depends upon how fast the rescue plans that have been announced are actually implemented and work. That is likely to take time.’
   John Ryding at RDQ Economics said the latest reports show recessionary levels for both the consumer and manufacturing activity, an ominous sign for overall economic output and a sharp drop in gross domestic product.
   Ryding predicted a contraction of 0.5 per cent in the third quarter and a 2.5 per cent drop in the fourth quarter.
   ‘Retail sales levels in September are unlikely to have captured the full impact of the intensification of the credit crisis and we look for further declines in the fourth quarter,’ Ryding said. ‘We have a full-blooded consumer recession as sales in September fell across the board.’
   Amid the grim backdrop, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would ask lawmakers to return after the November 4 election for a lame-duck session to consider a 150-billion-dollar stimulus package, following a 168-billion-dollar plan approved earlier this year.
   ‘Congress must try again,’ Pelosi said.
   ‘I have asked the chairs of relevant committees to schedule hearings in the coming weeks on the key provisions of a fiscally responsible recovery package to get our economy moving again.’
   The Fed’s Beige Book said US economic activity weakened in September across the country with few bright spots and businesses ‘more pessimistic’ about the outlook.
   The report, to be used by its policymakers for their October 28-29 meeting on interest rates, offered no surprise in its survey of the past few weeks during a period of heightened market turmoil and tight credit.
   The report said activity ‘weakened in September across all 12 Federal Reserve districts.’
   Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech Wednesday that a recovery from the financial crisis ‘will not happen right away’ but that the US economy will eventually emerge ‘with renewed vigor.’
   On Tuesday, US authorities unveiled plans to inject billions of dollars into banks to ease a global credit crisis in the first program of its kind since the Great Depression.
   The announcement provided a brief thaw in credit markets although it remained unclear how quickly it would jump-start interbank lending needed to fund corporate activity that fuels the economy.
   Sara Kline at Economy.com said there have been only modest declines in Libor — the interbank lending rates seen as crucial in the credit crisis.
   These rates ‘will need to fall further to have a significant impact,’ Kline said. ‘The lack of confidence among financial institutions will weigh on the real economy through reduced credit availability to businesses and households.’

Five global charities on Thursday criticised rich nations for quickly bailing out the world’s ailing financial sector while ‘foot-dragging’ on aid, climate change and poverty.
   In a joint statement, the heads of Amnesty International, World Vision, Oxfam, Greenpeace and Plan International warned of dire consequences if wealthy states used the crisis to cut aid and trade.
   ‘The urgency shown by rich countries to tackle the financial meltdown stands in stark contrast to their foot-dragging and broken promises over aid and poverty alleviation, human rights and climate change,’ they said.
   ‘Rich countries will be following a myopic and self-defeating strategy if they ignore the most pressing challenges of our times and focus solely on narrow financial interests.’
   The 123-billion US dollar lifeline thrown by the US government to American insurance giant AIG was 18 billion dollars more than its annual aid package for poor countries, they said.
   It was also twice the amount needed to achieve an internationally-agreed goal to reduce poverty by 2015, the organisations added.
   The 37 billion pounds ($64b) the British government is spending to help recapitalise its banking sector is ‘roughly what’s needed for poor countries to adapt to climate change each year,’ they added.
   ‘For millions of the world’s poorest citizens, it is literally a matter of life and death,’ the statement said, referring to a possible drying up of international aid.
   There is also a risk of increasing human rights violations and rising social tensions, they warned.
   ‘As the economy shrinks and countries tighten their belts, migrants and refugees could be pushed back to untenable situations,’ they said.
   ‘Social tensions could increase, leading nervous governments to clamp down on dissent and impose tough public security policies curbing civil liberties.
   ‘Already fragile states could be further weakened by the current crisis and slide back into instability.’
   Economic crises historically led to reduced aid and trade, the groups recalled.
   During the 1972/73 recession, global aid spending declined by 15 per cent. An economic crisis in the early 1990s led aid donors to slash spending, while help for people hit by natural disasters and conflict also fell sharply, they said.
   Following the 1929 Wall Street crash and global recession, countries turned protectionist and world trade tumbled by two-thirds, they said.
   ‘This is not just about money. It is about sustained attention, international collaboration and clear political will to tackle big issues,’ the groups said.

European Union leaders handed French President Nicolas Sarkozy a mandate Thursday to press for a sweeping overhaul of the global financial system at a crunch weekend summit with George W. Bush.
   Sarkozy said there should be no taboos in the talks with his US counterpart at Camp David on Saturday, called in the wake of the global financial crisis, and should address everything from bankers’ bonuses to new roles for the IMF.
   ‘We do not have the right to miss this opportunity for reconstructing our system of finance in the 21st century,’ Sarkozy said at the end of a two-day EU summit in Brussels dominated by the financial crisis.
   ‘We have a mandate now to discuss this with the president of the United States,’ he added after the 27 EU leaders endorsed calls for an overhaul of the financial system in the wake of the turmoil on financial markets.
   Sarkozy — whose country holds the EU presidency — will be accompanied by European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso when he makes Europe’s case at the Camp David talks.
   EU leaders are leading calls for an international emergency summit, perhaps after US elections next month, to reshape the financial system while Washington has shown less enthusiasm.
   ‘This is a crisis that comes from the United States, from the financial system in the United States,’ Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Zapatero told journalists.
   ‘It’s a crisis we’re going to overcome thanks to the European Union, its capacity for coordination and its capacity for leadership.’
   Sarkozy said he wanted to raise a whole range of root and branch reforms in his talks with Bush including a revamp of the International Monetary Fund.
   ‘I really do want to raise the question of the future of the IMF and its role,’ he said, accusing the institution of drifting from its initial role in providing assistance for developing nations into becoming a de facto ratings agency.
   British prime minister Gordon Brown said the world needed an international organisation capable of monitoring the global financial system and giving early warnings about potential trouble.
   ‘I think that what we are looking for is an International Monetary Fund that is more like an independent central bank,’ Brown said.
   Sarkozy said issues such as big bonuses and sweeping currency reforms should also be put on the table in the run-up to the wider international summit on global finance.
   While mounting pressure for an international overhaul of the global financial system, leaders took only timid steps towards increasing oversight of the sector in their own backyard.
   Repeating the need for increased cross-border coordination on bank oversight, leaders agreed national supervisors should meet once a month to exchange information.
   The current crisis has exposed the limits of Europe’s ability to oversee big cross-border financial groups, with supervision currently conducted mainly along national lines.
   While acknowledging the need for more coordination on supervising banks across Europe’s borders, leaders resisted growing calls for a European financial sector authority to be set up.
   Despite recent measures to steady stricken banks, a steep slump on global stock markets highlighted just how fragile confidence remains amid growing concerns that the world’s biggest economies are threatened with recession.
   And in spite of increasingly gloomy forecasts for the European economy, leaders have no plans for launching a concerted EU stimulus plan to boost activity, said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.
   ‘Who would pay for it and with what money? said Juncker, who also chairs the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers. ‘I don’t see how we could finance such a big stimulus plan.’

Heavy falls on stock markets and fear of recession has hit crop trading in Europe, with grain prices plunging on the Euronext futures market in a major signal of alarm, dealers said on Thursday.
   ‘The agricultural markets are not escaping the bearish trend. Fears of recession are prompting fear of a drop in demand in the coming months,’ said one trader.
   ‘The usual indicators (such as the Chicago commodities exchange) are cast aside. Today it’s the CAC 40, the Nikkei or the Dow Jones (stock indexes) that are dictating the trend,’ he said.
   The standard French wheat price fell further to 138 euros per tonne on Thursday from 142.25 euros on Wednesday. It has declined from a peak of 248 euros per tonne in February.
   European grain and oilseed future contracts were all either down or unchanged on Thursday during mid-day trading on the Euronext exchange.
   Mounting fears of global recession hammered world stocks on Thursday, with Tokyo suffering its worst loss for two decades, closing down more than 11 per cent, and European indices briefly shedding almost 6.0 per cent.
   Oil prices meanwhile slumped further, Brent crude sliding below 68 dollars a barrel to the lowest level for more than 15 months as slowing energy demand took its toll, traders said.
   Grain prices surged last year owing to increased world demand, notably from booming Asian economies, and also the controversial use of grain for the production of biofuels, together with increased production costs partly associated with a high oil price.

Japan’s parliament on Thursday enacted an 18-billion-dollar emergency spending plan to stimulate Asia’s largest economy as fears of a recession grow.
   The opposition-led upper house approved the extra spending bill, a little more than one week after it was passed by the lower house, which is controlled by prime minister Taro Aso’s coalition, officials said
   The 1.81-trillion-yen plan includes measures to help consumers, companies and farmers cope with high fuel costs and a credit crunch. It is part of an 11.7-trillion-yen emergency package announced in late August. The rest of the plan consisted mainly of lending-related measures.
   The opposition went along with the spending bill as part of its push for Aso to call snap elections. Aso has said he will first focus on boosting the economy.
   Tokyo’s Nikkei stock index plunged more than 11 per cent Thursday, its biggest loss in two decades, on growing fears of a global recession. Aso, a supporter of government spending to boost the economy, has also pledged to work on a second extra budget, setting aside efforts by earlier premiers to reduce Japan’s public debt, which is the highest among industrialised nations.
   Japan’s economy suffered its worst contraction in seven years in the second quarter of this year and many analysts believe it is already in recession, which is usually defined as two straight quarters of negative growth.

The Grameenphone Ltd has recently signed an agreement with the Cooperative Credit Union League of Bangladesh Limited to provide complete communication facilities under its business solutions package.
   Jonas Dhaki, chairman of the CCULB, and Khandaker Omar Farhan, deputy general manager of direct sales of Grameenphone, signed the agreement at a ceremony held in Dhaka city, said a press release.
   CCULB general manager Ratan F Costa and treasurer Biman Barua Chowdhury and Grameenphone group manager Md Touhidul Islam and account manager Asiful Haque, among others, were present on the occasion.
   Under the agreement, CCULB is provided with complete communications solutions tailored to its needs, including voice data and other services.

The TM International (BD) Ltd, operator of AKTEL, mobile telecommunications service provider, recently hosted a reception to a senior official of its new shareholding company NTT DoCoMo Inc, a major mobile telecommunications company in Japan.
   Iqbal Mahmud, post and telecommunication ministry secretary, Dato Abdul Malek Bin Abdul Aziz, Malaysian high commissioner, Masayuki Inoue, Japanese ambassador, Masatoshi Suzuki,
   NTT Docomo senior executive vice-president of member of board of directors and global business division managing director, Salahuddin Kasem Khan, AK Khan and Company managing director and Bidyut Kumar Basu, AKTEL chief commercial officer, among others, were present at the occasion, said a press release.
   AKTEL started its journey in 1997 as a joint venture between Telekom Malaysia Berhad and AK Khan and Company Ltd. AK Khan group recently completed the sale of its entire shareholding of 30 per cent in AKTEL to NTT DoCoMo.

The euro pulled back in early European deals on Thursday after tumbling against the dollar and yen in Asian trading on mounting worries over Europe's economies and the prospect of further rate cuts there, analysts said.
   In London morning trading, the euro stood at 1.3470 dollars compared to below 1.34 dollars in Asian deals and 1.3495 dollars late in New York on Wednesday.
   The European single currency rose to 135.42 yen from 134.91 yen late Wednesday.
   Against the Japanese currency, the dollar climbed to 100.62 yen from 99.99 yen on Wednesday in New York.
   'As seen over the last weeks, the dollar manages to benefit from its safe haven status. The euro touched lows at 1.3345 dollars in Asian trading, the lowest since June 2007,' said Commerzbank analyst Antje Praefcke.
   Sentiment towards the euro deteriorated because of growing signs that Europe's policymakers are struggling to contain the continent's financial crisis, dealers said. Many traders anticipate the euro could fall in coming days below 1.3000 dollars.
   The European Central Bank's announcement on Wednesday that it would provide Swiss franc funds through foreign exchange swaps fuelled views that Europe's financial troubles were getting worse, said Hideaki Inoue, chief currency manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking.
   'The ECB will provide the Swiss Franc -- that's highly unusual,' Inoue told Dow Jones Newswires. The common European unit won only a limited boost from news that struggling Swiss banking giant UBS would transfer as much as 60 billion dollars worth of its own illiquid securities and other assets to the Swiss National Bank.
   Hachijuni Bank dealer Sho Komamura said the outlook was gloomy for the eurozone and that there could be further cuts in interest rates there.
   'It's difficult to see its bottom now,' he said.
   The yen is the strongest of the major currencies as Japanese financial institutions have been the least hard-hit by the credit crunch, he said. The Japanese currency also tends to rise in times of market turmoil as it has been heavily sold in the past to fund risky investments.
   In London morning trade on Thursday, the euro changed hands at 1.3470 dollars against 1.3495 late Wednesday, at 135.42 yen (134.91), 0.7808 pounds (0.7815) and 1.5318 Swiss francs (1.5283).
   The dollar stood at 100.62 yen (99.99) and 1.1377 Swiss francs (1.1320). The pound was at 1.7244 dollars (1.7265). On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold fell to 836.34 dollars an ounce from 847 dollars late on Wednesday.

Kuwait collected 14.52 billion dinars ($54b) in revenue in the first six months of the fiscal year, above its budget target for the whole year, the finance ministry said on Thursday.
   The earnings are about 15 per cent above projected revenues of 12.68 billion dinars ($47.5b) for the 2008/2009 fiscal year which began on April 1.
   Oil revenues came in at 13.9 billion dinars ($52b), about 19.3 per cent above budget projections for oil income.
   In calculating budget revenues, Kuwait adopted a conservative price of 50 dollars a barrel for its oil, but the actual price for the first half of the year was above 100 dollars, before retreating recently. Kuwait, which says it sits on 10 per cent of global oil reserves, has been pumping about 2.6 million barrels per day.
   Spending in the first six months was 5.52 billion dinars ($20.6b), less than a third of the 18.966 billion dinars ($71b) in budget outlays forecast for the whole year.
   That leaves a preliminary first half budget surplus of nine billion dinars ($33.7b) although the budget projects a massive full year deficit of 23.5 billion dollars.

Profit
   Summit Alliance Port
   As per un-audited half yearly accounts as on June 30, 2008, the company has reported net profit of Tk 6.06 crore with diluted earning per share of Tk 12.11 (based on post-IPO paid-up capital).
   
   Disclosure
   ICB Islamic Bank
   The bank has informed that the board of directors of the bank has approved data centre to implement the core banking solution was designed and constructed by the Spectrum Engineering Consortium Limited Bangladesh. The board has also approved ‘Silverlake Integrated Islamic Banking System’ a Shariah based Banking software developed by Silverlake Sdn Bhd, Malaysia as the banking software for the ICB Islamic Bank Limited which will be completed by the end of February 2009. However, the bank has not reported the amount of investment for software installation.
   
   Eagle Star Textile
   The board of directors did not recommend any dividend for the year 2007-2008. The company has not informed any other information regarding the annual general meeting. The company has also reported that the mill committed continuous loss due to old machineries and it is fully closed at present due to below production rate and huge overhead incurred.
   Source: DSE

Citigroup earns $16.7b revenues in Q3
Citigroup Inc on Thursday reported its third quarter revenue earnings stood at $16.7 billion, said an official release. Citigroup, which has banking operation in Bangladesh, however, reported a net loss of $2.8 billion for the third quarter, based on 5,342 million shares outstanding. The results included $4.4 billion in net pre-tax write-downs in Securities and Banking, $4.9 billion in net credit losses, and a $3.9 billion net charge to increase loan loss reserves. ‘I am very proud of my Citi colleagues for staying focused on our priorities and for their relentless commitment to serving our clients during these turbulent times. While our third quarter results reflect both a difficult environment as well as continued write-downs on our legacy assets, we are making excellent progress on the parts of our business we control, including expense reduction, headcount, and balance sheet and capital management. We expect these improvements will enable us to realise the full earnings power of our franchise as the economy stabilises,’ said Vikram Pandit, chief executive officer of Citi. Citi, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management.
— New Age