Bangladesh Bank will provide loans at low interest rate for setting up the solar energy, biogas and effluent treatment plants through the commercial banks from its Tk 200 crore revolving fund, official sours said.
   The central bank issued a circular on Monday, directing commercials banks to provide the loans under its re-financing scheme.
   The BB made a scheme in this regard and sent the guidelines to the banks.
   A high official of the central bank said the bank would refinance the banks from this fund.
   ‘This would help face power and gas crisis by using eco-friendly technology and would also help maintain public health’ official also said.
   According to the circular, the central bank will give provide commercial banks with funding at five per cent interest so that they can offer loans on soft terms.
   The banks, however, will charge their clients nine per cent, but the interest will 10 per cent in case of disbursing the loans through non-government organisation.
   Under the 100 per cent refinancing scheme for set up solar penal, the commercial bank will provide Tk 70,000 loan to rural customers while Tk 1,75,000 for their urban clients.
   ‘The amount of the loan will be fixed by the commercial banks on the capacity of the solar PV (Photovoltaic) assembly plant’, it said.
   Besides, the commercial banks will provide Tk 36,000 for set up biogas plant for poultry industries at 9 per cent interest rate for three years time while it will be Tk 3 lakh for dairy farms at 10 per cent interest rate for period of five years.
   The commercial bank will provide taka one crore for setting up a effluent treatment plant for garment , leather and textile sectors at 9 per cent interest rate for six years.
   Capacity of the effluent treatment plant purification power will be 500 cubic meters to 2000 cubic meters.
   A top official of the central bank noted that lack of institutional financing for renewable energy sectors like solar energy and biogas is impeding effective growth and use of the environment –friendly technology in these sectors.

Car loan disbursement from the commercial banks has declined by 20-30 per cent in last one and half months as sales declined thanks to the increased tax on car import, imposed in the budget for the current fiscal year, market insiders said.
   ‘Disbursement of car loan is showing a declining trend as the price even of a small car increased by taka one to two lakh after the announcement of national budget’, said Zeeshan Kingshuk Huq, head of the corporate affairs of BRAC Bank Limited.
   He said the monthly target of disbursing car loan was not achieved because of the price hike that kept many buyers away from showrooms.
   He said the target of the car loan disbursement from BRAC Bank fell short by taka two crore last month against the monthly target of taka eight crore.
    ‘We, however, are still on the second position in case of disbursement of car loan,’ he added.
   According to market insiders, HSBC Bank is on top in disbursing car loan.
    ‘Now our main target is to grab the country’s home loan markets,’ said Abedur Rahman Sirder, vice president of BRAC Bank.
   He said only three months ago their main target was car loan.
   Saleh Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, vice president of NCC Bank and head of the SME loan told New Age disbursement of
   the car loan from his bank was dropping by 20 per cent after the national budget.
   ‘We have no special drive to grabbing the market of car loan’ he added.
   He also said the car loan market had been distorted by the increased tax on importing car.
   Total tax incidence has increased from 77.98 per cent in 2008-09 fiscal to 101.53 per cent for cars and jeeps up to 1500cc. The tax incidence has increased further for cars and jeeps of above 2001cc, considered luxury vehicles, to 437.31 per cent in 2009-10 from 136.30 per cent in the previous fiscal year.
   According to official statistics, the number of vehicles imported was 27,787 in 2007-08 and 30,664 in the just –concluded 2008-09 fiscal.
   Abdul Haq, President of Japan-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the interest of the consumers had not been considered carefully in imposing higher import duties that might hinder auto market growth in Bangladesh.
   He apprehended a decline in the sales of reconditioned vehicles in the current fiscal year despite the emergence
   of a burgeoning middle class and rising businesspeople.
   ‘No wonder disbursement of car loans from the commercial banks also decline because of the increased tax on car imports that eventually started slowing auto sales,’ he added.

The China Southern Airlines inaugurated its Dhaka-Canton flights on Monday.
   The first flight reached at Zia International Airport at 1 am on Monday and the return flight departed Dhaka at 3 am.
   At a simple ceremony at ZIA, officials of Chinese Embassy in Dhaka and Novo Air, the GSA of the Chinese airline here, greeted the crews and passengers in the inaugural flights.
   The ceremony was also attended by the first secretary of People Republic of Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh, Yin Yi Fan.
   Mofizur Rahman, managing director of Novo Air said, China Southern Airlines would operate Dhaka-Guangzhou-Dhaka flights once a week, initially with Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 170-seat capacity.
   The airline has a plan to increase its frequency of flight soon to provide better service to its passengers, he added.

A disastrous energy crunch is looming because most of the major oil fields in the world have passed their peak production, a leading economist warned Monday.
   Fatih Birol, chief economist with Paris-based International Energy Agency, said such an ‘oil crunch’ within the next five years could jeopardise recovery from the global recession.
   Higher oil prices brought on by a rapid increase in demand and a stagnation, or even decline, in supply could derail the recovery, Birol said in an interview with The Independent newspaper.
   Birol said many governments appeared unaware that oil is running out faster than previously predicted, with global production likely to peak in about 10 years — at least a decade earlier than most had estimated.
   ‘One day we will run out of oil, it is not today or tomorrow, but one day we will run out of oil and we have to leave oil before oil leaves us, and we have to prepare ourselves for that day,’ Birol said.
    ‘The earlier we start, the better, because all of our economic and social system is based on oil, so to change from that will take a lot of time and a lot of money and we should take this issue very seriously,’ he said.
   An assessment of over 800 of the world’s major oil fields has found most of the biggest ones have already peaked and
   that the rate of decline in oil production is now running at nearly twice the pace as calculated two years ago.
   Birol also warned that the market power of the very few oil-producing countries that hold substantial reserves of oil — mostly in the Middle East — would increase rapidly as the oil crisis begins to grip after 2010.
    ‘The market power of the very few oil-producing countries, mainly in the Middle East, will increase very quickly. They already have about 40 per cent share of the oil market and this will increase much more strongly in the future,’ he said.
   The IEA, the energy monitoring and policy arm of the 30-nation Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, said last month that signs of a strong rally in global economic growth and oil demand were fading.
   The IEA added however in its latest monthly report that there could be a dramatic turnaround for demand next year.

Rajshahi Textile Mills resumed operation on Monday nine months after closing. One hundred and fifty employees have been appointed in the mills primarily.
   Against the backdrop of continuous losses, the BNP-led alliance government closed down the mill on June 30, 2003. The Fakhruddin-led interim government reopened the mill in 2008. But the mill was closed down again some days after its operation.
   The Rajshahi mayor, AHM Khairuzzaman Liton, inaugurated the mill under ‘no work no pay’ method as chief guest.
   Ansar Uddin, general manager of Rajshahi Textile Mills, chaired the inauguration session.

Mobile phone operator AKTEL has named Michael Kuehner as the company’s new managing director and chief executive officer.
   Kuehner has more than 30 years of executive leadership in various capacities including sales and marketing, service and project management in telecommunications and IT industry of various international locations, a news release said.
   Kuehner will be taking over the role officially on October 1. He will replace the incumbent CEO/MD Jefri Ahmad Tambi who will be joining the senior management team in one of Axiata’s operating companies after a successful stint in AKTEL.
   Kuehner was the head of India/Nepal sub-region with Nokia Siemens Networks and instrumental in strengthening operational capability and driving post merger integration.

United Airways Limited, one of the country’s leading private airlines, will start Dhaka-London-Dhaka flights within this year as the government today gave approval, in principle, to operate the flights.
   The civil aviation
   ministry gave the approval at a meeting held at its
   conference room considering the successful operations of the private airline since its inception two years ago.
   United Airlines will also be allowed to operate Dhaka-Saudi Arabia-Dhaka flights at the end of this year, said a press release.

Mutual Trust Bank has recently created a separate NRB division to focus on serving the emerging needs of the non resident Bangladeshis.
   The new division will focus on delivering tailored banking and financial solutions to the Bangladeshi Diaspora across the world, a news release said.
   MTB chairman Samson H Chowdhury and founder chairman Syed Manzur Elahi jointly launched the initiative in a ceremony held recently at the bank’s corporate head office in Dhaka.
   MTB directors Kh Rashiduzzaman, MA Rouf, Rashed Ahmed Chowdhury, Saidur Rahman Ratan, Md Wakiluddin, MTB managing director and chief executive officer Anis A Khan, AKM Shameem, senior executive vice-president and head of the newly-formed NRB division also attended the function.

With Ramadan fast approaching Emirates has developed some accommodation packages for passengers travelling to or via Dubai during the holy month from August 20 to September 20.
   Emirates’ passengers already holding a one-way or return ticket to or via Dubai are eligible to book a three-night stay in some of Dubai’s most sought after properties, at incredible prices, a news release said.
   With packages starting from $67 per person, per night, based on two people sharing, this offer is expected to generate substantial interest from travellers globally, the release added.

Asian stock markets edged higher in tepid trading Monday after the world’s biggest economy shrank less than expected in the second quarter and banks rose on improving earnings.
   Underpinning the modest gains was a US government report Friday that showed the contraction in the US economy slowed to 1 per cent in the second quarter, adding to hopes the recession is nearly over. The data also beat expectations with analysts forecasting a 1.5 per cent drop.
   Banks led the region’s rise following better-than-expected earnings from some big lenders and on optimism that financial institutions are bouncing back from the financial crisis.
   Japan’s market bucked the regional trend despite the rally in financial stocks with the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average down 11.31, or 0.1 per cent, to 10,345.52 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 128.26, or 0.6 per cent, to 20,701.59.
   Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.6 per cent, Australia’s benchmark advanced 0.8 per cent and China’s Shanghai market was up 1.3 per cent. Taiwan’s market dropped 0.4 per cent.
   ‘Hopes for good earnings has been driving stocks higher,’ said Motomi Hiratsuka, head of sales trading at BNP Paribas in Tokyo. ‘It looks like corporate restructuring efforts are paying off. But it remains to be seen whether companies can start expanding profits now.’
   Fuelling the momentum among Japanese banks was Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., which shot up 4.4 per cent. Japan’s biggest bank reported Friday that its net profit for the April-June quarter surged 48 per cent from a year earlier to 75.9 billion yen ($798m.

The dollar was little changed in Asian trade Monday as traders looked ahead to a US jobs report due later this week, after the latest data painted a mixed picture of the world’s largest economy.
   The dollar edged up to 94.73 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade from 94.69 in New York late Friday. The euro fell to 1.4241 dollars from 1.4255 and to 134.91 yen from 135.01.
   The market was awaiting fresh leads after data released Friday showed the US economy shrank at a slower pace than expected in the second quarter.
   But at the same time the first-quarter performance was downgraded and consumer spending resumed its decline.
   The figures pushed down the dollar and lifted riskier currencies in US trade Friday, but many traders here were taking a less sanguine view of the data.
   ‘The US report looked good at first glance but the details showed consumption fell and the output revision was worse than estimated,’ said Masatsugu Miyata, a forex dealer at Hachijuni Bank.
   Against regional Asian currencies, the dollar fell to 1,223.75 South Korean won from 1,228.30 on Friday and to 1.4368 Singapore dollars from 1.4402.

As per un-audited half yearly accounts as on 30.06.09, Karnaphuli Insurance has reported profit after tax of Tk 18.19 million with basic EPS of Tk 16.32 as against last year’s half yearly of Tk 23.36 million and Tk 20.95 respectively. However, considering bonus share for the year 2008, diluted EPS of the company is Tk 13.60 as on 30.06.09 and Tk 17.46 as on 30.06.08.
   Standard Ceramic
   In response to a DSE query, the company has informed that there is no undisclosed price sensitive information of the company for recent unusual price hike.
   Bangla Process
   In response to a DSE query dated 30.07.09, the company has informed that there is no undisclosed price sensitive information of the company for recent unusual price hike.
   Janata Insurance
   The SEC has issued show-cause cum hearing notice to the company, its directors, managing director and company secretary for non-compliance with the securities related laws in connection with the audited financial statements for the year ended on December 31, 2007.
   Quasem Silk
   SEC has issued show-cause cum hearing notice to the company, its directors, managing director and company secretary for non-compliance with the securities related laws in connection with the audited financial statements for the year ended on September 30, 2008.
   Rahman Chemicals
   The SEC has issued show-cause cum hearing notice to the company, its directors, managing director and company secretary for non-holding of annual general meeting in the year 2008.
   Progressive Life Insurance Co Ltd
   Normal trading of the shares of the company will resume today after record date and there will be no price limit on the trading of the shares of the company for the same day.
   One Bank Limited
   Normal trading of the shares of the bank will resume today after record date for EGM.
   Popular Life Insurance Co Ltd
   Normal trading of the shares of the company will resume today after record date and there will be no price limit on the trading of the shares of the company for the same day.
   Source: DSE

Top US administration officials said that economic growth is highly likely to resume in the second half of the year, but warned of ‘hard choices’ to contain rising deficits once recovery is assured.
   Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner would not rule out higher taxes in the future, telling ABC television: ‘We’re going to have to do what is necessary.’
   Geithner and White House economic adviser Larry Summers went on the Sunday television talk shows to make the case that President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus program was gaining traction despite rising unemployment and worries about the US deficit.
   ‘A very great likelihood, and this is what most professional forecasters say, is that we’ll see growth going forward in the second half of this year,’ Summers said in an interview with NBC television.
   Their prognosis was backed by former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, who told ABC the worst US financial crisis in a half a century was ‘not quite’ over, ‘but we’re getting there.’
   Greenspan said he was ‘pretty sure’ the broader US economy had hit bottom and begun to turn around in mid-July.
   Summers pointed to the popularity of a ‘cash for clunkers’ programme as a sign that the US auto industry was coming back to life, and said industries will have to replace inventories that have been massively cut.
   But both he and Geithner acknowledged that the US jobless rate will continue to climb from its current level of 9.5 per cent. The treasury secretary cited private analysts as saying it will not start coming down until the beginning of the second half of 2010.
   ‘You are right that there are signs the recession is easing. And if you think about where we were at the end of last year — we had an economy in freefall, a financial system on the verge of collapse,’ Geithner said on ABC.
   ‘But I think we have a ways to go,’ he added. ‘I want to emphasize the basic realities. Unemployment is still very high in this country. We need to make Americans more confident about their future.’
   The latest ray of light in the economic storm came with new gross domestic product figures released Friday by the Commerce Department, which estimated that the US economy contracted 1.0 per cent in the second quarter, better than forecasters expected.
   The administration said the new report showed the economy was in deeper trouble than believed when Obama took office but that its recovery programmes were working.
   ‘What you’re going to see first is growth turn positive,’ Geithner said. ‘And then you’re going to see the pace of job losses slow materially for the — they have already slowed significantly, as you said. They’re going to slow materially further.’
   Asked about the possibility of a ‘double dip’ in the recession, Geithner said the administration did not see it as a risk at the moment.
   Christina Romer, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told CNN: ‘We, like most private forecasters, think that real GDP growth will probably turn positive before the end of the year, but that’s just the first step, right? You’ve got to start growing again before you start adding jobs.
   ‘As you go into 2010, we can’t just limp out of this thing, we need to be growing robustly to make sure that the unemployment rate comes down.’
   But as the US economy emerges from recession, the administration will be faced with another daunting challenge: bringing under control the huge deficits used to refloat the economy.
   Republicans have zeroed in on the issue as their main line of attack on Obama’s economic program and his push for reform of the US health care system.
   ‘What I worry more than anything about is the long-term effects because we are committing generational theft,’ said Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who ran for president against Obama last year.

Several Chinese developers are planning to raise billions of dollars by listing on the Hong Kong bourse to take advantage of a strong rebound in the housing market, a report said Monday.
   The plans come as the southern Chinese city’s Hang Seng Index has registered massive gains over the past few months, while a resurgent real estate sector on the mainland has boosted hopes of a recovery soon.
   Evergrande Real Estate of Guangzhou hoped to raise a billion US dollars in an initial public offering in Hong Kong by the end of the year after aborting in March 2008 due to a property market crash, the South China Morning Post said.
   It added that Evergrande had recently taken potential investors on tours of its building sites in central and southern China.
   Glorious Property Holdings, which owns land along the upscale Bund in Shanghai, also aims to raise a billion US dollars, investment bankers familiar with the plan told the newspaper.
   And Shenzhen’s Fantasia Group was set to launch a 500 million-dollar share sale for its mid-to-high-end development projects in the Pearl River Delta, according to the paper.
   The three developers were among a dozen in the pipeline to list in Hong Kong, the Post said.
   House prices in 70 large and medium-sized Chinese cities were up 0.8 per cent in June from May, rising for the fourth straight month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
   Real estate investment nationwide rose by 9.9 per cent in the first half of this year, compared with the same period last year, the statistics showed.
   But the rebound was sounding alarms amid reports that Chinese authorities will tighten lending policies to cool growth and avoid a bubble in the property market.
   A commentary from the state-run Xinhua news agency last week said the recent boom defied the sensible picture and accused low-level governments of artificially pushing up property prices.

India vowed Monday it would not step in to help the country’s ailing private airlines, which called off a planned stoppage over fuel tax and fees after the government promised to hold talks.
   The Federation of Indian Airlines, whose members include Jet, Kingfisher and Paramount airways, dropped its threat to halt all services on August 18, saying it did not want to inconvenience thousands of passengers.
   But civil aviation minister Praful Patel said: ‘There will be no bail-out for the private airlines.’
   He told the NDTV news channel: ‘The government will hold talks soon. The private airlines must understand that even the national airline Air India is not receiving a bailout package.’
   India’s private airlines, which carry about 80 per cent of the domestic air traffic, have been hit by rising fuel costs, falling passenger numbers and over-expansion.
   A FIA statement on Sunday announced the planned one-day stoppage had been scrapped and said airlines were ‘not looking for charity or a bailout but just wanted to be treated fairly.’
   The private operators have demanded a cut in tax on jet fuel and airport fees to match international standards.

HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, said on Monday that first-half net profits slumped by 57 per cent to $3.35 billion as bad debts ballooned to nearly 14 billion dollars.
   Impairment charges and other credit provisions soared by 39 per cent to $13.9 billion in the six months to June, compared with the figure in the same period of last year, HSBC said in a results statement.
   The bank added that it was ‘strongly positioned for the upturn’ but warned that the ‘economic outlook remains uncertain’.
   Pre-tax profits sank by 51 per cent to 5.019 billion dollars in the reporting period, while group net operating income fell 12 per cent to $34.741 billion.
   ‘Our performance proves our ability to deliver profit, generate capital and make distributions to our shareholders throughout the business cycle — even in challenging market conditions,’ HSBC Chairman Stephen Green said in the earnings release.
   ‘We are pleased with our results and profitability overall is ahead of the expectations we had at the outset of this year. In large part this reflects an excellent performance in our Global Banking and Markets business.
   ‘It also reflects progress made in the US, where we announced our decision to run off a major part of our consumer finance business in March.’
   The group said its consumer lending business in the United States posted a $2.9-billion pre-tax loss for the first half. The division was devastated by the collapse of the subprime home loan market and is being wound down.
   HSBC added that the deep downturn could be bottoming out amid international efforts to repair the shattered global financial system.
   ‘Operating conditions in the financial sector have continued to improve as the effects of government and central bank policies work through the system and it may be that we have passed, or are about to pass, the bottom of the cycle in the financial markets,’ Green added.
   ‘Nonetheless, the timing, shape and scale of any recovery in the wider economy remains highly uncertain. Our view continues to be cautious as long as a number of serious impediments to growth remain.’
   HSBC, while escaping the need for a British government bailout, raised 12.5 billion pounds ($18b) earlier this year via a sale of new shares to bolster its finances.
   ‘The proceeds from the rights issue have reinforced our capital strength, allowing us to navigate the economic and regulatory environment, take long-term decisions in support of our brand and customer relationships and look confidently at expansion opportunities consistent with our strategy,’ it added on Monday.

Oil prices jumped above $70 a barrel Monday in Asia on investor expectations a recovering global economy will boost crude demand.
   Benchmark crude for September delivery was up 73 cents to $70.18 a barrel by midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the contract rose $2.51 to settle at $69.45.
   Oil prices seesawed last week before surging Thursday and Friday as investors bet that crude demand, which has been tepid this summer, will eventually pick up as the economy improves.
    ‘Optimism for economic recovery is fighting the weak fundamentals, and right now the optimism is holding the upper hand,’ said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.
   Crude also has followed gains in global stocks. Most Asian indexes were up in early trading.
   Prices may test an eight-month high of $73.23 a barrel in the coming days, but dismal consumer sentiment in the U.S. will likely weigh on demand and send prices back into the $60s, Shum said.
    ‘It will be difficult for oil prices to sustain in the $70s given the weak fundamentals,’ he said.
   Mohammad Ali Khatibi, Iran’s governor to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said Sunday he expects crude prices to reach $80 a barrel by January, the oil ministry said.
   In other Nymex trading, gasoline for August delivery rose 1.24 cents to $2.03 a gallon and heating oil gained 1.11 cents to $1.84. Natural gas for August delivery fell 1.6 cents to $3.64 per 1,000 cubic feet.
   In London, Brent prices rose 58 cents to $72.28 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Shahjalal Islami Bank opened its 37th branch at Madhabdi in Narsingdi on Wednesday. Director of the bank Tofazzal Hossain inaugurated the branch as chief guest, a news release said.
   Vice-chairman of the board of directors Mohiuddin Ahmed, director Syed Nurul Arefeen, managing director Muhammad Ali and deputy managing director Md Mukhter Hossain were present in the ceremony.
   Director Tofazzal Hossain said Shahjalal Islami Bank was being operated by an expert team of professionals. He said the bank staffs remained vigilant to reach the quality service of the bank to the clients.
   Managing director Mohammad Ali gave a short brief of the bank’s deposit and investment schemes.

Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd held its half-yearly business conference at Spectra Convention Centre of Gulshan in Dhaka on Saturday.
   Managing director and chief executive officer of the company Nasir A Choudhury inaugurated the conference, where senior officials of the head office, zonal heads, heads of branches and others officials concerned were present, a news release said.
   Nasir A Choudhury in his inaugural speech expressed his satisfaction over the half-yearly business achievement. He urged all to exert their all-out efforts with prudence and confidence to give necessary guidelines to marketing personnel and extend their cooperation in achieving the target, the release added.