Bangladesh's Corporate World

 Internet freedom in Bangladesh improves after 3 years of decline Internet freedom in Bangladesh improved over the last year, following three years of decline, as internet users experienced fewer restrictions on online mobilisation, says a report by Freedom House, a US-based think tank. Bangladesh has scored 43 points out of 100, improving three notches from the year before, according to the "Freedom on the Net 2022" report, released Wednesday, indicating the country partly enjoyed internet freedom. Since 2013, Bangladesh has been consistently categorised as a "Partly Free" country on the internet freedom index of Freedom House which documents how governments censor and control the digital sphere. The report assessed the level of Internet freedom in 70 countries based on 21 indicators pertaining to obstacles to access, limits on content, and violations of user rights – between 1 June 2021 and 31 May 2022. "Internet penetration and internet speeds have improved ...

Prime Minister's Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman emphasized on diversification of exports and reducing imports to stabilize the currency's depreciating trend. He was speaking at a business luncheon meeting organized by Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry at a city hotel. Salman said the austerity measures initiated by the government and the central bank to rein in a bullish trend of import since the beginning of the second half of last fiscal year are paying dividends as import costs have shrunk to $6 billion from over $8 billion a month. "It [imports] used to be $8 billion a month, which came down to $7 billion last month and $6 billion this month. I believe our issues will be resolved pretty soon," he said. Salman said the prime minister took proactive initiatives to protect the economy in pandemic times and she did the same when the dollar prices began skyrocketing. "Alongside, Bangladesh Bank has taken initiatives to r...

Salman F Rahman, adviser on the private sector to the Prime Minister and one of the country's leading businessmen, has said all export-oriented industries should get similar facilities to meet the objective of export diversification. Salman, also a first-time MP, was speaking as the chief guest at a webinar organised by the think-tank Policy Research Institute (PRI) on improving export trade facilities. The Prime Minister's private industry and investment adviser admitted that there is a problem with bureaucracy. Although the bureaucratic mentality in the administration has changed at the highest level, at the ground level it still remains the same. Every export-oriented sector can be improved if the bureaucratic complexities are reformed, he said. "I always say that everything was confined to high-level bureaucracy earlier. But now the problem has been reduced. There is a positive mental change at the highest levels of the bureaucracy. However, problems remain at the lowe...

Bangladesh needs to highlight the shining examples of foreign companies that have achieved success after setting up businesses here, said a delegation of American investment management firm T Rowe Price Group Inc. The delegation, led by Johannes Loefstrand, portfolio manager of Frontier Markets Equity Fund, suggested successful utilisation of special economic zones and attracting foreign companies there. The recommendations came after the delegation met with officials of the international trade, investment and ICT division at the foreign ministry, said a press release. The delegation enquired about the steps taken for attracting more foreign investment, initiatives for increasing exports, activities and successes of economic zones and progress in digitalisation in Bangladesh. Syed Muntasir Mamun, the division's director general, highlighted Bangladesh's geographical position between northeastern India and south and east Asia. He cited the increasing participation of women in th...

Political stability has been the key driver to Bangladesh's economic success, said Prime Minister's private industry and investment adviser Salman F Rahman at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "The real growth of Bangladesh has taken place for the last 14 to 15 years under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Political stability has been the primary key to Bangladesh's economic success story", said Rahman.   While explaining the other keys to economic success, he elaborated on an example and said, "Take the electricity crisis; when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina initially took the power 14 years ago, the country was grappling with suffocating power outages. Electricity generation was only 4,000 megawatts at the time; currently, it is about 25,000 megawatts. Bangladesh now has power in every household. However, we now create more electricity than we require at night and are on the verge of eliminating all sorts of power shortages." ...

High Commissioner of Malaysia to Bangladesh Haznah Md Hashim, along with the officials of the Malaysian High Commission have visited Beximco Industrial Park recently. Beximco Group Director and CEO Syed Naved Husain welcomed them at Beximco Industrial Park, reads a press release.   The High Commissioner was highly impressed with the advanced technologies deployed by Beximco in its Vertical Manufacturing Units and the extensive measures taken to achieve a global leadership position in Sustainability. The High Commissioner also visited Shinepukur Ceramics which produces fine Porcelain tableware products and high-end Bone-China to customers including Royal Doulton, Royal Albert and others.

  Beximco Green Sukuk al Istisna’a will give 5.8 per cent or Tk 174 crore as return to its sukukholders for the first six months of the first year.The trustee Investment Corporation of Bangladesh made the decision at a trustee committee meeting on June 2   The trustee set June 22 as record date for finding the eligible sukukholders for the entitlement of the return. The 5.8 per cent return would be payable on face value of sukuk Tk 100 each. Earlier on July 8 , 2021 , the BSEC gave approval to BEXIMCO for issuing Tk 3,000 crore Shariah-compliant green Sukuk and the sukuk made debut on January 13 this year.   Beximco Green Sukuk al Istisna’a is issued by Beximco Green-Sukuk Trust as an asset backed Shariah compliant security and the proceeds received from the subscription will be utilised for solar projects of Teesta Solar Ltd and Korotoa Solar Ltd. The tenure of the green Sukuk is five years or 60 months from the issuance date. The face value of each Sukuk...