Banking & Commodity

Businesses should not raise prices of goods disproportionately during the holy month of Ramadan, Information Minister Hasan Mahmud said today. All countries of the world decrease prices of goods when there is a festival, but the opposite happens in Bangladesh, he said. “I request you (businesses) all, please keep prices …

Small-scale enterprises of Chattogram are facing a crisis of capital in operating their business while banks have disbursed only 3.6 per cent of the loans allotted under a government stimulus package for cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises. Many enterprises have complained to trade bodies and the Bangladesh Small and …

The Bangladesh Bank on Wednesday made it mandatory for bank officials to obtain a banking diploma to be eligible for promotion to senior officer position and above. The central bank issued a circular in this regard on the day with the aim of increasing the bank officials’ skills and efficiency. …

In a bid to gear up digital transactions, banks and financial institutions have been asked to replace their proprietary QR codes within June with a uniform one developed earlier by the Bangladesh Bank. The central bank gave the directive yesterday as most banks and financial institutions are reluctant to embrace …

Potato acreage has declined to a seven-year low this season as many farmers switched to other crops, particularly mustard, as the production cost of the oilseed is lower than the tuber while its prices are more attractive. The total area for cultivating potato, one of the most highly consumed vegetables …

Prices of chickpeas keep on rising in the Chattogram wholesale market, increasing the prices of the widely consumed item in the retail market far ahead of Ramadan. The wholesalers at Khatunganj, Chaktai and Asadganj in the port city are selling chickpeas at high prices. Within the last one week, the …

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has asked authorised dealer (AD) banks to provide service exporters with exporters’ retention quota (ERQ) account services so that they could carry out remittance transactions. The retention quota facility will cover the export of software, ICT services, business services, research and advisory services, reports BSS citing …

Required commodities for the holy Ramadan will reach the country before it starts, the country’s LC opening data showed. Except for chickpeas, the number of LC openings of the four other commodities — cooking oil, sugar, onion and dates — has already increased ahead of this year’s Ramadan compared to …

Bangladesh Bank has sold US dollar at Tk 101 each to banks for the first time, giving indication that it is likely to devalue the local currency to reflect the market reality. The central bank sold $89 million to banks on February 1 to enable the financial institutions to clear …

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has raised the interest rate on loans made from its Export Development Fund (EDF) by 50 percentage points. “It has been decided that interest rate on EDF loans to ADs will be charged by Bangladesh Bank at 3 percent pa, while ADs will charge interest to manufacturer-exporters …