Banking & Commodity

Three listed banks have recommended dividend ranging between 10 per cent and 16 per cent for the year ended on December 31, 2019.

The central bank has taken an initiative to form a large bailout package for farmers, who have seen a complete collapse in demand for their produce for the countrywide movement control order enforced by the government with a view to flattening the curve on coronavirus.

Point-to-point inflation increased slightly in March to 5.48 per cent from that of 5.46 per cent in February mainly due to the increase in cost of non-food items, data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics under the planning ministry showed.

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has instructed the commercial banks to waive penalty for credit card users on any late payment from March 15 in view of the ongoing holidays due to coronavirus outbreak.

The central bank on Thursday issued a circular, ordering banks to remain open until 3 pm and conduct customer transactions between 10 am to 1 pm from next week.

The government is set to launch open market sale (OMS) of key essential items today (Wednesday) to keep prices within the buying capacity of the common people ahead of upcoming Eid-ul-Fitre.

Scheduled banks are set to launch the much-talked about 9% interest rate on all types of lending, barring credit cards, from Wednesday under the instructions of the Bangladesh Bank (BB).

Banks will remain open in limited scale from tomorrow (Sunday) to facilitate the financial transaction for their clients though the government has declared general holidays from March 29 to April 2.

The apprehension of a potential lockdown to rein in the coronavirus spread has led to the stockpiling of some essential commodities but businesses said there was nothing to be worried about.

The Bangladesh Bank on Monday reduced the mandatory cash reserve ratio for the banks to 5 per cent from 5.5 per cent with a view to supply liquidity to the market during the coronavirus pandemic, said a BB circular issued on the day.