Bangladesh Newsflash - April 2015

Bangladesh Newsflash
Editions 43, April 2015
Newsflash Bangladesh is a publication by the
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) in
Dhaka. The newsflash provides an update in terms
of economic developments, the most important
tenders and a selection of other relevant business
news related to Bangladesh. This newsflash is
shared with a distinctive group of Dutch businesses
with special interests in Bangladesh. It is put
together on the basis of publicly available
information from various sources such as news
articles, press releases, and third party information.
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business practices, an overview of the most relevant
government policies for intending investors and
many more.
HIGHLIGHTS
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Queen Maxima of Netherlands, in her capacity as special adviser to the UN Secretary General on
financial inclusion, praised the growth of financial inclusion in Bangladesh and expressed her
interest to visit the country next year to see the development.
Mixed results from Rana Plaza steps: TIB research on “Readymade garment: Problems to Good
Governance and Way Forward”.
JICA to provide assistance for making vulnerable RMG buildings safe through conducting retrofitting,
a technology to make vulnerable building jolt resistant
Rampal Power Plant – government to issue sovereign guarantee of US$ 1.17 billion to foreign
funding agencies
Bangladesh to join the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise, a new international cooperation platform
to promote protection for the internet ecosystem in the developing countries.
A fresh move made to build Bangladesh-Myanmar road - Yangon agrees on route through
Bandarban.
Bangladesh presents a stable outlook on the economic front but restive politics remains a looming
risk to a robust performance – Moody's latest analysis
Political update
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Transport movement across the country has returned to normal. According to the World Bank,
economic losses over the three months of strikes and blockades are at $2.2 billion.
Convicted Jamaat leader, Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, lost his final appeal to review the death
sentence that was given to him earlier by the Appellate division of the Supreme Court on 3rd
November 2014 for his 1971 war-time atrocities. He was executed on 11 April 2015.
The International Criminal Police organization (INTERPOL) issued a Red notice (note: that an arrest
warrant has been issued by a judicial jurisdiction or an international tribunal with a view to his/her
extradition) for BNP senior vice Chairman Tarique Rahman (eldest son of Khaleda Zia) on charges of
murder and explosion of hand grenades at the Awami League meeting in 2004. Tarique Rahman
lives in London.
The Dhaka and Chittagong city corporation elections were held on the 28th April. Before midday of
the Election Day, the BNP-backed candidates in Dhaka and Chittagong had withdrawn from the race
citing electoral fraud and the lack of a level playing-field. There were several reports of ballot-box
stuffing and attacks on polling stations. Awami League backed candidates won the election. In the
run-up to the elections the convoy of BNP-leader Khaleda Zia came under attack while she was
campaigning for mayoral candidates in Dhaka.
Textile and Ready Made Garments (RMG)
Mixed results from Rana Plaza steps: TIB (The
Daily Star) Only 12 out of the 80 ongoing
initiatives to improve governance in the
garment sector was completed in fiscal 201415, according to Transparency International
Bangladesh.
The
country office of
the global civil
society movement
against corruption said the implementation of
48 initiatives identified to fix the problems in
the garment sector is underway, but 12 of them
are moving slowly. Another 20 projects have
remained stagnant. TIB said there has been
progress in case of capacity building of the
Department of Inspection for Factories and
Establishments (DIFE) and the Bangladesh Fire
Service and Civil Defense and decentralization
of Rajuk and DIFE in last one year. Steps were
also taken to ensure factory safety. But labor
rights and security during the job period have
been evaded, it said in a report published on 22
April 2015. The report from TIB comes just
three days before the second anniversary of the
Rana Plaza collapse that killed more than 1,135
and injured thousands. Conducted between
April last year and March this year, the report is
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the second follow-up to the TIB research,
“Readymade garment: Problems to Good
Governance and Way Forward”.
Benetton doubles compensation for Rana
Plaza victims (The New Age) Benetton Group
has announced that it has contributed
$11,00,000 to the Rana Plaza Trust Fund,
doubling the sum recommended in an
independent assessment of its contribution by
PwC and endorsed by WRAP, an NGO focused
on social compliance through global supply
chains, the Italy-based fashion brand said at a
news
release
on
18
April
2015.
In fact Benetton’s payment of $11,00,000
follows a previous payment of $5,00,000 made
through BRAC, before the Rana Plaza Trust Fund
was
established,
said
the
release.
This coincides with a commitment from
Benetton to raise working conditions and living
standards for workers in the international
garment industry via several ‘people first’
sustainability initiatives rolling out across its
global supply chain, it said. Benetton will
progressively apply the principles of the Accord
on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh to its
producers in other global markets, it said.
Newsflash April 2015
Primark pays out 668 Rana Plaza victims (The
Daily Star) Primark has completed paying over
95 percent of long-term compensations to 668
Rana Plaza disaster victims, who were workers
of New Wave Bottoms, a supplier of the British
retailer. The retailer made the payments
through BRAC Bank and bKash to the family
members of the dead and injured workers of
New Wave Bottoms, Primark said in a
statement on 31 March 2015. Payments have
been made according to the impact of the injury
and the level of disability. In the case of the
dependents of the deceased and missing
workers, it was according to actuarial estimates
of lost earnings, Primark said. The process has
taken time to complete because the company
was determined that its approach to
compensation should be as fair, rigorous and as
sustainable as possible, according to Primark.
Primark's total aid stands at $14 million. The
company has additionally made a payment of
$1 million to the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund,
chaired by the International Labor Organization,
for distribution to workers in its competitors'
supply chain, according to the statement.
Complete govt-ILO factory inspections unlikely
by Apr 30 (The New Age)The government-led
and the International Labor Organizationsponsored
readymade garment factory
inspection programme is unlikely to be
completed by
April
30
deadline due to
noncooperation of
some
factory
owners and inconsistency in information
including factory locations and contact
numbers. As per announcement of the ILO,
inspection of the readymade garment factories
under National Tripartite Plan of Action was
supposed
to
end
by
April
30.
According to officials concerned, the ILO has so
far inspected 850 garment factories with 500
units still remaining as inspection teams failed
to reach the units due to incorrect contact
details. Recently, ILO officials held a meeting
with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers
and Exporters Association and sought
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intervention from the trade body so that factory
owners give schedule for inspections.
RMG units unhappy over addl remediation
plan (The New Age)A section of readymade
garment factory owners has alleged that the
Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a
consortium of North American retailers, is
incorporating additional corrective action plan
(CAP) to factories during its follow-up
inspection. The factory owners have recently
informed
the
Bangladesh
Garment
Manufacturers and Exporters Association
(BGMEA) that the inclusion of additional CAP
may hamper the smooth progress of
remediation process. BGMEA requested the
North American retailers group to limit followup visits to factories and not to include
additional cap as the factories are implementing
CAPs on initial findings. A senior official of
Alliance said that they had received a letter in
this regard from the BGMEA and assured the
garments factory owners that in the final
inspection, the Alliance will declare factories
compliant or noncompliant based on the
implementation of corrective action plans on
initial findings.
Centre to fix skills gap in garment sector CEBAI unveils logo (The Daily Star) The newly
launched Centre of Excellence for Bangladesh
Apparel Industries (CEBAI) will enhance
competitiveness in the garment sector by fixing
skill shortage, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed
said on 21 April 2015. CEBAI is an initiative
supported by International Labor Organization,
the Swedish government, leading Swedish
retailer
H&M,
Bangladesh
Garment
Manufacturers and Exporters Association and
the Bangladesh government. Based in the
garment manufacturing hub of Ashulia, the
center will provide need-based certified training
and research the socio-economic aspects of the
garment industry. In December last year, Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina opened the center at
Dhaka Apparel Summit. CEBAI will work as an
independent center and protect the interests of
millions of workers and value chain partners.
CEBAI will be operated under a three-year
project that will end in December 2016.
Newsflash April 2015
Canada: the next big buyer of garment (The
Daily Star) Canada will be a key garment export
destination for Bangladesh in achieving the $50
billion overseas sales target by the end of 2021,
according to the Canadian High Commissioner
Benoît-Pierre Laramée. Currently, Bangladesh is
the second largest garment exporting nation
after China with shipments of $24.5 billion in
the last fiscal year. Riding on duty-free benefits
to Bangladesh since January 2003, garment
exports to Canada have been on the rise in the
last decade. Of Bangladesh's exports to Canada,
96 percent are apparel items. In fiscal 2013-14,
Bangladesh's exports to Canada were worth
$1.1 billion, while imports were $585.5 million,
according to the Export Promotion Bureau.
JICA to provide assistance for making
vulnerable RMG buildings safe (The New Age)
The Japanese government has taken an
initiative to make vulnerable building of the
country’s garments factories safe for the RMG
workers through conducting retrofitting, a
technology to make vulnerable building jolt
resistant. ‘Japanese technology and experience
to make building earthquake resistance can
help Bangladesh to strengthen its vulnerable
RMG buildings for avoiding any tragic incident
like Rana plaza in future,’ Japan International
Cooperation (JICA). According to the JICA senior
official, Japanese experts had already started
their work to do retrofit to two RMG factories
initially and JICA would implement a large
project soon to cover more vulnerable RMG
buildings of the country.
Alliance starts fresh inspection at listed RMG
units after quake (The Financial Express)
Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety has
started fresh inspection at its listed garment
factories following the complaints from the
workers immediately after the earthquake on
25 April 2015. The Alliance is mindful of the
impacts an earthquake of the magnitude of 7.8
that hit Kathmandu can have on structures like
ready-made-garment factories in Bangladesh,
the North American buyers' brands initiative
said in a statement. The Alliance has received
several calls to our helpline, Amader Kotha (Our
Voice), from workers concerned about cracks in
factory buildings following the earthquake.
Officials of the Alliance's Dhaka office said they
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got complaints of having cracks in some 21
garment factories and they have already visited
13 out of them and found no safety risk there.
Exporters oppose pvt quality control center for
RMG items (The New Age) Garment exporters
have strongly opposed a decision of the
National Board of Revenue (NBR) permitting a
private organization to set up a quality control
center for inspecting the quality of apparel
products before shipment. On 5 April 2015, the
revenue board permitted Ispahani Summit
Alliance Terminals Ltd to set up a special
bonded warehouse and quality center.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and
Exporters Association in a letter to the NBR
demanded for withdrawal of the permission for
the sake of export of RMG products. Exporters
also blamed that the revenue board took the
decision to facilitate a vested quarter to run
monopoly business in the sector.
Garment exporters going green to grab more
orders (The Daily Star) Bangladesh's garment
sector is moving towards green building
initiatives to impress the growing tribe of ecominded international retailers, and in the
process, grab more work orders. So far, 14
garment factories from Bangladesh have
received LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) certification from the
United States Green Building Council, according
to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and
Exporters Association. Fifty more factories are
in queue to receive the LEED certification, as
they have already passed the selection criteria,
according to BGMEA. LEED is a green building
certification programme that recognizes the
best-in-class building strategies and practices.
New challenge to garment sector: Sri Lanka
(The Daily Star) Bangladesh's apparel sector is
set to face yet another challenge as its close
competitor Sri Lanka is lobbying for duty
benefits from the European Union. The two
parties held a meeting in Colombo recently,
where the possibility of revival of the
'Generalized System of Preferences Plus' status
for Sri Lanka were discussed. The island nation
lost its GSP Plus status in 2010 after the United
Nations Human Rights Council alleged violations
of human rights during the civil war. However,
Newsflash April 2015
given the political commitment by the new Sri
Lankan government, the EU decided to consider
the case under a special monitoring process.
The full application process takes about 10
months. If the status is granted, Sri Lankan
exports to the EU will attract lower or no duty.
Currently, Sri Lanka is the seventh largest
garment exporter in the $450 billion market,
with a little more than 1 percent share,
according to data from the World Trade
Organization. Bangladesh is the second largest
garment exporter after China with a 5 percent
market share.
Infrastructure
RAMPAL POWER PLANT - Govt to issue US$
1.17b sovereign guarantee (The New Age) The
government has decided to issue sovereign
guarantee amounting US$ 1.17 billion to foreign
funding agencies to source the lion’s share of
the estimated cost to construct the country’s
largest 1320 megawatt Rampal coal-based
power plant. The state guarantee that assures
overseas lending agencies of getting back their
investment in case the implementing agency
fails to repay. This will be the largest ever
guarantee the finance ministry is going to issue
so far against any project in the country, a
senior finance ministry official said. ‘The US$
1.17 billion guarantee accounts for 70 per cent
of the total estimated cost of the power plant,’
he said. The cost for the project has been
estimated at US$ 1.68 billion, while the debtequity ratio for the project stands at 70:30,
sources said. The project is a joint partnership
between India’s state-owned National Thermal
Power Corporation and Bangladesh Power
Development Board.
Foreign bidders vying for satellite contract (The
Financial Express) The telecom regulator has
drawn positive response from foreign
companies as they bid for Tk 30 billion contract
for the country's first satellite, officials said.
Four companies (from USA, China, Canada and
France) have already collected necessary
documents to participate in the international
tender
floated
by
the
Bangladesh
Telecommunication Regulatory Commission
(BTRC) on 24 March 2015. Earlier BTRC, the
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project implementing body,
had floated international
tender to implement a
geosynchronous
satellite
system with 40 transponders
to
provide
quality
communications
and
broadcasting services in the country. The
government is set to build the country's own
satellite to 119.1 degree east longitude under
the Bangabandhu Satellite Project by late 2017.
Railway Sector Development - China offers
Bangladesh soft loans of $15-20b (The Daily
Star) China has offered Bangladesh soft loans of
$15-20 billion to help it expand railway
networks across the country. Officials of the
Chinese embassy in Dhaka placed the loan
proposal at a high-level meeting with
Bangladesh officials at the Prime Minister's
Office (PMO) in January, according to railways
ministry sources. Later, the PMO formed a
three-member committee, headed by an
additional secretary of the railways ministry,
which primarily identified eight projects
involving $10.79 billion. Railways ministry
officials said they sent a list of the projects to
the Economic Relations Division of the finance
ministry last month for holding discussions with
the Chinese government. Projects are Padma
bridge rail link (Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga) involving
$2.18 billion; Padma bridge rail link (BhangaJessore) costing $1.14 billion; double line
(Joydevpur-Ishwardi) involving $897 million;
and double track line (Joydevpur-Mymensingh)
costing $331 million.
Joint venture of French and Japanese firms to
construct 2nd submarine cable station in
Kuakata of Bangladesh - Bangladesh to hook
up with second submarine cable next year (The
Daily Star) A joint venture of two companies
from France and Japan will construct the
second submarine cable station in Kuakata of
Patuakhali, which will serve as an alternative to
the existing submarine cable and ensure
uninterrupted and secure ICT services. Apart
from increasing the country's internet
bandwidth, the second submarine cable, known
as SEA-ME-WE-5, will help the country earn
additional revenue by providing restorable
Newsflash April 2015
circuits to the clients. French company Alcatel
Lucent and Japanese NEC have been selected
for setting up the
landing station and
doing other associated
works. The Post and
Telecommunication
Division
recently
submitted a proposal to the cabinet committee
on economic affairs, seeking approval of the
project to connect the nation to a second
submarine cable. The installation of the second
cable station will be completed by 2016.
A fresh move made to build BangladeshMyanmar road-Yangon agrees on route thru
Bandarban (The Financial Express) A fresh
move has been made to build the long-dreamt
Bangladesh-Myanmar friendship road after the
neighboring country agreed in principle to
explore the possibility of routing the continental
highway through Bandarban area, official
sources said. The trans-border communications
route is broadly planned to establish wider
connectivity with the Southeast Asian countries,
including the Chinese spring city of Kunming,
Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore crossing over
Myanmar. It is also conceived as part of the
long-cherished Asian Highway and BCIM
(Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar)
corridor.
Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an agreement
in July 2007 to build the cross-border friendship
road.
Oil, Gas & Energy
ADB listing out right fields for funding BD
energy development (The Financial Express)
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is doing
spadework to enhance financial support for
Bangladesh to help the latter meet its mounting
energy demand, competent sources said. ADB is
now searching out necessary fields where its
funding could better help the energy sector. It
has appointed a consultant to help in selecting
the potential energy sectors for assistance. ADB
is keen on bankrolling projects related to
installation of compression stations, and gastransmission pipelines to help carry natural gas
to the user-end. It has already provided funds
for implementing a project involving import of
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electricity into Bangladesh from India. It has
also shown interest in assisting import of regasified LNG from India for feeding a 750-to
800mw combined-cycle power-plant project,
costing US$ 550 million, in Khulna.
LNG transmission from floating terminal-Govt
moves to build 91km pipeline (The Financial
Express) The government has now made a
concrete move to install a 91-kilometre pipeline
to carry re-gasified imported liquefied natural
gas (LNG) from Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of
Bengal to Anowara in Chittagong to facilitate its
transmission to the users' end, said officials.
Energy and Mineral Resources Division under
the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral
Resources has floated two separate tenders to
build around a 3-km section of the pipeline,
which will cross four rivers -- Koheli, Uzantia,
Matamuhuri and Sangu. The bid winner will be
responsible to design, procure, supply, install,
test and commission the pipeline through four
rivers on turnkey basis.
Petrobangla ready to set up JV with Gazprom
Hydrocarbon operations in BD, elsewhere
aimed at (The Financial Express) Petrobangla is
ready to establish a joint venture (JV) firm with
Russian oil major Gazprom to run hydrocarbon
exploration operations at home and abroad,
said officials. The state-owned petroleum
corporation sent its wish letter, 21 April 2015,
to Managing Director and Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) of the Gazprom EP International
BV Valery Gulev, in response to a desire from
the Russian side. Its reply letter contains
coinage of comments over the planned JV
between Gazprom and Bangladesh Petroleum
Exploration and Production Company Ltd
(BAPEX). The letter was sent after reviewing the
draft agreement on the basic principles of JV.
Through this letter, Petrobangla also invited
Gazprom for any further discussion in relation
to finalization of the agreement. Sources said
Gazprom is eyeing a big role in Bangladesh's
hydrocarbon sector under the planned JV with
the Petrobangla subsidiary, BAPEX, on a
government-to-government basis. The Russian
firm had submitted a formal proposal to
Petrobangla on February 26 this year in
response to a July 17, 2014 initial letter from
Newsflash April 2015
the latter wishing to establish such joint
venture.
No new gas links for households (The New
Age) The government decided to stop giving all
types of new gas connections to households.
The decision implies that the households which
already have one or two gas connections would
not be allowed to increase the number of
connections at the same holding keeping the
total number of domestic gas connections
limited to 29.4 lakh at least for now, officials
said. The government, after a three-year
moratorium until May 7, 2013, resumed giving
household connections only where gas
distribution networks have already been
installed. Gas distribution companies in June
2010 suspended setting up fresh distribution
networks for gas connections to households.
The prime minister, in the meeting also asked
the agencies concerned to ensure supply of
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to every
household in three years at affordable prices.
Water/Maritime
Dhaka, Delhi sign draft coastal shipping
agreement - Inland water protocol renewed
for 5 yrs (The New Age) Bangladesh and India
recently signed a draft agreement in Delhi to
facilitate coastal shipping to boost bilateral
trade. Shipping Secretary Shafiq Alam Mehedi
and his Indian counterpart Rajive Kumar signed
the draft ‘Coastal Shipping Agreement’ on 20
April 2015, Initially, according to officials,
bilateral cargo traffic would use Chittagong,
Mongla, Narayanganj (Pangaon) and Ashuganj
ports of Bangladesh and Visakhapatnam,
Kakinada, Paradip and Haldia of India. The two
sides have to ratify and exchange the
instruments of ratification to give effect to the
agreement, they said
Western Marine to build 10 cargo ships for
Jindal Group (The Financial Express) Western
Marine Shipyard (WMS) has announced that the
company has made a deal with the Indian
business conglomerate Jindal Group for building
ten (10) cargo ships. WMS signed the
agreement with Jindal Steel Works Limited on
the 5 March 2015 in Mumbai, India for building
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10 units of Mini Bulk Carrier. These ships will be
built for about BDT 4.8 Billion (USD 61.25
million) which could be considered one of the
highest worth contract that Bangladesh has
signed with India so far.
Agriculture/Fisheries
Cotton cultivation to be extended to tobacco
fields (The New Age) The agriculture ministry
has taken a strategy to boost domestic
production of
cotton
by
gradually
extending
its
cultivation on
the land used
for
growing
tobacco,
said
officials.
Following the government strategy, Cotton
Development Board (CDB) decided to increase
cotton acreage to 1,00,000 hectares by 2020
from 48,000 hectares. About 80,000 small
farmers now produce 1,50,000 bales of cotton
against the annual demand of 45 lakh bales,
according to CDB data. Cotton is grown in 32
districts, mainly in Kustia, Chuadanga,
Jhenidhah, Meherpur, Magura, Jessore,
Rangpur, Thakugaon and the hill tract districts.
The government accepted a proposal from
private ginning companies that they would
provide loans, fertilizers and other incentives to
cotton growers and buy their produce just as
the tobacco industries do to keep farmers
interested in growing tobacco, according to the
agriculture ministry.
Govt imports Bt cotton seeds for trial
cultivation (The New Age) The Cotton
Development Board (CDB) has imported
genetically modified cotton seeds from China
for trial cultivation in greenhouse. 500 grams of
imported genetically modified cotton seeds,
better known as Bt cotton seeds, reached
Dhaka for sowing at Cotton Development
Board’s cotton farm at Sreepur in Gazipur
district in early July, said officials. After the trial
cultivation and scientific assessment bt cotton
seeds would be distributed among farmers for
commercial cultivation, they said.
Newsflash April 2015
Other news
Queen Maxima of
Netherlands
praises
financial inclusion in
Bangladesh (The Daily
Star) Queen Maxima of
the Netherlands has
appreciated the growth
of financial inclusion in
Bangladesh and expressed her interest to visit
the country next year to see the development.
The queen expressed her interest in a meeting
with Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman
at the IMF headquarters in Washington during
IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings held on 18
April 2015. Queen Maxima, also a special
adviser to the UN secretary general on financial
inclusion, praised the role of Bangladesh Bank
in promoting mobile financial services and other
inclusive financial activities such as women's
empowerment and promotion of agriculture
and small and medium enterprises. On the
sidelines of the IMF event, the BB chief spoke as
a panelist on “Leveraging migration and
remittances for post-2015 development
financing: the Bangladesh context”.
Bangladesh to join global cyber forum
expertise (The Daily Star) Bangladesh has
decided to join the Global Forum on Cyber
Expertise, a new international cooperation
platform to be launched to promote protection
for the internet ecosystem in the developing
countries. Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali
announced this while speaking at the Plenary
Session of the Global Conference on
CyberSpace 2015 at The Hague in the
Netherlands on 16 April 2015, according to the
ministry press release. The minister reaffirmed
Bangladesh's growing stakes and interest in
engaging in cyber diplomacy as a foreign policy.
Ali has underlined some of the challenges
before countries like Bangladesh in the face of
organized cybercrimes and attacks. The two-day
conference was opened by Dutch Prime
Minister Mark Rutte. More than 1,500
participants from governments, private sector
and civil society all over the world have
attended the conference.
8
Benglish Crafts awarded the Prince Claus Fund
prize (EKN) Benglish Craft is a part of Vialisa
Foundation in partnership with Bangladeshi
youth organization OGGRO, developed to
create independent job opportunities for
students participating in Vialisa's programmes.
Vialisa aims to train its target group,
underprivileged youths, to get a sustainable job,
which will be economically independent from
Vialisa. Therefore, they have searched for a way
in which handicrafts will be a tool to achieve
economic independence, instead of a target.
They have found the answer in creating a
unique social enterprise, Benglish Crafts, in
which underprivileged youths will be trained to
run all facets of a handicraft enterprise and gain
full ownership.
Tax incentives galore for investors in hi-tech
parks (The Financial Express) The government
has prepared a comprehensive incentive
package for attracting both local and foreign
investment in hi-tech and software technology
parks. The investors in the technology parks,
according to the proposed package, will be
entitled to full waiver of corporate income tax
for 10 years and many other tax incentives.
Income
from
domestic
operations and
exports might be
fully exempted
from corporate
income tax for
the said period,
starting from the date of commencement of
operations
by
developers,
property
management firms and individual investors,
according to the package. The Ministry of
Information and Communication Technology
prepared the package titled 'the preferential
package for the developers, property
management firms and investors in the hi-tech
and software technology park'. The incentive
package has been prepared after reviewing
similar types of packages in other countries and
exchanging opinions with local stakeholders.
Ship-breakers to get training on waste
management (The Daily Star) Local shipbreakers will receive training under a project to
learn how to deal with hazardous waste and oil
Newsflash April 2015
pollution in the best possible way. The
Netherlands embassy in Dhaka will finance the
project that aims to develop a more
environment-friendly and superior shipbreaking sector in the country. Workers at
different ship-breaking yards in Sitakunda
upazila will get the training, for which Abu
Taher, president of Bangladesh Ship Breakers
Association, and Dharmesh Jani, chairman of
Creative Consultants, an Indian firm, signed a
deal in Chittagong on 13 April 2015.
Sharp fall in foreign investment proposals Local investment proposals rise 48.13pc: BoI
(The Daily Star) Foreign investment proposals
fell 73.53 percent in the first
quarter of the year from the
previous quarter, mainly due
to
a volatile political
environment. Commitments
by foreign investors stood at
Tk 1,046.66 crore during
January-March, down from
Tk 3,954.78 crore in OctoberDecember last year, according to the Board of
Investment (BoI). The number of investment
projects from foreign investors or joint ventures
also dropped in the first quarter; only 24
investment proposals including eight fullyforeign investment proposals were registered at
BoI. The number was 30 in the previous quarter.
But local investment proposals rose 48.13
percent in the same period. Local
entrepreneurs proposed to invest Tk 24,598.58
crore in 336 projects in the first quarter, while
291 projects worth Tk 16,605.60 crore were
proposed in the immediate past quarter. Of the
investment proposals, agro-based projects were
the highest at 51.89 percent, followed by 10.46
percent in the chemicals sector, 8.94 percent in
engineering and 8.52 percent in textiles.
Economic zone developers, investors to get
10yr tax break - Govt approves incentive
package (The New Age) Bangladesh Economic
Zones Authority has approved an incentive
package including tax holiday for 10 years for
economic zone developers and investors in the
zones, officials said. At a meeting with Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair on February
18, the governing body of BEZA approved the
package to attract developers and investors to
9
the country, they said. The prime minister is the
chairman of the BEZA Governing Board.
According to the approved package, mostly
related to income tax, customs duty and valueadded tax, economic zone developers will get 8
types of benefits while investors in the zones
will get a total of 26 facilities. According to the
package, developers may get income tax
holiday on income derived from the business of
development of economic zones for 10 years
and opportunity of income tax payment at
reduced rate for next 2 years. They may also be
allowed exemption from payment of valueadded tax for 10 years from electricity
generation and procurement for using in EZs.
Economic cost of recent political troubles
$2.2b - WB lowers GDP growth projection
further
(The
Financial
Express)
Bangladesh's economy suffered a loss of US$2.2
billion (nearly Tk.18000 crore) due to the very
recent political troubles, according to World
Bank estimate. “We have mainly taken into
consideration the losses the various sectors of
the economy suffered during a period of 60
days since January 6 this year, said Dr. Zahid
Hussain, the lead economist of the WB, while
presenting the Bank's latest Bangladesh
Development Update in Dhaka on 12 April
2015. WB also projected a far deeper cut in
Bangladesh's economic growth in the current
fiscal, to 5.6 per cent from 6.2 per cent forecast
six months before, due mainly to political
damper. Substantial economic losses caused by
the impact of the recent political turmoil further
dragged down the pivotal indicator of the
economy; it said in a latest update The WB said
the impact on direct production losses could be
equivalent to around 1.0 per cent of GDP.
The WB's projected 5.6 per cent GDP growth for
the current FY2015 is 1.7 percentage points
lower than the government's target of 7.3
percent.
Seven local ICT projects up for global awards
(The Daily Star) Seven ICT-related projects from
Bangladesh got the nomination for this year's
World Summit on the Information Society
(WSIS) awards. The projects are: Hello 16123;
the National Portal; the National Portal for
Teachers; mHealth; Amaderdaktar (our doctor);
Newsflash April 2015
Agriculture Helpline 27676, and Farmers Query
Service. Their promotion to the final stage of
the competition will largely rely on public votes,
and the votes can be cast online until May 1,
Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for ICT, said
at a press briefing on 19 April 2015.
BD economy presents a stable outlook:
Moody's (The Financial Express) Bangladesh
presents a stable outlook on the economic front
but restive politics remains a looming risk to a
robust performance, global credit-rating agency
Moody's said once more in its latest analysis of
the country's situation. Bangladesh is rated Ba3
with a stable outlook, according to the Moody's
analysis
released on
29 April 2015
with a note
of
caution
about the limiting factors stemming both from
economics and politics. Bangladesh's Ba3
foreign currency government bond rating
reflects its track record of macroeconomic
stability, a modest debt burden, and limited
external vulnerabilities with an ample foreign
reserve buffer, the US-based Moody's Investors
Service said in its analysis report.
year as the country needs to spend foreign
nationals working in Bangladesh, a top chamber
leader said. Hossain Khaled, president of Dhaka
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), said
the short supply of locally produced skilled
manpower is forcing the country to spend an
estimated US$6.0 billion per year on the
remunerations and benefits of foreign nationals
working in the country. He revealed the figures
while speaking at a workshop dedicated to
'Opportunity out of Crisis,' organized by DCCI
and LIM-Leadership, held on 20 April 2015.
Majority of the foreign nationals are currently
working in the industrial sector. The amount
they are sending out as remittances is
equivalent to almost a quarter of the country's
inward remittance. Remittances sent home by
expatriate Bangladeshis reached more than $14
billion
in
fiscal
2013-14.
BB to launch $350m loan scheme for
manufacturers (The New Age) Bangladesh Bank
(BB) is likely to introduce a refinance and prefinance scheme worth $350 million in
September this year, under which clients will
get loans in dollars from banks and non-bank
financial institutions on long-term basis to set
up new manufacturing units or expand the
existing ones. The central bank will introduce
the scheme by taking assistance of $300 million
from
the
International
Development
Association, a concern of the World Bank; BB
will provide $50 million to build the fund. The
scheme’s name will be financial sector support
project. WB board might approve the fund on
June 5 at a meeting and then the central bank
would take required measures to introduce the
project.
Foreign nationals take home $6.0b a year DCCI chief for plugging skill shortage of locals
(The Financial Express) A significant amount of
foreign currency flies out of Bangladesh each
10
Newsflash April 2015
Events
BANGLADESH DENIM EXPO is an International Denim Trade Show, which
will take place twice a year in Dhaka - Bangladesh. The exhibition is a new
comprehensive showcase of the entire Denim value chain: fabric, finishes,
washes, accessories. The next one will be held from 11 to 12 May 2015. For
more information, please visit: http://www.bangladeshdenimexpo.com/
Bangladesh Apparel & Safety Exposition, Chittagong 2015BGMEA is going to
organize Bangladesh Apparel Expo -2015, Chittagong from 6 to 8 August 2O15
at Radisson Blue Chittagong Bay View, Chittagong. For details, please contact:
http://www.bgmea.com.bd/ctgexpo/
Seminar ‘Horizon 2020:, from the lab to the market: cooperation on Research and Innovation between
EU and Bangladesh’ Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme with nearly
€80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020) – in addition to the private investment that
this money will attract. It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great
ideas from the lab to the market. By coupling research and innovation, Horizon 2020 is helping to
achieve this with its emphasis on excellent science, industrial leadership and tackling societal challenges.
The goal is to ensure Europe produces world-class science, removes barriers to innovation and makes it
easier for the public and private sectors to work together in delivering innovation. To create awareness
on the Horizon 2020 programme and invite Bangladeshi researchers and research institutes to apply, the
EU delegation to Bangladesh organized a seminar on Horizon 2020 at the Westin in Dhaka on 22nd April.
At the seminars, Mr. Denis Dambois, EU Regional Counsellor for Research and Innovation, made a
presentation on Horizon 2020 and provided the audience with detailed explanation on the ways to
benefit from this programme. More detailed information on the calls for proposals and the application
procedure of Horizon 2020 can be found on the official Horizon 2020 website:
http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/bangladesh/projects/list_of_projects/20150325_en.htm
Potato variety in PROOFS project The Food Security team of the Netherlands Embassy is proud to showcase the results of the private sector involvement in the PROOFS project that it cofinances. At the 7th of April, the results were shown of the collaboration between
Malik (a local seed company) and the PROOFS project. Malik tested two potato
varieties from Agrico, a company from the Netherlands. This is a good example of
the 'aid and trade' agenda of Minister Ploumen. Dutch technology and trade
opportunities are matched with the small farmers' networks developed in
development cooperation activities to the benefit of those poor farmers (men and
women).
EKN Food Security Projects meeting and network event On 22 April 2015, the
EKN’s food security related projects came together for an intensive day of
group discussions. Various issues within the EKN’s food security programme
were discussed. The day was finished with a networking event in which we
invited the Dutch-related private sector to link projects (and their target
groups) with business
11
Newsflash April 2015
Tenders
Call for proposals - Food and Business Global Challenge program NWO-WOTRO Science for Global
Development launched the third call for proposals within the Food & Business Global Challenges
Programme. The call was developed in close collaboration with the Food & Business Knowledge
Platform. Theme of the call is 'transformation of food systems with a focus on sustainability and
urbanization'. Within the call, two types of research funding are available: funding for Integrated
Projects (IPs) and for Fast Track Research projects (FTR). IPs may have duration of four years and a
maximum budget of 600,000 euros. For FTR-projects, the maximum duration is two to three years with a
maximum budget of 250,000 euros. Deadline for submitting a full proposal is 16 July, and an obligatory
Letter of Intent for a FTR-proposal must be received by 23 June 2015. For details, please visit:
http://www.nwo.nl/en/funding/our-funding-instruments/wotro/food--business-research/food-business-global-challenges-programme-gcp/food--business-global-challenges-programme-gcp.html
Invitation for International Tender Bangladesh Railway under Ministry of Railway issued a tender
for Supply of 70 Nos. Meter Gauge (MG) Diesel Electric (DE) Locomotives for Bangladesh Railway.
Tender Last Selling Date: 28-May-2015, Tender Closing Date: 31-May-2015. For details, please
contact: Dulal Kumar Roy, Chief Mechanical Engineer, Project & Project Director, Bangladesh Railway,
Room No. 709, Rail Bhaban, 16, Nawab Abdul Gani Road, Dhaka, Phone: 01711692981 Email:
cmeprjt@yahoo.com
Invitation for International Tender Bangladesh Land Port Authority, an agency under the Ministry
of Shipping, issued a tender for Improvement of Burimari Land Port. Tender was published on 27 April
2015 and closing on 26 May 2015 at 12:00 pm. For details, please contact: Md. Habibur Rahman,
Project Director, Bangladesh Land Port Authority, TCB Bhaban (5th Floor), Kawran Bazar, Dhaka1215. Phone: 02-9123757 Fax: 02-9122627
Invitation for International Tender Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) under
Energy and Mineral Resources Division issued a tender for Maheshkhali-Anowara Gas Transmission
Pipeline Project. Tender was published on 7 April 2015 and closing on 11 May 2015 at 12:00 pm. For
details, please contact: Engr. Abu Syed Mahmud, Project Director, Maheshkhali-Anowara Gas
Transmission Pipeline Project, Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL), Red Crescent Borak Tower
(Level 8), 71-72, Old Elephant Road, Eskaton Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh. Phone: 02 8322236 Fax: 02
9358100 Email: ma_gtcl@yahoo.com
Please remain updated on these
http://www.cptu.gov.bd/Notices.aspx
and
future
tenders
at
the
following
website:
More information
The Embassy always welcomes your comments on, and suggestions for the Newsflash. We also
encourage interested Dutch and Bangladeshi companies to place an article or message in our newsflash.
For more information please contact our economic department at the Embassy in Dhaka through email
dha-ea@minbuza.nl, or by phone (00882) 8822715-8.
12
Newsflash April 2015