China will continue to see high growth in its trade surplus this year, and could experience inflationary pressures. The central bank of China said that export growth will likely be slower than last year due to a world economic slowdown and a series of domestic policy adjustments. But given the domestic economic environment as well as the increasing strength of Chinas industries in the export market, it will be to difficult to expand imports.

China will continue to see high growth in its trade surplus this year, and could experience inflationary pressures. The central bank of China said that export growth will likely be slower than last year due to a world economic slowdown and a series of domestic policy adjustments. But given the domestic economic environment as well as the increasing strength of Chinas industries in the export market, it will be to difficult to expand imports.

India is set to become third largest economy of Asia next year as it is expected to record 9.2 per cent growth during the current financial year. It will overtake Japan within a year because of boom in services and manufacturing sectors. However, it is still a long way for India to catch up with China, which reported 10.7 per cent increase in the Gross Domestic Produce (GDP) in 2006. India already surpassed South Korea in economic growth.

With a view to providing exportoriented information for the businesses in Chittagong region, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) will open a trade information centre here in the port city on February 14. The centre will be set up at Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) building in Agrabad. EPB Vice Chairman Sahab Ullah announced this while exchanging views with the leaders of the CCCI at a meeting on February 8.

The Indian government has agreed to allow chemical analysis of imported food products from Bangladesh at Guwahati, instead of Kolkata. Earlier, from August to January last the central food laboratory in Kolkata was the only authority to certify the imported food items from Bangladesh because of temporary suspension of operation by the Agartala regional food laboratory.

A Chinese company named Jiangu Red Bud Dying Technology Company plans the biggest ever investment in Bangladesh to produce fabrics from jute in the wake of cotton price hike in the international market. The company plans to invest US$ 400 million to set up a plant in Ishwardi Export Processing Zone. The company, according to the proposal, will gradually raise its investment to one billion dollar. The Chinese company would produce 50 types fabrics including denim from jute produced in Pabna and Jessore region.

The country will need to invest $ 7.7 billion in the next 18 years up to 2025 for the exploration of natural gas to meet its growing demand in line with the seven per cent GDP growth. This was revealed in an exclusive report presented recently in the meeting of the council of advisers. The report said the country will need 24 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of additional gas to meet the national demand in the next 18 years. Petrobangla, the stateowned hydrocarbon corporation, prepared the report while the energy division presented it to the council of advisers, aiming to give a thorough idea about the countrys present state of natural gas and mineral resources and their future prospects.

Investment in the Asia Pacific hotel sector is expected to exceed seven billion US dollars this year, up 33 percent from 5.25 billion dollars in 2006. New markets such as China, India and Vietnam are expected to see increasing investor interest, while Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo will remain favoured destinations.

The caretaker government plans to strike a number of deals within this year for installing some power plants having the capacity of 940 megawatts, part of a big plan for resolving the nagging electricity crisis. The power ministry has submitted a work plan to the council of advisers lining up a number of projects for the deals.

Leaders of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) urged the interim government to withdraw discretionary powers of the tax authorities, cut import duties on raw materials and intermediary products, continuation of tax holiday, and withdrawal of tax concession to whitening of black money. They also asked the government to take immediate measures for creating additional power generation capacity to meet the countrys growing energy needs.

Envoys of the ASEAN countries based in Dhaka expressed their keen interest to invest in hotel, real estate and infrastructure sectors during their meeting with foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury at his office in Dhaka on February 7. Being a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum, Bangladesh and ASEAN have close relationship.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government signed yesterday a US$ 3 million loan agreement to improve governance in the capital market and insurance sector. Economic Relation Division (ERD) Secretary Md Aminul Islam Bhuiyan and ADB Country Director Hua Du signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides. Visiting Director General of ADBs South Asia Department Kunio Senga was, among others, present on the occasion.

The World Bank (WB) continues to take a leadership role in the fight against fraud and corruption, investigating and closing more than 400 cases involving WBfinanced projects over the past two fiscal years and sanctioning over 100 entities for engaging in wrongdoing in projects. Over the past two fiscal years, the World Bank Groups Institutional Integrity Department (INT) investigated and closed 441 external investigations into fraud and corruption in Bank financed projects. As a result of such investigations, the WB debarred 58 firms and 54 individuals due to fraud and corruption over the period covered.

China has launched an economic and trade cooperation zone in Zambia, the first of its kind by the Communist trading giant in Africa to tap local mineral resources and boost trade ties with the continent. The zones establishment is part of Chinas efforts to fulfil its earlier promises to boost its fullfledged cooperation with African nations. China is a Special Economic Zone pioneer.

London has taken a decisive step towards becoming a global centre for Islamic finance, establishing the worlds first secondary market for trading bonds that comply with the Qurans strict laws on earning interest. These shariahcompliant bonds, or sukuk, are structured to pay profits from an underlying business, rather than interest, which is banned under Islamic law as the creation of money from money itself is considered sinful.

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has intensified its open market operation to keep the countrys foreign exchange market stable with adequate supply of greenback. Under the measures, the central bank directly purchased around US$ 20 million during the last three days from the commercial banks to help keep their net open position (NOP) within the limit.

Bangladesh achieved striking growth in export of readymade garments and other textile products in 2006 as earning by the countrys prime industrial sectors grew by more than $2 billion, to $9.2 billion last year. The RMG sector increased its production capacity in the quotafree postMFA regime, and the very competitive prices of Bangladeshi apparels ensured robust growth in export.

The Council of Advisers on Monday, February 5, decided that Bangladesh would sign the UN Convention on AntiCorruption. At its regular weekly meeting with the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, in the chair, the council directed the foreign ministry to immediately initiate necessary measures for signing the United Nations Convention on Prevention of Corruption.

The Advisers Committee on Economic Affairs approved the 3yearly ImportExport Policy of Bangladesh on February 5. According to the new policy, importlimit,without Letters of Credit (LC), would be raised to $35,000 from the current limit of $25,000 while readymade garment exporters would also be able to import 0.3 per cent of sample textiles instead of the current limit of 0.2 per cent.

The countrys export earnings increased by about 26 percent to $ 6,220 million during the first half of the current fiscal year,200607. The export figure was also 3.6 percent higher than the target of $ 6,006 million set for the period (JulyDecember 06), according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB). The December 2006 exports rose to $ 1,175 million exceeding the target of $ 1,056 million.