The government on Wednesday asked the authorities concerned to offload, within three weeks, 30 per cent shares of Jamuna Oil Company and Meghna Petroleum Ltd and 1,20,000 government-owned shares in the IFIC bank.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director Hua Du yesterday pleaded for immediate increase in supply of quality shares to prevent any possible overheating or price shocks in the country’s stock market. “The rise in capitalisation and index values in Bangladesh is mostly demand-driven, which is somewhat risky, it must be backed by quality shares with strong economic fundamentals,” she said addressing the closing session of a daylong seminar.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) yesterday suggested the government appoint more than one pre-shipment inspection (PSI) companies at a single block in order to free businessmen from any harassment. Advocating strongly an extensive monitoring of PSI activities, the apex business body asked for punitive measures against any PSI firm found involved in any irregularities.

The Bangladesh Bank is planning to make bond market vibrant and attractive to investors by putting pressure on nine primary dealers to play more active role.

Trust Bank was given permission yesterday to start merchant banking operations bringing the total number of merchant banks to 30.

Waliur Rahman Bhuiyan, Member of the Executive Board of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) – Bangladesh, has recently been elected president of Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) for 2007-09 term. Rudolf P Klink has been elected vice president of the chamber.

The government has officially announced formation of the first-ever public-private business forum styled ‘Bangladesh Better Business Forum’ (BBBF), basically designed to improve interaction between the business community and government high-ups. Chief Adviser (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed is chairperson of the 38-member BBBF, which will have a secretariat attached with the Board of Investment (BoI) under the supervision of the CA’s office.

Hinting at reduction in discretionary power of VAT (value added tax) and customs officials, the NBR (National Board of Revenue) chairman yesterday assured business leaders of making his department more taxpayer-friendly from next fiscal year.

As economists and chamber leaders chided Wednesday the World Bank for its lending programmes linked to policy prescriptions, a top economist of the bank maintained that the government should take its decisions considering the people’s needs.

Chief Adviser (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday said the government will form Bangladesh Better Business Forum (BBBF), a public-private platform to promote business environment in the country, in a day or two.

The board of directors of Teletalk Bangladesh Limited on Tuesday approved a Tk 550 crore network expansion project aimed at acquiring 18 lakh more subscribers by the end of 2008. ‘We have approved the proposal for widening Teletalk’s network and coverage to grab more subscribers,’ said Mizanur Rahman, a joint secretary of the posts and telecommunications ministry who is on the board of the state-owned mobile phone operator.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in its regular meeting Tuesday enhanced the paid-up capital of merchant banks, issue managers and underwriters and decided to allow both the state-owned Jamuna and Meghna Oil companies to offload shares in the stock markets. A senior official of the SEC, who attended the meeting, said the SEC has enhanced the paid-up capital of the merchant bank operations.

Revenue collection in the country has soared during the first four months of the current financial year, up 22 percent from the same period a year earlier. Revenue growth during the same period of previous year was 7.58 percent, according to NBR statistics.

Least Developed Countries (LDCs) including Bangladesh have been facing serious constraints in exporting their products to the global market as non-tariff barriers (NTBs) issue in the WTO talks still remained unresolved, said the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI). “It is important to start negotiations on NTBs, which pose serious constraints to the LDCs’ export growth,” remarked the editorial in the November issue of the Chamber News, the MCCI’s monthly publication.

The developed countries need to make commitment to provide duty-free and quota free access to all products of the least developed countries (LDCs) within a time frame. Unless it is done, there is every possibility that most important export items of the LDCs will be put outside the scope of duty-free and quota-free access. This view was expressed by the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) in an editorial comment in the latest issue of its ‘Chamber News’.

Exports continued to recover in September from their dramatic slump in July, with double-digit growth in the knitwear sector leading the improvement. According to figures released yesterday by the Export Promotion Bureau, export earnings in September rose 9.77 per cent in the same period a year earlier to $1.042 billion. However they remained around 5 per cent behind government targets for the month.

Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury has said Norway and Sweden expressed their eagerness to accept Bangladesh as a strategic partner to increase economic and political cooperation. Briefing reporters on his just ended visit to the two Scandinavian countries, he said Norway is eager to take engineers well versed in English language to work for its oil sector. Besides, both Norway and Sweden are willing to recruit skilled manpower in IT sector.

Pran-RFL Group, a leading food company of the country, yesterday signed three separate export agreements worth $ 3.5 million with 3 Saudi and Jordanian firms.

The country’s knitwear exporters yesterday urged the central bank to act cautiously in its attempts to strengthen the taka against the dollar, as a stronger taka could hit exports.

Garment manufacturers yesterday asked the government to lobby US congressmen to pass ‘The New Partnership for Development Act 2007’, a bill that will ensure duty- and quota-free access for Bangladeshi apparel to the US market.