Bangladesh Economy: News & Updates

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Walton to export refrigerators to US

Saturday, 17 July 2010 21:05

Walton to export refrigerators to US

Walton to export refrigerators to US
Unb, Dhaka

RB Group, an electronics maker, has moved to export refrigerators and other items to the US.

“We have already registered a window office in the US to market our products,” RB Corporate Communications Director Mizanur Rahman told the news agency yesterday.

RB Group, which produces electronic goods and motorcycles under the Walton brand, has been exporting refrigerators, motorcycles, and other electronic items to Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and some countries in the Middle East for a couple of years now.

"We are now busy acquiring the documents related to standard and quality, a pre-requisite to entering the US market."

If successful, Walton will be the first Bangladeshi electronics maker to enter the US. “As soon as we get the documents, we will instruct our US counterpart to open L/C for import,” he added.

"We expect to export to Europe also."

The group also signed initial agreements with traders in Japan. Walton Hi-tech Industries, the group's manufacturing unit, now produces about six lakh refrigerators against a demand for four lakh in Bangladesh. About 2,500 workers are engaged in the manufacturing plant set up on 50 acres.

"After the global meltdown, many manufacturing plants in developed countries were forced to shut down. These countries now look for imports from developing countries."

Walton now offers a 10-CFT refrigerator at Tk 20,700, while a similar-sized import ranges between Tk 30,000 and Tk 33,000. It plans to produce LCD monitors and computers as well.

"We can offer goods at cheaper prices if we get policy support and incentives," he said.

Under the existing policy, he said, it is easier to import a refrigerator than making it locally. "The import duty on raw materials is higher than the duty on a finished one."

Presently, Walton retails refrigerators in 12 variants through its 600 outlets and dealers throughout the country.

 

[TopCat]

very very nice move... hope we will be in the same foot as South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan as they made their fortune through selling electronics and electrical appliances. I am impressed.

 

[bd_4_ever]

very very nice move... hope we will be in the same foot as South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan as they made their fortune through selling electronics and electrical appliances. I am impressed.

Yes, excatly....i think it will take us time but we will expand further in this field....there are really no alternative than to selling electronic appliances, still a huge chunk of the export money comes from that in many countries....


Cheers!!!

 

[fallstuff]

Solar-powered irrigation project launched

Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman on Saturday said power and energy crisis was creating obstacle on the way of targeted economic growth of the country.
The country can achieve two per cent more economic growth if sufficient energy and power supply can be ensured, he said while inaugurating a project for irrigation using solar power at Kumrakhali-Fultala village in Barguna sadar.
The Tk 38 lakh solar irrigation system project of the Resource Development Foundation was financed by the Mutual Trust Bank while Rahim Afroz provided the technical cooperation.
Eighty three farmers through 48 solar panels worth Tk 11.48 lakh will lift about eight lakh litres of water by using water pumps run by solar power for irrigating 40 acres of land everyday.
Besides the irrigation cost, the rest of the amount was spent for seed bed, labour, cultivation, plantation, fertilisation, pesticides.
The solar irrigation project will bring down the overall cultivation cost to one-fifth, sources said.
Speaking on the occasion the BB governor emphasised on finding and developing eco-friendly and cost effective alternative energy resource and technology.
‘Finding and successfully using low-cost, environment friendly alternative energy source is a must for our sustainable national development,’ he said.
Atiur also stressed on introducing regional potentiality based rural banking by changing mindset for balanced regional economic development in the country.
He reminded that the government during the current fiscal year will distribute agricultural loan of Tk 12,000 crore and the central bank’s policy in this regard will be announced on July 24.
The BB governor also laid the foundation of a 9-storied office building of RDF at Police Line Road of Barguna town.
The ceremony, presided over by RDF president Imranul Huq Chowdhury, was also addressed among others by Awami League lawmakers Dhirendra Devnath Shamvu and Golam Sabur Tulu, BB deputy governor Murshid Kuli Khan, Barguna municipal mayor Shahjahan Mia and upazila chairman Abdul Khalek.
Senior officials of Mitual Trust Bank, NCC Bank, Shahjalal Islami Bank, Rupali Bank, Rahim Afroz Limited and district administration were present on the occasion.

Link:

Solar-powered irrigation project launched

 

[fallstuff]

Uniqlo teams up with Yunus

Social business finds a new route now -- this time entering the garments sector.

Grameen Bank Group is partnering with Fast Retailing Company Ltd that owns Japan's casual-clothing chain Uniqlo. Under a joint venture, a textile unit will be set up in Bangladesh in September to help the underprivileged women.

The Japanese company and Grameen Bank Group have agreed in Tokyo to launch the venture through a Fast Retailing subsidiary.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is promoting the social business model, said the textiles company will help poor women and solve social problems, including those related to poverty, sanitation and education, through planning, production and sale of clothing.

Fast Retailing plans to invest some $100,000 to set up the business, temporarily dubbed as Grameen Uniqlo Ltd, for producing and retailing the products in the country, a statement said.

Grameen Bank will take a 1 percent stake in the venture, according to a Reuters report.

"On the retail front, we will use the Grameen Bank Group's borrower network of eight million people to help those living in poverty to develop job skills and provide them with opportunities to sell clothes door-to-door," said Fast Retailing.

"In the first year, we plan to generate work for 250 people and to increase this figure to 1,500 within three years."

"Grameen ladies will become their own business owners by selling the clothing products in visits to neighbours' houses," news agency AFP quoted Tadashi Yanai, chairman and president of Fast Retailing, as saying.

Yunus is backed by corporations such as food giant Danone, global water group Veolia, sportswear company Adidas and software company SAP.

Fast Retailing will be the first Asian corporation to start a social business with Grameen Bank Group, Yunus said.

"Uniqlo is a global company, a big company, and a company that is now creating a social business in Bangladesh," he said at a Tokyo press conference, adding that the world needs a new economic "architecture" to fight poverty.

Uniqlo opened its liaison office in Dhaka in September last year although it had previously outsourced RMG products through an agent.

It has a network of over 760 stores in Japan. The company opened stores outside Japan in September 2001 starting in London. It expanded international network across six countries -- the UK, China, Hong Kong, the US, South Korea, France.

Meanwhile, garment exports to the new destination of Japan maintained a high growth rate in the July-April period of fiscal 2009-10 riding on the back of high demand for Bangladeshi apparel items there.

According to data from state-owned Export Promotion Bureau, Bangladesh exported knitwear items worth $60.02 million in the first 10 months of the immediate past fiscal year, which was $18.15 million in the same period of fiscal 2008-09.

In the July-April period of fiscal 2009-10, knitwear exports to Japan grew by 230.65 percent. Bangladesh logged $89.87 million in earnings from woven garment exports, registering a robust 121.46 percent growth over the same period a year ago.

Data showed that RMG exports to Japan were worth $74.38 million in fiscal 2008-09, compared to $28.04 million in fiscal 2007-08.

Link:

Uniqlo teams up with Yunus

reefat@thedailystar.net

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Internet subscribers may reach 18.3m by 2020: The Financial Express, 22 January 2010

Internet subscribers may reach 18.3m by 2020: The Financial Express, 22 January 2010 Bangladesh ICT Insight

Posted by Md. Saifuddin Khalid on January 26, 2010


The number of Internet subscribers in Bangladesh is likely to reach 18.3 million by the year 2020- translating to a 32 percent household Internet penetration at around the same time”, says a study by an international research group.

“This increased internet penetration would resulted in 2.6 per cent contribution to the country’s GDP by 2020 while creating 129 thousand more jobs by the same year” the research added.

The study “Towards a connected Bangladesh: Socio-economic Impact of Internet in Bangladesh Economy” was released in the city Thursday. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) on behalf of the Telenor Group, the majority shareholder of the telecom operator Grameenphone conducted the study.

According to latest figures, about five million people or merely four per cent of the total population in Bangladesh has access to Internet. According to International Telecommunication Union, Bangladesh has the second lowest Internet penetration in the region.

Against the backdrop of such scenario, the report identified mobile phones as the most appropriate vehicle to connect rural Bangladesh to internet.

According to BTRC report, 4.6 million internet users in the country accessed the net through mobile while only 0.4 million use them on the fixed internet service- the study said.

“The study properly underlines the need to increase the awareness among the general mass about the utility of Internet and the role government can play in raising such awareness”, Chief executive Officer of Grameenphone Oddvar Hesjedal said at a press conference. Ola-Jo Tandre of Telenor-BCG also spoke on the occasion.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

But I am little bit confused... as my latest posted article pointed out that bangladesh has around 5 million internet user.

On the other hand on April, 2010 Akhtaruzzaman Manju, president of Internet Service Providers' Association of Bangladesh, told Xinhua that the country's six cell phone operators and Interent Service Providers have so far provided over 800,000 internet connections.

"We've estimated that nearly 10 million people in the country are using 800,000 internet connections on sharing basis," he said, adding the number of internet users in the country is increasing yearly by around 15-16 percent.

Roundup: Internet use on rise in Bangladesh

Interestingly Secretary of Bangladesh 's Science and Information and Communication Technology Ministry AKM Abdul Awal Mojumder said the country's six mobile operators and Internet Service Providers have so far provided over 5 million internet connections.

"We've estimated that nearly 25 million people in the country are using 5 million internet connections mostly provided by the mobile operators on sharing basis," Mahfuzur Rahman, Executive Director of Bangladesh Computer Council under the science ministry, said in the press conference.

News Bangla: Internet Access reached to 25 million in Bangladesh


But ironically Asia Internet Usage Stats and Population Statistics put bangladesh's total internet user only .696 million and total broadband user only 5000.

So can any one tell me which figure is true... .696 million, 5 million, 10 million user sharing .8 million connection or 25 million user is sharing 5 million connection?

 

[TopCat]

Bangladesh, With Low Pay, Moves In on China

GAZIPUR, Bangladesh — The eight-lane highway leading from the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, narrows repeatedly as it approaches this town about 30 miles north, eventually depositing cars onto a muddy, potholed lane bordered by mangroves and small shops.

But this is no mere rural backwater. It is the sort of place to which foreign manufacturers may increasingly turn, if the rising wage demands of factory workers in China prompt companies to seek new pools of cheap labor elsewhere.

Already, in factories behind steel gates and tall concrete walls, tens of thousands of workers, most of them women, spend their days stitching T-shirts, pants and sweaters for Wal-Mart, H&M, Zara and other Western retailers and brands.

One of the Bangladeshi companies here, the DBL Group, employs 9,000 people making T-shirts and other knitwear. Business has been so good that the company is finishing a new 10-story building with open floors the size of soccer fields, planted with row after row of sewing machines.

“Our family needed the money, so we came here,” said Maasuda Akthar, a 21-year-old sewing machine operator for DBL.

As costs have risen in China, long the world’s shop floor, it is slowly losing work to countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia — at least for cheaper, labor-intensive goods like casual clothes, toys and simple electronics that do not necessarily require literate workers and can tolerate unreliable transportation systems and electrical grids.

Li & Fung, a Hong Kong company that handles sourcing and apparel manufacturing for companies like Wal-Mart and Liz Claiborne, reported that its production in Bangladesh jumped 20 percent last year, while China, its biggest supplier, slid 5 percent.

“Bangladesh is getting very competitive,” William Fung, Li & Fung’s group managing director, told analysts in March.

The flow of jobs to poorer countries like Bangladesh started even before recent labor unrest in China led to big pay raises for many factory workers there — and before changes in Beijing’s currency policy that could also raise the costs of Chinese exports. Now, though, economists expect the migration of China’s low-paying jobs to accelerate.

And while workers in Bangladesh and other developing countries are demanding higher pay, too — leading to a clash between police and protesters earlier this week in a garment hub outside Dhaka — they still earn much less than Chinese factory workers.

Bangladesh, for instance, has the lowest garment wages in the world, according to labor rights advocates. Ms. Akthar, who is relatively well paid by local standards, earns about $64 a month. That compares to minimum wages in China’s coastal industrial provinces ranging from $117 to $147 a month.

“The Chinese firms that are beginning to get into trouble are producing textiles, rubber footwear and things like that,” said Barry Eichengreen, a professor of economics and political science at the University of California. “And there are lots of countries in South Asia and East Asia and in Central America that would like to fill this space.”

But Bangladesh has its own challenges to overcome.

China’s combination of a vast population of migrant workers, many with at least elementary school educations, along with modern roads, railways and power grids in its industrial provinces, has bestowed it with manufacturing capabilities that countries like Bangladesh cannot offer. Beijing also provides low-cost loans and other incentives to its industries that other countries have trouble matching for theirs.

Most of Bangladesh, meanwhile, suffers blackouts six to seven hours a day because it has not invested enough in power plants and natural gas fields — deficiencies that the government is working on but that will not be eliminated quickly.

The country has a literacy rate of only 55 percent — compared with more than 92 percent in China. As a result, workers in this country are only one-fourth as productive as the Chinese in making shirts, jackets and other woven clothes, according to a report by the Center for Policy Dialogue, an independent research organization based in Dhaka.

Despite its handicaps, Bangladesh nearly doubled garment exports from 2004 to 2009. And the industry now employs about three million people, more than any other industrial segment in this largely agrarian country of 160 million. From June through November last year, garment exports accounted for more than 80 percent of the country’s total exports of $7.1 billion.

Among developing countries, Bangladesh is the third-biggest exporter of clothing after mainland China, which exported $120 billion in 2008, and Turkey, a distant No. 2, according to the World Trade Organization.

And with nearly 70 million people of working age, Bangladesh could probably absorb many more of China’s 20 million garment industry jobs.

Still, some of the changes in China could prove to be mixed blessings for Bangladesh. If China allows its currency, the renminbi, to trade more freely, Bangladeshi exports would become more competitive.

But a stronger renminbi could also hurt Bangladesh by raising the price of machinery and fabric imported from China, its biggest supplier, said Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak, an assistant professor of economics at the Yale School of Management. Over time, Bangladesh could buy more from other countries, like India, but those countries first would need to build up significant production capacity


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/17/business/global/17textile.html?_r=2&src=busln

 

[TopCat]

But I am little bit confused... as my latest posted article pointed out that bangladesh has around 5 million internet user.

When most users are connected through GPRS of mobile operator then there must be some cofusion of number of active subscribers...

 

[idune]

Uniqlo teams up with Yunus

That's where Yunus should concentrate his activities not in politics.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Summit plans big for power

Sunday, 18 July 2010 22:16

Summit plans big for power

Summit plans big for power
Company posts 73pc rise in profit
Star Business Report

Summit Power Ltd, a leading power generator, aims to win orders from the government to generate at least 1,400 megawatts of power.

Aziz Khan, chairman of Summit Power Ltd, unveiled the company's mission at a press meet where it disclosed its half-yearly un-audited financial report.

Summit's target for power falls in line with the government's mega-plan for generating 9,426 megawatts by 2015.

According to the financial report, Summit posted a 73.55 percent rise in profit to Tk 55.97 crore in the first half of 2010, compared to the same period a year ago.

The earnings per share of the company almost doubled to Tk 20.03 in the first half of 2010, compared to the same year-earlier period.

Summit added 110 megawatts of power to the national grid through its subsidiary companies Summit Uttaranchal Power Company Ltd and Summit Purbanchal Power Company Ltd.

Recently, Summit Group has signed a contract with the government and started work to deliver another 102 megawatts of power through its Summit Narayanganj Power Company Ltd.

According to the chairman of the company, Summit has recently signed a deal with General Electric (GE) of Austria to participate in the government's mega power plan. GE will bring financial and technical support to implement Summit's future projects.

Summit Power also plans to raise more than Tk 300 crore from capital market by issuing fully convertible preference shares to build additional capacity to implement the new power projects.

Summit Power Managing Director Tauhidul Islam and Finance Director Ayesha Aziz Khan were also present.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Govt to set up 225MW plant in Ctg

Sunday, 18 July 2010 22:17

Govt to set up 225MW plant in Ctg

Govt to set up 225MW plant in Ctg
Star Business Report

The government has undertaken a project to set up a 225-megawatt (MW) dual-fuel power plant at Shikalbaha in Chittagong within the next three years.

Power Development Board (PDB) will implement the gas- and furnace oil-run combined cycle power plant at a cost of $282.81 million within 2013.

Of the total amount, $206 million will come as foreign assistance, while the government will contribute the rest $76.81 million, said a statement from the Economic Relations Division (ERD) yesterday.

The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) has agreed to provide 15 million Kuwaiti dinars ($53 million) for the project, said the statement.

A KFAED delegation has already visited different departments and agencies including power division, energy division, PDB, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, Power Grid Company of Bangladesh, Petrobangla and the project site in Chittagong.

After a round of discussions with the government high-ups, the delegation has signed a draft loan agreement for the project.

ATM Mustafa Kamal, a joint secretary, and Nawaf Al Dabbous, an adviser to the KFAED, signed the deal.

The ERD has been in talks with development partners including Opec Fund for International Development (OFID), Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) and Abudhabi Fund for Development to get the remaining $153 million fund, said the statement.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

China, ADB keen to help construct Dohajari-Gundum railway lines

Sunday, 18 July 2010 22:16

The New Nation - Internet Edition

China, ADB keen to help construct Dohajari-Gundum railway lines
BSS, Dhaka

China and Asian Development Bank expressed keenness to provide assistance for construction of railway lines from Dohajari in Chittagong to Gundum in Myanmar.

The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the project this month, Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain told BSS.

Through the construction of the railway route, the present government wants to establish direct rail communication with the northern and eastern countries and join the Trans-Asian Railway.

The Minister said the economic relations division (ERD) under the finance ministry would decide from which country or agency the assistance would be taken for construction of the railway lines from Dohajari to Ramu to Gundum.

He said feasibility study for construction of the railway lines have already been done by a Canadian firm. Besides, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will also conduct a feasibility study.

Syed Abul Hossain thinked that there would be no problem of fund to construct the railway route and the construction would begin during the tenure of the present government.

The estimated cost for construction of the railway lines is Taka 1,852 crore, of which the government will give Taka 670 crore and the remaining 1182 crore will come as project assistance.

The 128-kilometre route will link the tourist destination Cox's Bazar with railway connectivity and join the country with Trans- Asian Railway corridor.

Besides, the project would include construction of stations at Satkania, Lohagara, Chakaria, Dulahajra, Eidgaon, Ramu, Cox's Bazar, Ukhiya and Gundum, and reconstruction of Dohazari station.

There will be 47 bridges, 149 concrete box culverts, 52 concrete pipe culverts and computer-based signaling and inter-linking systems.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Bangladesh bank says 6.7-percent growth possible

AFP: Bangladesh bank says 6.7-percent growth possible

(AFP) – 6 hours ago

DHAKA — Bangladesh's central bank said Monday the economy could grow a record 6.7 percent this year, but only if the government solves the country's acute power crisis and ongoing labour unrest.

Last year, the global economic crisis led to nine months of export contraction, driving growth in gross domestic product (GDP) to a seven-year low of 5.54 percent.

A recovery of exports could help Bangladesh clock its highest ever GDP growth of 6.7 percent this year -- up from a previous high of 6.6 percent in 2005 to 2006 financial year -- the central bank said in a statement on Monday.

"The growth (of 6.7 percent) targeted by the government this year is not over-ambitious," the central Bangladesh Bank said.

The bank said this was dependent on the government getting 14 small power-generation units operational in 2010 as planned.

Years of under-investment in the power sector mean Bangladesh now has a daily shortfall of around 2,000 megawatts of power, with rolling blackouts hitting the private sector, particularly manufacturing, hard.

The problem sent manufacturing growth tumbling to just five percent last year -- from record double-digit growth four years ago -- as factories struggle with long blackouts each day.

Achieving 6.7 percent growth also requires the "quick resolution of ongoing labour unrest in the export-oriented apparel sector," the bank said in the statement.

Ready-made garments for top Western brands make up 80 percent of Bangladesh's annual export earnings and employ some 40 percent of the country's industrial workforce.

But the industry has seen some of the worst ever labour riots in recent months, with tens of thousands of workers battling it out on the streets with police, ransacking factories and demanding immediate minimum wage hikes.

---------- Post added at 11:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:56 AM ----------

I want to see double digit growth rate for bangladesh as soon as possible .

 

[Skies]

Govt to set up 225MW plant in Ctg

Sunday, 18 July 2010 22:17

Perhaps, you would not have as much excited about this power news if you would live in BD. It's horrible if the power goes at late night like 3.00 am. BTW, continue.