The repo auction program to provide liquidity from Bangladesh Bank to commercial banks and finance companies has been reduced. However, to provide liquidity to banks and finance companies for urgent needs, the existing instant loan facility and instant deposit facility will continue as before. By using these instruments, the concerned institutions can take loan and deposit facilities from the central bank.

In this regard, a circular was issued by the central bank on Monday (July 1) and sent to the chief executives of commercial banks and finance companies. This directive will be effective immediately.

Earlier on Sunday, the central bank issued a circular and decided to hold repo facility twice a week instead of every working day to provide liquidity to banks. The auction will be held every Monday and Wednesday. If any of those two days is a public holiday, the auction will be held on the next working day.

After this decision, there was a mixed reaction among banks and finance companies. They worry about liquidity especially for emergencies because banks need money almost every day. If they spend two days there, they will be in trouble. When the matter was brought to the attention of the central bank, they issued fresh instructions at the end of the day.

According to the sources, two instruments are already in place - instant loan facility and instant deposit facility - to provide liquidity to banks and finance companies on an emergency basis. Its auctions are also available to be held daily. But its use was less.

The central bank also used these two instruments to provide less liquidity. Now due to IMF conditions the repo facility has to be reduced. Due to which both the Instant Loan Facility and Instant Deposit Facility facilities will now be reactivated.

Banks can use these instruments daily to take liquidity facilities from the central bank if they wish.

Banks and finance companies buy various government sector bills and bonds every week through auctions from the central bank. The proceeds from these are provided by the central bank as loans to the government.

If for any reason the bank finance company needs money on an urgent basis, it can re-sell or mortgage those treasury bills or bonds to the central bank. This is called a repo. Earlier, banks and finance companies could lend on every working day of the week through repo.

From now on, the central bank will provide repo facilities on two days a week, i.e. Monday and Wednesday, instead of every day. As a result, the banks have to take liquidity support from the central bank on those two days.

Apart from this, if you need emergency money at other times, you have to borrow from Call Money Market or other banks. Besides, you can also borrow from the secondary bond market.

But the secondary bond market is not active. Due to liquidity crunch in other banks, transactions in Call Money have decreased. Short and term borrowings have also come down. Taking these issues into consideration, the central bank has decided to make the previous two instruments more active in fund management. 

The proposed tax on capital gains is not being withdrawn in the 2024-25 budget. According to the sources of the National Board of Revenue, the matter is known. The proposed budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 will be passed by the national parliament tomorrow on June 30.

Finance Minister Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali presented the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 in the Jatiyo Sangsad on June 6. In the proposed budget, it has been proposed to keep capital gains up to Tk. 50 lakh in the stock market tax-free. However, if the capital gain is more than Tk. 50 lakh, the tax will be applicable.

Income tax will be collected from taxpayers in two ways. First, if an individual makes a profit by selling the shares within five years of buying the shares, they will have to pay tax according to their income tax bracket. Secondly, if a person buys shares and makes the same profit after five years, his tax calculation will be different. In this case also his Tk. 50 lakhs will be tax free. Income tax of Tk. 15 thousand at the rate of 15 percent has to be paid on the remaining Tk. one lakh.

Before presenting the budget, Bangladesh Securities Exchange Commission (BSEC) Chairman Professor Shibli Rubaiyat-ul-Islam said that gain tax is not being imposed on ordinary investors.

But when the proposal of gain tax was raised in the budget, he later met the Chairman of the National Board of Revenue and said that there will be no capital gain tax in the final proposal of the budget for the fiscal year 2024-25. 

The World Bank has approved a loan of 650 million dollars or Tk. 65 crore  to Bangladesh for the development of Chattogram Bay Terminal deep sea port.

On Friday (June 28), the Board of Executive Directors of the organization approved this, the World Bank said in a circular.

It is said that if the Bay Terminal is built, the global trade competitiveness of Bangladesh will increase significantly. Increased port efficiency will reduce import and export costs to a large extent.

The government plans to develop two container terminals, one multipurpose terminal and one oil and gas terminal under this project.

This marine infrastructure development project will construct a 6 km climate-resilient breakwater to protect the seaport from adverse currents and extreme weather conditions. It will also conduct dredging of port basins, entrances and access channels. The new state-of-the-art bay terminal is said to be operated by top international terminal operators.

It is also said that it will make it easier than ever to maneuver large ships like panamax ships. It will save approximately 1 million USD per day for Bangladesh. About 90 percent of Bangladesh's international trade goes through this port, but currently only small vessels can trade for a limited time.

Abdoulaye Sheik, Country Director of the World Bank for Bangladesh and Bhutan, said that Bangladesh's international trade is highly dependent on Chattogram port. But the port faces limitations at times. The Bay Terminal project will be a game changer for the port. It will improve Bangladesh's export competitiveness by increasing port capacity as well as reducing transport costs and time and open up new opportunities in global markets.

After the implementation of the development project, the port will also have road and rail connectivity facilities along with waterways. And more than 50 lakh containers will be handled here annually. At present Chattogram port is handling 30 to 32 lakh containers.

On the first day of Eid-ul-Azha, the rawhide traders in Lalbagh’s Posta have almost fulfilled the target of hide collection. 80% of the target of hide was bought and salted last night. As a result, on the second day of Eid, there is no busyness for the workers.

Aftab Khan, chairman of Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchant Association (BAHAMA), an organization of traders who buy raw hides and salt them, confirmed to Barta24.com that the target of skin collection has been achieved on Tuesday (June 18) morning.

He said, the target of our Posta traders this time was to collect around one lakh skins. We accordingly prepared by buying salt. About 80% of our target skins were collected on the first day of Eid by our Postamen, traders and retailers. By 9 pm the purchase of leather is over. Even the salt was applied last night. 15 parcent will be collected today on the second day and 5 percent will be collected on the third day of Eid tomorrow, Wednesday.

Aftab Khan also said that most of the skins of Dhaka have come to us. Some hides are also salted at Hemayetpur. However, tannery owners salted most of the hides. As a result, skin was not damaged in Dhaka. Retail traders are still getting better price than the price of leather yesterday.

Based on the information provided by the president of the organization, it can be seen that there is no busyness of putting salt on the skin in any of the Postas. Almost every square is empty of people. Workers have been seen sleeping next to some hides.

In the past, on the second day of Eid, leather shopping was also busy, but this time it is the opposite. There is no preoccupation with the skin. Two trucks are still going through the skin.

Talking to the traders, it is known that leather is being sold at a better price on the second day than on the first day. Yesterday the leather was sold for Tk. 500 to Tk. 700. Today that leather is being sold for Tk. 50 to Tk. 100 more. If the quality of the leather is good, the traders are buying it at a better price.

On the second day of Eid, it has been found that there is no busyness at Posta, the businessmen are getting the opportunity to salt leather in Hazaribagh of the capital. Owing to the shortage of space in the Posta, the old tannery factories at Hazaribagh have been given the opportunity to salt leather.

When asked about this, the leader of raw leather traders said that there are no traders like before in Posta. Many businessmen are turning away from this sector due to various crises. Even the godowns that used to be in Posta area are no longer what they used to be. Because a leather trader used to pay Tk. 40,000 for the rent of the godown, now the same godown has been rented several times more by the plastic traders. As a result, many traders cannot buy leather now. As a result, we appealed to the government to allow leather salting in the old tannery factories in Hazaribagh. In view of the application, the BSCIC of the Ministry of Industry gave us that permission. As a result, many businessmen have now produced salt in Hazaribagh. This trader feels that the target has been easily achieved as many traders have been able to collect leather as per their demand due to the permission for a short period of time.

After talking to the Posta traders, it is known that after salting the collected skins, they will store it for a few days. From the fifth day of Eid they will start selling this salted leather to the tannery owners.