No more direct listing for private companies

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission mull a regulatory measure which would not let private companies join the bourses under the direct listing system in a bid to protect the investors and the capital market’s interests. In direct listing system, a company could be listed on a stock exchange without increasing existing paid-up capital.

The authorities issued the directive after a company Aman Cement Mills sought permission to be listed in the premier bourse directly which was earlier misused before the price crash of 2011. A probe committee found that stock market was affected by listing of companies with inflated prices.

Direct listing system was introduced in 2006 and five state-owned companies and five private companies joined the bourses by offloading shares since then.

Exports face challenges as Taka appreciated

The export sector of the country is facing challenges in international market because of local currency’s strong position against US Dollar. A Citibank NA report said Taka remains stable against the US Dollar while major currencies including Euro and British Pound depreciated sharply.

Policy Makers should take steps to cope with situation due to currency mismatch. In January 2016, the price of dollar was Tk78.50 and Tk78.55 in February. But it went down at Tk78.40 in April of same year. In 2016 fiscal year, the economy of Bangladesh grew at 7.11% in which emerging private and stable public investment contributed a lot. The private investment contributed 23% in GDP while it was 22.1 in 2015 fiscal year.

Industrial growth will be negatively affected if this situation continues. 

It’s wrong that the government helps the economy by providing jobs

Many socialists have come up with the idea that the government is helping the economy by hiring more people. This theory couldn’t be more wrong. It is quite impossible to build the economy if you are breaking it simultaneously-meaning that the government usually goes in debt when they acquire more money, resulting into failure. A government has no right to claim otherwise.

When the government is creating job opportunities, they are getting the money from either borrowing, or creating. Either way, this can have a side effect, as the money borrowed is needed to be paid back, and if money is created, the value of currency will drop easily, resulting in price spiral. Whenever the government is borrowing money from some organization, they are binding them to their debt. So the government soon needs money to pay them back. And they get that money from the tax payers. To be accurate, they get the money from normal people, money which is earned with blood and sweat. The taxes should never be used as the cover up money for the government’s foul wastage. The government can never employ people freely. They are bound to pay a huge sum, only resulting in paying more with taxes.

When the government is not borrowing the money, they are creating it. And for that the World Bank can see more and more dollars in the market. This is causing the downfall of the value of currency. And this is resulting in damaging the economy stubbornly.

Many voters seem to be quite ignorant about these important things which can result in electing the wrong government. If the government advertise themselves as a provider of jobs, and ensure them, be sure that those jobs will come in price. These ‘employments’ result in a lot of job losses in the free market, thus no one can surely be successful in these jobs.

So people, who hold the light of the country should ensure that the proper government is chosen and the jobs should always be sought from the free markets.

**Information and contents taken from Business scenario of Bangladesh website. 

Beximco Pharma forms joint venture with Malaysian BioCare

Country’s leading pharmaceuticals company Beximco Pharma formed a joint venture with Malaysian BioCare Manufacturing (M) Sdn. Beximco Pharma which is part of Beximco Group, is the fastest growing manufacturer of generic pharmaceutical products in Bangladesh.

Beximco Pharma will be responsible for providing technical support to BioCare in developing facilities at Seri Iskandar Pharmaceutical Park. Once the facilities are developed, BioCare will start producing specialised pharmaceutical products.

Malaysian government recently took initiatives to promote local pharmaceutical industry. Beximco Pharma of Bangladesh extended its help to Malaysian government and BioCare. With this Beximco Pharma aims to strengthen their global presence.

Beximco Pharma which is a sister concern of Bangladesh's largest group of companies Beximco Group was founded by Salman F Rahman and Sohail F Rahman in 1976. The company produces active pharmaceutical ingredients and generic pharmaceutical formulation products. Beximco Pharma currently operates at a state of the art facility at a 23-acre site. Around 3,500 people work at the company. It sells products to Austria, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Germany, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Romania, Kuwait, Myanmar,  Nepal, Jordan, Bhutan, Vietnam, Azerbaijan and Ghana among other countries.

Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement to help Bangladeshi companies

Under the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement or APTA, Bangladesh would get two types of tariff facilities- general import tax waiver and facilities for the Least Developed Countries. The decision came after a meeting among the commerce ministries of seven member countries. Now Bangladesh would get tax waiver for 10677 products.

The APTA, established in 1975, consisted of seven countries are Bangladesh, India, China, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Laos and Mongolia. But earlier it was knows as Bangkok Agreement and renamed as APTA in 2005.

Its main aim is to promote economic development by taking measures of mutual beneficial trade liberalization. It would contribute to the trade expansion among the countries and economic integration. APTA agreement is very potential and it could expand to other sub-regions like Central Asia and the Pacific.

Exports increase and creates a positive vibe

In November 2016, country's export rose 5.46% to USD 2.89 billion, exceeding the monthly target by USD 196.32 million thanks to the performance of apparel, leather goods, jute and jute goods and shrimp sectors. Companies including Beximco Group and Pran Group had huge contribution to this.

Apparel sector contributes 80% of total export earning and brought USD2.31 billion last month. The apparel price had dropped due to fall in the euro against the dollar and also Brexit. Apart from this, currency devaluation against the dollar in the neighboring countries like   India and Pakistan also affected competitive edge among exporters in the international market.

The second biggest export earning sector is leather, leather products and footwear and it increased by 16.62% to USD 533 million during the July-November period. Now still the leather goods and leather footwear’s export remain upbeat.

Leather footwear shipment rose 15.14% to USD232.89 million while raw jute shipping increased 17.78% to USD86 million during 2016-17 fiscal year.

Bangladesh moving forward

Henry Kissinger belittled our country by calling it ‘bottomless basket’ in the 1970s. But this ‘bottomless basket’ is now full of hope and potential. Proving his prediction of hopeless economic situation wrong, Bangladesh is now moving toward with great economic progress. 

Bangladesh has seen a solid 6 % constant average economic growth since the early 1990s. Such balanced economic growth not only caught eyes of economists around the globe but also big organizations like world bank which termed the economic steadiness as “development paradox”  due to the negative attributing of economic pliability. Bangladesh is part of Goldman Sachs’ N-11, otherwise known as eleven emerging countries, with pristine potential have the ability to be one of the prominent economies by 21st century. Furthermore, an increase in social development index also catching the attention from the United Nations.

To ensure its economy is unbridled in advancement, an all-encompassing approach has been taken. Adapt policies enchains a further deviation from the existing inflations to a tolerable single digit. In bringing about the success for “Digital Bangladesh” by 2021, digitization is seen widespread in each clusters of governance.

Aside from the economic factor, Bangladesh has significantly progressed in social sector. A reduction of about half of the number in income poverty is observed. Bangladesh has successfully fulfilled many objectives for the Millennium Development Goal (MDG). For its promptness in achieving targets, the UN has awarded the government.

Attainment of self-sufficiency in food grins is appreciated much since this country is burdened with population. In NGO, its leadership is continued. BRAC is supposed to be the largest international NGO owing to its huge number of employees and beneficiaries. Bangladesh has also introduced the world with terms including ‘micro-credit’ and ‘social business’.

The success stories mirroring the aspirations of common people printed everyday by the resolute and free electric and print media are unlimited. Emerging Civil Society of Bangladesh is building up a firm base. Pharmaceutical industry is an example of such fastness in industries.

Bangladesh is experiencing a steady growth and the future looks bright.

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