DHAKA: Stocks opened slightly higher on Thursday amid slow trading.
At 11:20 am, the benchmark DSE General Index, DGEN, gained 20.56 points or 0.47 per cent to 4812.53, led by power, bank and financial institution stocks.
Turnover stood at Tk 721 million. Among the total traded shares so far, 149 gained, 42 and 25 remained unchanged.
Source: theindependentbd.com
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DHAKA: BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia will hold talks with top leaders of the 18-party alliance this (Thursday) evening to discuss their next course of action. It is expected that they will discuss various issues including the caretaker government system.
The discussed matters will be finalized at BNP’s Standing Committee meeting on June 9.
The top BNP leaders will express their opinion on budget at party’s Gulshan office this evening.
Source: theindependentbd.com
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DHAKA: Finance Minister AMA Muhith later Thursday will unfold in JS a new national budget of about Tk 192,000 crore for the fiscal 2012-13 keeping the budget deficit at 4.4 per cent of the GDP.
The minister will place his fourth budget in the Jatiya Sangsad after it meets at 3:00 pm today.
The budget is virtually the last full budget of this Awami League-led grand alliance government. It is likely to be a populist budget with an eye on the next general election scheduled early 2014. The finance minister would have to do the job of maintaining the subtle balance between the demand for restoring the fiscal discipline and the electorate pressure for low tax regime.
The budget would be placed leaving behind a turbulent fiscal year which was termed by many as the worst of the three fiscal years during the tenure of the present government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The revenue expenditure of the budget will be around Tk 111,675 crore and it will have an annual development programme of TK 55,000 crore.
The tax revenue is estimated at Tk 139,760 crore and the budget deficit is likely to stand at Tk 46,024 crore.
Muhith earlier said, the ensuing budget would target faster economic growth which requires macroeconomic stability and social equity.
He said, the budget would simultaneously focus on rural economies, agriculture, industries and infrastructure.
Special attention will be given on the power and energy sector, he said.
The leading economists of the country however, said, attaining over 7 per cent GDP growth in the coming fiscal year would be tough for the country in the wake of high expenditure, excess subsidy, double digit inflation and the slowdown of investments and declining foreign aids.
Asked about his expectations regarding the ensuing budget, the former Finance Adviser to the caretaker government Dr A B Mirza Azizul Islam said, the government should focus on poverty reduction as a key target and more funds should be dedicated for Social Safety Net (SSN) to further bring down poverty from the existing rate of 32.5 per cent.
He pointed out that safety net programmes contributed to help the poor in the past 25 years.
He said, the government would have to take a decision on subsidy on political considerations despite conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for accessing Extended Credit Facility worth about US $1 billion.
He also hoped that the government would take special measures and invest more funds in the next fiscal year’s budget to generate employment.
“Restoring the fiscal discipline would be a major challenge in the coming fiscal year and lax macroeconomic management has been greatly responsible for many of the recent economic woes”, said distinguished fellow of the Centre for the Policy Dialogue Dr Debapriay Bhattacharya.
He said, by deferring Tk 10 thousand crores of subsidy payments to the upcoming budget and allocating unsustainably low amount for subsidy and transfer, the government has destabilised the budgetary management, he noted.
Source: theindependentbd.com
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KABUL : U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrived in Afghanistan on Thursday for talks with military leaders amid rising violence in the war against the Taliban and a spate of deadly incidents, including a NATO air strike said to have killed 18 villagers.
Panetta said the purpose of the trip was to hear an assessment from U.S. General John Allen, the head of NATO coalition forces in Afghanistan, about the "ability to confront these threats from the Taliban and from the Haqqanis", a reference to the hardline, al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network.
Panetta also planned to visit troops and hold talks with the Afghan defense minister, General Abdul Rahim Wardak.
Panetta said he wanted to find out about a recent increase in the numbers of attacks in Afghanistan, including some that appear to have been more organized than others seen recently.
"I think it's important to try to make sure we are aware of the kind of attacks they are going to engage in, particularly as we go through the rest of the summer and enter the latter part of this year," Panetta said.
The Afghanistan visit came at the end of Panetta's week-long trip to Asia to explain a new U.S. military strategy, announced in January, that calls for a shift in strategic focus to the Asia-Pacific region.
During a stop in New Delhi, Panetta encouraged Indian leaders to become more involved in helping Afghanistan build its economy and train its security forces as the international coalition begins to draw down forces over the next two years.
He also urged India to continue working to build a better relationship with Pakistan, a long-time rival for influence in Afghanistan.
"Just as India views the relationship with Pakistan as complicated, so do we. And it is, it's a complicated relationship, often-times frustrating, often-times difficult, but at the same time it is a necessary relationship," he said.
Panetta said the United States was "fighting a war" against al Qaeda in Pakistan's lawless northwestern territories, and he suggested that drone strikes targeting al Qaeda leaders in the region would continue despite Pakistan's concerns that they violate its sovereignty.
"We have made clear to the Pakistanis that the United States of America is going to defend ourselves against those who would attacks us," he said. "And we have done just that. We have gone after their leadership and we have done it effectively."
"We have made very clear that we are going to continue to defend ourselves," Panetta said.
On Wednesday, Afghan officials and villagers said 18 people, including women and children, had been killed in a NATO air strike in Afghanistan's southeast. NATO officials said they were looking into the reports of civilian casualties.
Also on Wednesday, two suicide bombers killed 20 civilians outside a major NATO base in the south, the bloodiest attack in weeks since the Taliban launched a spring offensive.
Source: theindependentbd.com
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DHAKA: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina placed a wreath at the portrait of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi in the city this morning marking the historic Six-Point Demand Day.
After laying the wreath, the Prime Minister stood in solemn silence for sometime as a mark of respect to the memory of Bangabandhu,the architect of independence.
Flanked by Awami League central leaders, Sheikh Hasina Placed another wreath at Bangabandhu's portrait as the party chief.
Deputy Leader of the House Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, AL Advisory Council Member Tofail Ahmed, Presidium Members Begum Matia Chowdhury, Dr Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Abdul Latif Siddiqui, Advocate Sahara Khatun and Advocate Yusuf Hossain Humayun, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, State Minister for Home Advocate Shamsul Haque Tuku and State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Dr Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury were present on the occasion.
Besides, AL Joint General Secretary Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif, Organizing Secretaries Ahmad Hossain, AFM Bahauddin Nasim and Abu Sayeed Al Mahmud Swapan, Information and Research Secretary Advocate Afzal Hussain as well as parliament members and other central leaders of the party and its associate organizations were present.
Later, associate bodies of Bangladesh Awami League including
Dhaka city AL, Chhatra League, Jubo League, Sramik League, Krishak League, Mohila Awami Laegue and Sechchhasebak League placed wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu marking the historic occasion.
On this day in 1966, Bangabandhu launched a massive movement against the misrule of the Pakistanis on the basis of the Six- Point Demand, the Magna Carta of the Bengalis, demanding autonomy for the then east Pakistan.
Eleven people, including Manu Mian, Shafique and Shamsul Haque, were gunned down by the police and paramilitary EPR on the day in Dhaka and Narayanganj during a hartal, called for the release of Bangabandhu and other leaders detained for launching the Six-Point Movement.
Source: theindependentbd.com
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YANGON: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Wednesday her activities on a recent trip to Thailand gave no cause for anyone to be unhappy, dismissing speculation her high-profile visit annoyed the government.
Suu Kyi's visits with Myanmar migrant workers and refugees and her appearance at the World Economic Forum in Bangkok garnered global attention because it was the former political prisoner's first trip outside Myanmar in 24 years.
Myanmar President Thein Sein had been scheduled for an official visit to Thailand at the same time and for the same conference, but postponed and then canceled his trip. Officials said he was busy at home, but it was speculated Thein Sein was irritated at being upstaged.
"I don't think that I did anything that could make anybody in Burma unhappy, because what I did was go to meet migrant workers and to meet those officials in Thailand who are responsible for the migrant workers' situation and we discussed matters of mutual benefit," Suu Kyi said Wednesday, using the old name for her country preferred by some political activists.
She said the same held true for her visit to a refugee camp near the Myanmar border where she had "very fruitful discussions," she said.
"I do not think that my activities there could in any way affect the situation of Burmese people adversely," said Suu Kyi at a news conference in Yangon.
Suu Kyi's cooperation with Thein Sein has been crucial in winning support at home and abroad for the president's reform program, which is opening up the country after decades of military rule. She has repeatedly said she believes in Thein Sein's sincerity in affecting social and political changes.
Suu Kyi had also spoken frankly at the World Economic Forum about potential difficulties for foreign investors in Myanmar at a time when the government is wooing such investors to help boost the economy.
"I had given my views very openly at the Forum and I heard that some were unhappy about that," she said. "I gave my frank opinion so that people can make a correct assessment of the country. "
Western nations earlier this year eased sanctions they had imposed on Myanmar under the country's previous repressive military regime, allowing previously banned investment. Thein Sein is backed by the military but came to power through elections and has instituted reforms that have won the endorsement of Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party.
Suu Kyi's trip to Thailand had appeared to be hastily arranged, and there were reports that Thai authorities were also upset about not being more closely consulted about her plans.
"I appreciate everything that the Thai government did to make my visit there a very happy one," Suu Kyi said Wednesday. "The authorities in Thailand were very, very cooperative. I have no complaint whatsoever to make about my time in Thailand."
Suu Kyi also talked about plans for her upcoming trip to Europe.
On June 13, she is scheduled to depart on a five-country tour that includes stops in Geneva, Oslo, Dublin, London and Paris. Among the highlights is her trip to Norway, where Suu Kyi will formally accept the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in 1991. She is supposed to return home June 30.
Source: theindependentbd.com
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