The New Nation - Internet Edition

Rupee hits all-time low on global crisis

Reuters, Mumbai

The rupee fell to a record low past 49.07 per dollar on Friday as the spreading global financial crisis hurt sentiment in Asian stock markets, leading to concerns of a large outflow of foreign funds from India.

At 9:08 a.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 49.10 per dollar according to Reuters data, compared with Wednesday's close of 47.99/48.01 per dollar. The currency market was shut on Thursday due to a local holiday.

The previous all-time low was 49.07 hit in May 2002.

Export trouble amid global financial meltdown feared

BUSINESS REPORT

Businesses and policymakers said yesterday that they fear that the global financial crisis might cause a slump in the country's export earnings as its major export destinations are severely hit by the meltdown.

Businessmen said their buyers in Europe and the US have already started delaying new orders, and economists predict a higher fiscal deficit because of lower foreign capital inflow and external funding to the country.

More than 76 per cent, or 10 billon dollars, of the country's export earnings come through the sale of ready-made garments.

"Many buyers are unusually delaying for their next orders while many others were asking for price cuts," Fazlul Haq, president of Bangladesh's Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told reporters.

He added at least 60 per cent of garment shipments are made to European markets, so the financial turmoil there poses a serious threat to the country.

The country has shown robust export growth in the last months, but garment manufacturers said that the devaluation of the dollar, erratic power and gas supply and increased production costs put them on the edge.

Economists want regulators to watch the developments in the global financial markets and plan contingency measures in advance as the implications of a global recession may be felt on a number of domestic fronts.

"Foreign aid will be dwindling and there will hardly any foreign direct investment because of the trouble," predicted economist Atiur Rahman, a professor at Dhaka University.

Fear grips global stock markets

BBC, London

Digby Jones predicts a 'difficult winter' ahead for the UK economy

Global stocks have fallen sharply on one of the worst days of trading in 30 years, despite continuing government efforts to tackle the crisis.

The UK's main FTSE 100 index ended down almost 9% before a meeting of the finance ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) most-developed nations.

In a day of major panic selling, the Dow Jones index fell as much as 5% in the US before ending down 1.5%.

The fear is that the financial crisis will tip the world into a recession.

France's Cac index closed down 7.7%, while Germany's Dax lost 8.4% in a day of heavy selling.

Chart the market movements throughout the day

In other major developments:

* The British pound tumbled to a five-year low against the US dollar to trade at $1.6902 at one point, but recovered later. It also fell against the euro to 1.245 euros

* Tokyo's shares plunged 24% during the week, double their weekly fall during the 1987 market crash

* Oil prices fell to a one-year low, with US light crude dropping to $77.99. Back in July it hit a record high of $147.27

* The three-month rate at which banks lend dollars to each other - known as Libor - rose to 4.8%

* Moscow and Jakarta stock markets remain suspended because of excessive volatility

* The Vienna stock market fell 10% on re-opening after trading was suspended on Friday morning

Crisis meetings

Investors increasingly fear a global recession, despite interest rate cuts and cash injections by central banks.

President Bush said the White House was acting to resolve the crisis and restore stability to the markets.

"We are a prosperous nation with immense resources and a wide range of tools at our disposal," he said.

After meeting in Washington, G7 finance ministers said they would take "decisive action and use all available tools" to tackle the world economic crisis.

Their talks come ahead of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, also in US capital, on Saturday and Sunday.

'Fear'

Wall Street's Dow Jones ended down 128 points to 8,451.

"Fear has been running all over Wall Street," said Dave Henderson, a floor trader on the New York Stock Exchange.

"I think the carcass has been stripped to the bone."

The FTSE closed down 381.7 points lower at 3,932, wiping £91.2bn off the value of the largest UK shares.

The index has fallen 21% this week - the second-biggest weekly fall in FTSE 100 history.

The largest single day fall on the FTSE 100 was on Tuesday, 20 October 1987, when the index lost 12.22%.

This was a day after the so-called Black Monday global stocks crash, when the FTSE 100 declined 10.84%.

For that week as a whole the FTSE 100 declined 28.23%.

In Paris, the Cac 40 index finished down 266 points to 3,176.5, while the Frankfurt-based Dax closed 343 points lower at 4,533.7.

Earlier there were heavy falls across Asia's markets as a climate of fear took hold.

In Japan, the Nikkei index slumped in its biggest one-day drop since the 1987 stock market crash.

Premier Bank Quarterly Managers' Conference and Eid Re-union held

Business Report

The Quarterly Managers' Conference and Eid reunion of The Premier Bank Limited was held at Bank's Executive Floor, Head Office on Saturday. B.H. Haroon, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Premier Bank Ltd was present in the conference as Chief Guest. Honorable Managing Director of the Bank Khondker Fazle Rashid was presided over the conference.

Among others Additional Managing Director, Md. Mokhlesur Rahman, Head of Corporate Banking & SEVP Dewan Anwarul Latif also present on the occasion. All Branch Managers' and Divisional Heads in Head Office were also present in the meeting.

The meeting were discussed various issues including Future Business, Funding and Non-funding, New Schemes, Low cost deposit, Credit Card, Recovery and Branch Networking etc.

US will work with partners on credit crisis: Bush

AP, Washington

President Bush emerged from a meeting with foreign financial officials on Saturday and pledged a global response to the credit crisis that will lead toward a "path of stability and long-term growth."

Bush announced no new strategies to attack the economic woes circling the globe, stressing instead, "We will do what it takes to resolve the crisis and the world's economy will emerge stronger as a result."

The president spoke in the Rose Garden outside the White House, joined there in a show of solidarity not long after daybreak by finance officials from the G-7 - Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada, in addition to the United States. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also attended.

"The United States has a special role to play in leading the response to this crisis," the president said. "That is why I convened this morning's meeting here at the White House and it is why our government will continue using all the tools at our disposal to resolve this crisis."

He added, "As our nations carry out this plan, we must ensure that the actions of one country do not contradict or undermine the actions of another. In an interconnected world, no nation will gain by driving down the fortunes of another. We are in this together. We will come through it together."

Bush's comments were aimed at avoiding the mistakes that worsened economic conditions during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Then, some nations pursued go-it-alone strategies such as erecting protectionist trade barriers to shield their domestic industries. Those trade barriers ended up only worsening the global downturn. In the current crisis, Ireland moved to guarantee all bank deposits, a decision that triggered similar actions in Germany and other nations which were concerned that nervous depositors would move their bank accounts to Ireland.

The White House meeting lasted about a half-hour, less than scheduled.

Officials from the Group of 20 countries - which include the wealthiest and the world's biggest developing nations such as China, Brazil and India - planned to attend a meeting Saturday evening that Paulson requested to explain the actions that U.S. and other wealthy nations have taken.

For Bush, it was the 22nd time in 27 days that he has spoken publicly about the financial crisis. Congress heard testimony last week that the retirement accounts of Americans have lost $2 trillion in the past 15 months, and the New York Stock Exchange Dow Jones industrials average plummeted more than 18 percent last week alone, the largest ever in a week.

A wave of selling sent markets lower in several Asian and European nations on Friday, while other exchanges were closed to prevent the same fate.

The stock selloffs stem from fears that banking systems have essentially frozen up around the world - a credit crisis that took hold sharply three weeks ago in the United States and has led to an escalating series of interventions by the administration and Federal Reserve. Officials have also spoken openly of concerns that the United States may be headed for a potentially deep recession.

It was only eight days ago that Congress approved a $700 billion bailout for the financial industry, and the Fed has pumped billions of dollars into the economic system hoping to provide greater access to credit for potential borrowers.

On Friday, Paulson announced the Treasury would begin buying part ownership in American banks, an effort similar to a program tried beginning in the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The administration's decision is aimed at restoring the depleted capital reserves of banks, which have been forced to cut back on loans because they have suffered billions of dollars in losses in the current mortgage meltdown.

The G-7 officials discussed the global economic crisis for three hours on Friday and issued one of the shortest communiques in the history of the group. It pledged to take "all necessary steps to unfreeze credit and money markets" to end the crisis.

Overseas officials also have injected billions of dollars of reserves into their banking systems with little effect so far. As the markets plunged this past week, however, the U.S. and other countries accelerated their efforts.

The G-7 statement endorsed a program to prevent the failure of major banks in each of the countries, unfreeze credit and money markets, bolster capital and deposit insurance programs and get the battered mortgage financing system operating more normally.

It was the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market with cascading defaults that triggered the start of the credit crisis in the United States in August 2007.

While the G-7 group did not endorse all the plans put forward, such as a proposal from Britain that countries guarantee the loans that banks make to each other, the finance ministers said they believed they had agreed on a comprehensive plan that would show results.

The question of how countries can deal with the spreading financial crisis was dominating discussions at the weekend meetings of the 185-nation International Monetary Fund and its sister lending institution, the World Bank.

Just Tk 130 cr 'legalised' in 3 months

bdnews24.com, Dhaka

A paltry Tk 130 crore has so far been declared as income previously undisclosed, with the Oct 31 deadline just three weeks away and the top taxman threatening tough action after the cut-off time.

In the three months to September, the NBR received statements from only 1,250 people who paid just Tk 27 crore in tax on the money they had failed to declare earlier.

"There will be no extension of the time beyond Oct 31," said NBR chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid, speaking to bdnews24.com Thursday, of the provision with just seven percent penalty on top of the regular tax rate.

"From Nov 1 onwards, my officers will be out hunting the dodgers," he said.

"NBR will be really tough on those failing to legalise their money this time," Mazid said.

The finance adviser, in his budget speech last June, gave the July 1-Oct 31 window of opportunity to those who failed to "disclose" their "legally earned" income in their tax statements.

Last year, the response had been much betetr to a similar government gesture.

From July to September last year, 42,449 people "legalised" Tk 5,213 crore and the government was richer for Tk 802 crore.

Last year, the government initially gave two months and then extended the time by two more months.

But this time many people are using their income tax returns to show the undisclosed money as they got four months together, according to the NBR chief. Some, he said, were submitting both together because of the deadline coinciding with the submission of the income tax returns.

Mazid said he was expecting people to rush at the eleventh hour.

"We have some idea about who may have undisclosed money. We will be out chasing them from Nov 1," he said.

Emirates terminal 3 geared for growth

Business Report

DUBAI, UAE, Designed with the capability to handle 43 million passengers a year when fully operational, Emirates Terminal 3, scheduled to open on 14th October 2008, promises travellers the perfect start to an amazing journey from this avant-garde airport.

The terminal is being opened in phases and the first phase commencing 14th October will see flights arriving and departing to destinations in the GCC namely Doha, Muscat, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jeddah, Damman and Riyadh and in the Americas namely New York, Houston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo and Toronto. The second phase will open flights to the Middle East and Africa. Europe, the Indian Subcontinent, the Far East and Australia will be serviced in later phases.

Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline said: "Emirates has always been at the cutting-edge end of the industry - whether it is the aircraft that carry our passengers, the technology that powers our operations or the facilities that house them. The new Emirates Terminal 3 is a testament to our corporate values that will see our passengers enjoy ease of travel, home comforts and refined luxuries both in the air and on the ground - helping us to deliver on our promise and fulfil customer expectations from the Emirates brand. Emirates Terminal 3 is geared for the phenomenal growth we have charted for the airline and provides us with a solid home-base from where we can soar higher than before."

Emirates offers a large buffet of choices when it comes to checking-in for the flight. The car park greets travellers with 1,870 slots and a full 4500 m2 check-in hall with 18 counters that cater for both standard and oversized baggage. Passengers can check-in their luggage at the car park well in advance of the flight and go back home, only to arrive back in time for the flight.

Alternatively, passengers can access the On Line Check-In option at www.emirates.com from their homes or offices, and when they arrive at the terminal for the flight, simply drop off their bags at one of the Self Service Kiosks and collect their boarding passes. Or, travellers could choose to directly check in, with or without baggage, at one of the 60 Self Service Kiosks dotting the terminal.

Passengers can also check-in the traditional way - by arriving at Emirates Terminal 3 three hours in advance of the flight for Economy Class travel and two hours for First and Business Class -through 126 manned counters at Economy; 32 at First and Business; and 10 for Skywards premium members.

A new porter service, with minimal charges, has been introduced to save passengers the trouble of carting their own luggage.

Children travelling alone have access to dedicated lounges at the check-in, departures and arrivals levels. These lounges have experienced staff and are replete with reading and drawing materials, TV, video games and light refreshments to keep the little ones enjoyably engaged throughout their journey.

Two Special Needs Lounges in the terminal have been designed to accommodate wheelchairs and travellers with physical challenges. Baby strollers are available at both check-in lounges while information desks and helpful Emirates Airport Services staff will be on hand to answer all passenger queries.

Passengers can grab a bite or chill out with friends at the ten food outlets in the terminal, ranging from popular brands of coffee shops and fast foods to international cuisine. And if you have time before the immigration process, why not begin the hunt for that perfect gift in the 4800 m2 expanse of retail space that includes three Duty Free shops?

There are 50 immigration counters - 38 traditional and 12 e-gates - after Economy check-in and 14 - 10 traditional and four e-gates - after First and Business. Passengers are swiftly through to the concourse, even during peak times, and ready to indulge in the splendours offered at Emirates Terminal 3.

Concourse 2, with 670,000 m2 of space, equivalent to 120 football fields, ushers travellers to a whole new world of luxury with premium lounges, retail and spa therapy, 14 restaurants, and two hotels. From here, passengers conveniently board an Emirates aircraft through the 26 gates, including five A380 gates, and fly away to their destinations.

Road signage clearly marks the entrance to Emirates Terminal 3. Access for Economy Class passengers is from the main kerbside. First and Business Class passengers have a dedicated kerbside entrance at the First and Business Class check-in area.

Alhaj Badiur Rahman elected as Chairman of Al-Arafah Islami Bank Ltd.

Alhaj Badiur Rahman has been elected Chairman of Al-Arafah Islami Bank Ltd. for a period of October 11, 2008 to October 10, 2009. He was elected unanimously in the 170th meeting of Board of Directors held on October 10, 2008.

Chairman Alhaj Badiur Rahman is a Sponsor Director of the Bank. He hails from a respectable Muslim family of Brahmanbaria District. Professionally Jb. Badiur Rahman is a prominent businessman both locally and internationally. He is the adviser of K.D.S. Group, one of the leading industrial groups of Chittagong. Jd Badiur Rahman is also associated with many social organizations.

Korea to take in another 5,100

BUSINESS REPORT

South Korea will recruit 5,100 more Bangladeshis who will pass Korean language proficiency test, the foreign adviser has said.

Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Limited (BOESL), under the expatriates welfare and overseas employment ministry, on Friday took the language test of 14,812 examinees.

To get a job in South Korea, the applicants must pass the language test jointly conducted by the BOESL and the Korean government agency HRD.

"Korea is a new market for Bangladesh. The Korean government has recruited 858 Bangladeshis.

"Now they will recruit 5100 more Bangladeshis," Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told reporters.

He said a group of 168 Bangladeshis who passed language test earlier were expected to leave by the end of October.

The adviser said the South Korean government would take in more Bangladeshis in future. The Korean government does not recruit Bangladeshi workers through the recruiting agencies fearing fraud in the process. According to the agreement with BOESL, South Korean government - through the HRD and local embassy - arranges Korean language test in Dhaka.

Interested people get registered for sitting the language test online as per the announcement of the BOESL.

The HRD prepares a list of the successful candidates based on their performances.

The Korean authorities select the candidates from the list after receiving job offers from the companies.

The candidates can go to South Korea spending only $900, or close to Tk 63,000. The workers will get paid between Tk 55,000 to 60,000 a month.

Dr. Md. Muztaba Ali joins Apollo Hospitals

Business Report

Dr. Md. Muztaba Ali has recently joined in orthopedics department of Apollo Hospitals Dhaka as a consultant. He has completed his MBBS from Dhaka University in 1984, M.S. (orthopedics) from the same university in 1997. Apart from that, he also did fellowship in Sports Medicine from Post Graduate Medical Institute, Singapore. Before joining Apollo Hospitals Dhaka, he has worked at NITOR (Pangu Hospital) as Asst. Professor. Dr. M. Ali has special interest on arthoplasty and arthscopic Knee Surgery and he is considered as the only knee surgeon of the country. Dr. M. Ali did more than 1000 arthscopic reconstructive surgeries and about 100 total knee replacement along with other orthopedic and trauma surgeries. He is also passionate to do orthopaedic Rehabilitation to Physically-disabled children.

REHAB to hold Housing Fair in USA

Business Reporter

Real State and housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) is going to organise 'Housing Fair' for expatriates in abroad this month.

The high officials of REHAB said this yesterday at a press conference at Jatiya Press Club. The fair will be held both in two different venue of New York and Florida for six days.

Tanveerul Haque Probal, President of REHAB said, "Considering growing demand of expatriate for housing in Bangladesh, we organise three days REHAB Housing Fair, New York, 08 from October 18-20 and another three days REHAB Housing Fair, Florida, 08 from October 24 to 26."

58 Bangladeshi Real State and Housing companies will participate in New York fair at Hilton Hotel where 30 companies will take part in Florida fair at Miami Beach Convention Centre.

His Excellency Md Shamsul Haque, Consul General of Bangladesh in USA, will inaugurate the New York fair. The fairs will be open for visitors from 11 am to 10 pm except for the first days of inauguration. The fair will be opened from 2 pm at the inauguration day.

There will be special Mega Raffle Draw for all visitors. Among others, Ln Khalled Mohammed Jewel Mollah, General Secretary, Murad Iqbal Chowdhury, Chairman of Fair Standing Committee of REHAB, Shabbir Hossain Khan, Convener of REHAB Housing Fair, Florida08 was presented at the conference.

Iran calls for oil market stability as prices slide

Reuters, Tehran

Iran's oil minister called for market stability on Saturday, a day after crude prices dropped more than 10 percent, and said the "current critical problem" was related to demand.

Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari was asked what action he believed the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) should take at an emergency meeting scheduled for Nov. 18 in Vienna and whether a cut in output would restore stability.

Oil prices touched 13-month lows on Friday in a global flight from risk amid concerns of a worldwide recession and further signs of slumping energy demand.

"Studies indicate that the current critical problem has to do with demand in the market," Nozari told reporters on the sidelines of an oil conference in Tehran.

"We should be after market stability, meaning that the stability of the market is important both for the producer and the consumer," Nozari said.

On Friday, U.S. crude plunged $8.89 to settle at $77.70 a barrel, the lowest levels since Sept. 10, 2007, and down 17 percent from last Friday's settlement. London Brent crude settled down $8.57 at $74.09 a barrel.