The New Nation - Internet Edition

Strict election code of conduct deprives printing industry from making business

BSS, Dhaka

Of all those who used to make booming business during polls, the printing press industry this time suffered biggest set back because of strict adherences to election code of conduct.

No matters the big ones, even minor rotary presses could not keep pace with hectic election works seven years ago when they used to print multi-coloured posters, handbills, leaflets, pamphlets etceteras for individual candidates, for three hundreds constituencies.

This time, as per newly framed election code of conduct as well as Representation of People Ordinance [RPO], many restrictions were imposed on the candidates about their election spending and other electioneering activities.

As per rules, candidates are allowed only mono-coloured posters , even not bigger than demy-size whereas on earlier occasions candidates especially those belonging to big and potential parties used to print posters sometimes life size portraits of their leaders along with their own pictures and electoral commitments and symbols.

But, this occasion, Election Commission prescribed certain rules on posters and other election materials, violation of which warrants penal actions leading to even cancellation of candidatures.

This correspondent, when visited densely populated printing presses of Fakirapool at 11 am saw a barren look in the whole area - press owners were reluctantly opening their shatters, enjoying winter sunshine and having tea. Mohammad Saheed Khan, proprietor of Janani Printers told BSS that the scenario on the last occasion was totally different- hundreds of vehicles including mini- trucks, push carts, vans, rickshaws etceteras used to gather at the entrance of Fakirapool to take delivery of their products.

" There was also a huge hue and cry of the customers, laborers, workers and even we have to hire additional manpower to cope with the situation", Khan said adding that 'the candidates or their agents used to make fervent pleas to give quick delivery of their materials as they should send those to far flung areas by various modes of transportations like launches, buses, steamers, rails, and private cars'.

A pale and depressed Mohammad Shamim, son of the proprietor of Muti-Offset Press told that this year he earned only Taka 1500 from a single party during the entire season which was more than five digit figures on last occasions.

Shamim said," General traders like owners of sharees and bangles shops usually look for a lunar month on various occasions like the holy Eid of Muslims, Puja of Hindus, Easters' Day of Christians and Maghi Purnima of Buddhists to make booming business".

"This is their annual occasions, but we have to wait for such a bonanza for at least five years- this time such occasions came after over seven years but without business," he added. Similar tales were told by proprietors of other printing presses like Barnamala, Quality Press, Kashbon Desh Printers, Hakkani Designers ands Printers etceteras who also suffered serious set backs on the eve of the 9th parliamentary election.

They opined that the conditions of printing presses of traditional Banglabazar and Laksmibazar are more gloomy. When contacted with Amir Hossain, General Manager of posh Zenith Packaging and Printing said that they suffered because of restrictions on multi-coloured posters. Elaborating, he said that charges are made on 'per thousand, per-impression and per -colour basis. In case of mono-coloured posters, the rate is so poor that they could not make any significant profits out of this.

Amir Hossain also informed that the condition is the same with other sophisticated printing industries like Padma Printers, Pioneer, Eastern Packages, BRAC products, Elite etceteras.

Hossain said, along with printing presses, the designers and make- up, get-up business also recorded dull as this year there is restrictions on multi-colored posters with photos of leaders and their predecessors and successors.

When contacted, proprietors of paper trading enterprises like Mucca Paper House and Khan Paper House of Fakirapool told this correspondent that their business was also dull this year.

"This is because on previous occasions, candidates used to buy imported brand of finest quality papers, poster papers and some times even art papers for printing their posters and other election materials.

But this time only demy-size local papers are used that drastically effected our business," Hossain said.

Statisticians urged to help formulate proper policies

STAFF REPORTER

Bangladesh Bank Governor Salehuddin Ahmed has laid emphasis on the need for providing accurate statistical data to stop rumours harmful to the country's economic sector.

He has also urged the statisticians to play their vital role through their professionalism so that policymakers can formulate proper policies for the country.

The central bank governor made the call while addressing the inaugural ceremony of a two-day International Conference on Statistical Sciences at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the city on Friday.

North South University and Carleton University, Canada have jointly organised the conference.

NSU Vice-Chancellor Dr Hafiz GA Siddiqi chaired the session while Abdul Hannan, Director of BBA Program at NSU, delivered welcome address.

Shamsher Ali, President of Bangladesh Academy of Science, was present at the function as special guest.

Shahjahan Khan, professor of the University of Southern Queensland, Australia, AK Mohammad Ehsanes Saleh, professor emeritus of Carlton University, and MA Awal, chairperson of the Board of Governors of North South University Foundation, also addressed the function.

Giving emphasis on updated data, Dr Salehuddin Ahmed said, 'Even in 2008, we have to formulate monetary policy taking the financial year 1995-1996 as our base year.'

Referring to major differences in the opinion polls conducted by various organisations before the parliamentary elections slated for December 29, Shamsher Ali questioned the credibility of the results of such opinion polls.

'If we take data only from Bogra or Gopalganj districts to use them in opinion polls, how it will be international standard,' he said adding that all should apply globally-recognised statistical methods.

Dr Hafiz GA Siddiqi hoped that the outcomes of the conference would help Bangladeshi statisticians and their international colleagues.

Shahjahan Khan said, 'We have no other choice but to use statistics to ensure the effectiveness of any newly innovated drug or to compare among the nations and regions.'

Abdul Hannan said from business to fine arts, statistics is at the core of almost every academic discipline.

IOE launches three new electronic cash registers

NATION BUSINESS REPORT

International Office Equipment (IOE), one of the leading suppliers of Electronic Cash Register (ECR) machines in Bangladesh, has launched three new models of ECR, manufactured by the world's leading producer ACLAS.

All the machines are fully complied with the features set by the National Board of Revenue.

The NBR has made it mandatory for all retail and wholesale shops under all city corporation areas to introduce ECR from January 01, 2009 to increase VAT collection.

"We hope the businesses will choose our newly launched sophisticated ECR machines since those are fully complied with the NBR requirement," said Asif Aftab, Chief Operating Officer of International Office Equipment.

ACLAS ECR has unchangeable fiscal memory to keep every sales record for four years and have a security seal, which ensures that the sales data cannot be deleted after sales.

In addition, ECR has two printers for printing two separate receipts at a time for each transaction-- one for consumer and another for the seller's record.

The newly marketed ECRs can also generate invoice or bill along with different information including name, address, tax identification number, product Information, service name, and quantity, price and VAT amount.

Moreover, ACLAS ECR has inbuilt battery which can support for up to 10 hours during power failure.

The machines are capable of integrating all accounting functions including purchase, sale, inventory, stocktaking and gross profit management.

The machines can be used in hotels, fast food outlets, restaurants, beauty parlours, furniture sales centre, community centres, shopping malls, departmental stores, general stores, jewellery shops, wholesale and retail shops across the country.

IOE is offering one year warranty for the customers along with after sales service all over the country.

Kohinoor Chemical Ltd approved 30pc dividend

The 21th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Kohinoor Chemical Company (BD) Ltd was held at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre on 25th December 2008.

Director of the company Md Ebadul Karim presided over the meeting. Md Rezaul Karim, Managing Director of the company was also present in the meeting.

The Audited Accounts of 2007-2008 financial year was discussed and approved in the AGM by the shareholders.

A 30 percent dividend was approved for the company's shareholders for the year 2007-2008.

RAKUB to attain targets of loan disbursement, recovery

BSS, Rajshahi

Speakers called upon the field level officials and staffs of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB) to attain loan disbursement and loan recovery targets during 2008-09 fiscal through bringing dynamism in their activities.

They were addressing a customers conference arranged at the bank's Bhobaniganj branch under Bagmara upazila of the district yesterday afternoon.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of RAKUB Yahya Mollah addressed the conference as the chief guest while zonal manager Abdul Khaleque Khan was in the chair.

RAKUB Chairman Yahya Mollah highlighted the role of loan disbursement in the agricultural sector and said agri-loan has become indispensable in ensuring the food security.

He called upon the field officers and staffs to render their service wholeheartedly towards helping the farmers produce surplus food through utilizing its existing natural resources.

In this regard, he suggested increased credit flow towards the potential sectors, especially for food grain production by encouraging the farmers more cultivation.

He also underlined the need for providing dynamic banking service particularly in loan disbursement and recovery of the classified loans side by side with ensuring transparency in the overall activities.

Deputy General Manager Abdul Latif, Zonal Audit Officer Jasim Uddin, Assistant Commissioner (Land) of Bagmara upazila Abdur Rahim and Officer-in-charge of Bagmara Police Station Syed Shahabuddin Khalifa, among others, also spoke on the occasion.

The bank officials said emphasis should be given on enhancing bank's income by investing in profitable sectors and asked the officials to perform their duties with utmost sincerity and honesty to fulfill the targets.

RAKUB recently launched a 'Seven New Products' programme to infuse dynamism into its business activities and socio-economic development of the northwestern region since the field-level branches are considered as the main driving force it a total success.

The programme includes 'revolving crop credit', 'RAKUB fisheries village loan for extensive fish-farming', 'financing small and medium enterprises', 'loan disbursement for current capital for hybrid nursery', 'special credit for government primary school teachers both male and female', 'RAKUB-NGO linkage wholesale credit' and 'RAKUB savings scheme'.

Cairn raises gas output from Sangu

NATION BUSINESS REPORT

UK-based Cairn and its joint venture partners have successfully completed its works at the country's lone offshore Sangu gas field raising gas output by 40 per cent to reach 52 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd).

Cairn and its joint venture partners - Australian Santos and the US-based HBR - have invested nearly US$2.0 million to augment gas output by 16 mmcfd from Sangu in the Bay of Bengal, which has been in operation for over a decade.

Industrial units in the country's port city Chittagong region would be benefited out of the increase of gas output from Sangu.

Scores of industrial units have been waiting for over a year to get new sources of gas supply after investing substantially in their projects in and around the port city.

Cairn started this well intervention programme on December 17 last targeting wells 1 and 9 in the Sangu field located some 50 kilometres off Chittagong coast.

This was the third such programme of the company within this year.

The work was supported by a specialised service vessel, which has already departed Bangladesh waters and returned to Singapore after completion of the work, the company statement said on Wednesday.

"To further enhance production the JV will install a compressor in the Sangu gas field at a cost of $ 6.0 million by July 2009," said managing director of Cairn Energy Companies in Bangladesh Phil Dolan.

Nepal declares power 'crisis'

AFP, Kathmandu

Nepal's Maoist-run government has declared a "national power crisis" and warned that blackouts in the impoverished country will increase to at least 16 hours per day, officials said yesterday.

Nepal is struggling to recover from a civil war waged by the Maoists who now govern the country after winning elections earlier this year, and the Himalayan country can currently meet only around 50 per cent of its electricity needs. "We had no other alternatives than to declare national power crisis because there is a severe shortage of electricity," Bishnu Poudel, minister for water resources said Thursday evening. The government will import more electricity from neighbouring India as well as set up diesel-powered generators and attempt to attract more investment in hydro electricity projects, the minister said.

"It will still take at least five years to free the country from power shortages if everything works out as planned," said Poudel.

An official from the Nepal Electricity Authority said electricity demand had been outstripping supply for years in the mountainous country dotted with Himalayan rivers, which has massive untapped potential for hydro power. "In the last eight or nine years the demand for electricity has been increasing by around 10 percent per year, but we have not been able to bring in new hydropower projects," said Sher Singh Bhat, spokesman for the state-run Nepal Electricity Authority told AFP on Friday.

Nepal relies on hydro power for most of its electricity and as the dry season approaches in early 2009, power cuts will increase, said Bhat.

"From next week, the power cuts will be increased to 12 hours per day and by mid-February it will be a minimum of 16 hours per day," said Bhat. Around 40 per cent of Nepal's 28 million people have access to electricity.

Foreign direct investment in

Vietnam triples in 2008

AFP, Hanoi

Foreign investors promised 64 billion dollars to Vietnam in 2008, more than three times the 20.3 billion dollars pledged last year, the government said yesterday.

The flow of foreign direct investments (FDI) in Vietnam, a member of the World Trade Organisation since 2007, has increased steadily over the past few years.

In 2008, the amount of actually disbursed capital soared to 11.5 billion dollars, up 43.2 percent compared with 2007, said an online report from the Hanoi-based Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).

Vietnam relies heavily on FDI. The foreign-invested sector created more than 200,000 jobs in 2008 and employs 1.4 million people, according to the FIA.

But the communist country's economy, which relies on exports, has already started to feel the effects of the international economic turmoil. And experts warn that the flow of FDI could slow down in 2009.

"It is certain that we will see a decline in FDI registration next year due to the global economic crisis," Phan Huu Thang, head of the Planning and Investment Ministry's Foreign Investment Department, told the police newspaper An Ninh Thu Do this week. "Maybe we can reach 20 billion dollars (in pledged FDI), and that would already be a high result," he added. However, "so far, I have received no sign from any foreign investor asking to pull out of any project due to the crisis."

On Wednesday the Vietnamese government announced a 6.23 percent GDP increase for 2008, state television said. This figure was below the 6.5 percent official target, far below the 8.5 percent increase of 2007 and the worst performance of the Vietnamese economy since 2000.

For 2009, the authorities expect a 6.5 percent growth in GDP, but the International Monetary Fund forecasts only a five percent increase.

Out of the 64 billion dollars promised in FDI in 2008, 60.2 billion was for 1,171 new projects while the rest was increased capital for 311 existing projects, said the FIA. Malaysia became the top foreign investor in Vietnam, with 55 projects worth 14.9 billion dollars. It was followed by Taiwan, with 8.64 billion dollars, and Japan, with 7.28 billion dollars, the agency said.

Foreign investment in 2008 focused on industry and construction, including two major steel projects, one worth 9.8 billion dollars from Malaysia's Lion Industries and the other valued at 7.8 billion from Taiwan's Formosa Group.

India's Reliance starts world's biggest refinery hub

AFP, New Delhi

India's Reliance Petroleum has started processing crude oil at its new refinery in western India, creating the world's biggest refining complex. The company opened its 580,000 barrel a day refinery in Jamnagar in the western state of Gujarat on Friday, Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL) said in a statement.

Combined with an adjacent 660,000 barrel a day refinery, the new unit will make the Jamnagar complex the world's largest, with a capacity of 1.24 million barrels a day.

"We will leverage our competitive advantages of scale, complexity and capability to process a wide range of crude oils and flexibility to produce high quality transportation fuels," company chairman Mukesh Ambani said.

"The commissioning of the RPL refinery catapults Reliance into the league of the largest refiners globally, both in terms of complex refining capacity and earnings potential," the company said.

The new facility on India's west coast has been completed in 36 months. Reliance is a corporate behemoth that has straddled India's economy for decades with activities in petrochemicals, oil and gas, refining, power, insurance and telecommunications.

Inflation halves to 6.61pc from peak of 12.91pc

PTI, New Delhi

Inflation almost halved to 6.61 per cent for the week ended December 13 from the peak of 12.91 four months ago as manufactured goods and some food items turned cheaper.

Wholesale prices-based inflation came down for the seventh consecutive week to a nine-month low due to the cascading effect of cuts in fuel prices, providing more space to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for further cuts in key policy rates. Inflation fell by 0.23 percentage points from 6.84 per cent a week ago. It was 3.84 per cent a year ago during the corresponding period.

The rate of price rise was lower than this at 6.21 per cent during the week ended March 1 this year. It touched the peak of 12.91 per cent during the week ended August 9. Manufactured products became cheaper during the week with a fall in prices of groundnut oil, sugar, cement and certain textile items like cotton yarn.

Prices of cement too fell by 1.5 per cent, pipes and tubes by five per cent. Steel wires, zinc, and steel ingots too became cheaper.

The prices of other items that became cheaper during the week include fruit and vegetables, tea, cereals, spices, sea fish, wheat and bajra.

However, despite falling crude prices, the fuel index remained unchanged.

Imported edible oil, however, turned dearer by four per cent.