BUILD elects Mahbubul Alam as chairman.

CHITTAGONG, Feb 6: Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mahbubul Alam has been elected trustee board Chairman of the Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD).
He has replaced Nihad Kabir, President of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The BUILD is a public-private dialogue platform that works closely with and gives necessary advice to the Office of the Prime Minister (PMO) to formulate business policy guidelines and necessary renovations and easing and uplift of business environment for the country’s private sector development through five working committees on business and investment, financial sector, tax, small and medium enterprises (SME), sustainable and green growth etc.
Apart from the CCCI, other members of the trustee board are from the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) and Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), a statement of the CCCI said.
Mahbubul Alam is the former vice-president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), incumbent director of SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, vice-president of the Confederation of Eastern Chambers of Commerce and Industry, governing board member of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) under the PMO, director of the International Chamber of Commerce Bangladesh (ICCB), executive board member of the Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute and also working as consul general of Mali.
Representatives from different business societies and organisations in Chittagong have congratulated him on his being elected chairman of the BUILD. Alam is a post-graduate from Chittagong University and a successful trader and industrialist. He was social welfare secretary of Chittagong University Central Students Union (CUCSU) in 1979-80

SME policy draft gathers dust on MoI backburner

A high priority to small and medium enterprise (SME) for Bangladesh’s economic development virtually loses much of its importance as the final draft SME policy remained shelved, sources said.

They pointed out that the final draft of the SME policy was completed in mid-2016 and supposed to be placed before the cabinet for approval since then. But it has been put on the backburner for nearly one and a half years.

“Till today, the policy has not been placed to the cabinet though it is fully ready,” said an official engaged in the policy formulation under a donor-financed project.

He said the Ministry of Industries (MoI) completed all necessary review of the policy shortly after the draft finalization.

Ministry officials engaged in the SME policy refrained from commenting as to why approval was not done but said there wasn’t any problem in the policy.

“So far my knowledge, there is no problem in the SME policy,” said one of the ministry officials.

Sources said the project under which the SME policy was drafted also lost its life in November 2016, without seeing its fruition.

The MoI initiated the move to formulate the SME policy under the European Union (EU)-funded project styled ‘INSPIRED (Integrated Support to Poverty and Inequality Reduction through Enterprise Development)’.

The project was taken to reduce poverty by supporting the development of SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) in the country.

The SME Cell at the Ministry of Industries, the SME Foundation, Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh Bank Training Academy (BBTA) and Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) are the stakeholders.

Though the minister and the secretary had announced several times their resolve to implement the policy, but to no avail so far, the sources pointed out.

SME’s significance has been given in all associated policies, such as industry policy, for supporting the us of a hold 7.0 percent GDP growth and graduate to middle- income-country status.

They said the coverage was to support the sector’s operational challenges like institutional credits, unavailability of working capital, low levels of technology, low productivity, and lack of advertising facilities and market-access problems.

The government has taken SME development as an instrument to proceed its higher growth and given it due significance in other policies, like strategic format 2021, seventh five-year plan, and industrial policy.

So far, the country’s SME region has been ruled with SME Policy Strategy formulated in 2005.

Project sources said the comprehensive national SME Policy is to information all relevant policies with an suitable motion graph to promote coverage and regulatory reforms in order to create an enabling environment for these enterprises.

According to the Asian Development Bank, an estimated 7.5 million MSMEs (including cottage) account for over ninety seven per cent of all enterprises in Bangladesh. The share of SMEs in GDP is estimated about 25 per cent.

China’s new loans surge to record $458.3b, blow past forecasts

China’s banks extended a record 2.9 trillion yuan ($458.3 billion) in new yuan loans in January, blowing past expectations and nearly five times the previous month as policymakers aim to sustain solid economic growth while reining in debt risks.

While Chinese banks tend to front-load loans early in the year to get higher-quality customers and win market share, the lofty figure was even higher than the most bullish forecast by economists in a Reuters poll.

Net new loans surpassed the previous record of 2.51 trillion yuan in January 2016, which is likely to support growth not only in China but may underpin liquidity globally as major Western central banks begin to withdraw stimulus.

Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted new yuan loans of 2 trillion yuan, up sharply from December’s 584.4 billion yuan.

A more detailed breakdown of the loan data on Monday showed sharp pickups in demand for credit from both households and companies, auguring well for consumption and investment.

“Banks hope to lend early to get early returns… non-public investment and manufacturing investment are picking up due to less attackable world demand (and) family loans could be boosted through property demand,” said Nie Wen, economist at Hwabao Trust in Shanghai.

“This indicates the economic system might also gradual in the first 1/2 however any slowdown might not be sharp…”

Corporate loans surged to 1.78 trillion yuan from 243.2 billion yuan in December, whilst household loans rose to 901.6 billion yuan in January from 329.4 billion yuan in December, in accordance to Reuters calculations based on the central bank data.

Beijing is in the second yr of a regulatory push to clamp down on riskier economic endeavor that has been fueled by a speedy build-up in debt.

But authorities are proceeding cautiously and keeping liquidity extensively supportive to avoid any sharp drag on the world’s second-largest economy or immoderate monetary market volatility.

Broad M2 money provide also beat expectations, growing 8.6 percentage in January from a year earlier, central bank statistics confirmed on Monday. Economists had predicted the increase price to part up to 8.4 percentage from 8.2 percent in December.

Other information remaining week had painted a particularly combined photo of the economic system at the begin of the year, with inflationary pressures easing — maybe pointing to softening pastime — however better-than-expected import and export growth.

Taken together, the stronger credit and exchange records would show up to nonetheless aid the consensus view that China will see solely a modest pullback in GDP boom to around 6.5 percentage this year, after a forecast-beating 6.9 percent in 2017.

CREDIT STILL AMPLE

Outstanding yuan loans grew 13.2 percentage in January from a 12 months earlier, also faster than an predicted 12.5 percentage upward push and compared with an make bigger of 12.7 percent in December.

Last yr China’s whole new loans hit a file 13.53 trillion yuan, 7 percentage more than the preceding record in 2016.

The credit boom has been fueled via strong monetary growth, a strong property market and a crackdown on riskier shadow lending, which has forced banks to shift some loans returned onto their balance sheets.

Since the start of 2017, Chinese regulators have introduced a slew of steps to coax monetary institutions to decrease riskier recreation and leverage, concentrated on the whole thing from interbank lending degrees to bond trading, negotiable certificates of savings and entrusted loans.

In addition, the PBOC has been gingerly nudging up cash market hobby rates, most recently in December, but rates have also been slowly creeping higher on their very own as regulators seem set to persist with the current “de-risking” marketing campaign lots longer than coverage crackdowns in the past.

Those efforts show up to be bearing fruit. The excellent amount of banking wealth management products (WMPs) grew simply 1.7 percentage final year, compared with a near 24 percentage upward jostle in 2016. Many of these merchandise had robust hyperlinks with the less-regulated shadow banking sector.

Analysts assume authorities to step up their efforts this year, focusing on nearby authorities debt, rising corporate and family debt levels and dealing with “zombie” companies.

Train garment workers to save their jobs amid automation: experts

Bangladesh should train its garment workers to improve their skills as 80 percent of them could lose jobs in the next 15 years due to automation, said fashion experts yesterday.

Job losses will take place mainly in Asian countries such as China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia, said Anjuli Gopalakrishna, a consultant of Fashion Tech and Digital Innovation in Singapore.

She said the automation would take place in the sector to meet faster lead-time and make the business sustainable as fashions are rapidly changing worldwide.

“That’s why workers must be trained so they can adapt to the changes,” she said on the sidelines of Bangladesh Fashionology Summit at International Convention City Bashundhara in Dhaka.

Global garment retailers and brands, trade analysts, leaders of trade bodies and chambers and diplomats attended the event organised by Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE) in collaboration with Chittagong-based Pacific Jeans Ltd.

Gopalakrishna stated the automation would now not only change the lion’s share of workers however also create job opportunities for some, who will get work to set up and repair machines and maintain tools.

“So, a high-level education for workers is a have to so a big quantity of workers don’t lose jobs,” she said. According to the consultant, Bangladesh will have to adapt to the modern day applied sciences for higher productivity as well to earn $50 billion from garment exports by means of 2021.

“Under the standard production system, Bangladesh would not be able to gain the target,” she said.

David Birnbaum, who is called the garment guru, also echoed Gopalakrishna.

He said Bangladesh have to assume about improving the skills of the workers to be in the race of garment business in the contemporary manufacturing system.

“Higher productivity starts with the coaching of workers. The factory owners will have to assume the people are important for them,” he said. “The actual trouble in Bangladesh is that people are not appropriate valued in the garment sector.”

Birnbaum, who has been concerned in the garment quarter considering that 1966, additionally labored as a advisor for Youngone Group, a South Korean multinational garment giant.

He stated automation happened the most in the sweater factories in Bangladesh. The woven and the knitwear sectors are additionally embracing automation. Bangladesh is the largest automated sweater equipment importer worldwide, he said.

“Bangladesh desires automation as it ensures higher productivity in less time and helps preserve lead time.”

Eva Van Der Brugge, innovation manager of Fashion for Good, a Netherlands-based lookup organisation, said her organisation is presenting options in automation global so that garment items can be produced at lesser costs. two She stated she has visited some factories in Bangladesh and the factories have started out automation.

Amanda Cosco, founder of Canada-based Electric Runway, a fashiontech organisation, said there is a very bad grasp about Bangladesh in the US and Canada. “But, coming here, I ought to realize that no longer all factories are bad. They are superior in many areas.”

According to Cosco, the measurement of the smart trend enterprise global would be $130 billion via 2030 and Bangladesh ought to take education to seize greater market share in the segment.

“The world is changing rapidly, so is fashion,” said Mostafiz Uddin, founder and CEO of the BAE. He stated technology is going to disrupt the global fashion supply chain in less than a decade.

“Do we have adequate preparedness to face the future? What should be our method if we are to sustain?” he asked.

Fish farming in cages spreading out

A new form of fish farming, known as cage culture, is expanding in flowing water of rivers and canals in various parts of the country, raising hopes for an increased production of fish.

Fishes, mostly tilapia, are now farmed in nearly 6,000 cages in rivers where such farming did not exist even a decade ago.

The practice, under which fishes are grown in mesh enclosures, has expanded as farmers have found it to be profitable because of the scope to grow a higher quantity of fishes in cages compared to ponds, according to fisheries officials, farmers and researchers.

Consequently, the fisheries and livestock ministry is working to frame a policy on cage culture in inland water, which remains untapped despite the huge potential to augment production of fish.

“We have taken an initiative to frame a policy to ensure organised expansion of the cage-based farming,” said Syed Arif Azad, director-general of the Department of Fisheries (DoF).

He stated cages are being constructed in rivers in a scattered manner and roles and duties of stakeholders are no longer clear.

“The land ministry is the owner of the rivers whilst we grow fish. The personal zone is additionally involved,” he said.

Bangladesh has 8.53 lakh hectare areas of rivers and estuaries, and public water bodies signify lakes and swamps, in accordance to the DoF.

Fisheries officials said cage way of life cannot only enlarge the normal production however also increase the contribution of open water bodies to the annual manufacturing of fishes.

Some 27 percentage of the 38.78 lakh tonnes of fishes were produced in open water bodies in 2015-16. Aquaculture accounted for 56 percentage of the total fish output in the year, according to the DoF.

Officials stated cage culture is practised in many countries in Asia, Europe, and North America. Bangladesh saw the beginning of the farming in the 1990s, according to Azad.

“New applied sciences of fish farming are coming up. We can’t hold our water pool like rivers idle,” he said.

The draft policy stated cage way of life is no longer flourishing as expected in absence of legally supported user rights to develop fish in flowing water, additionally depriving the authorities of revenues.

The draft coverage seeks to encompass all flowing rivers and water our bodies that are suitable for cage culture. It said involved human beings will have to apply to an upazila committee stating the title and location of the water body where they choose to do cage culture.

A committee headed by means of the deputy commissioner will pick out the profitable candidates based on the hints of the upazila committee, according to the draft.

The draft policy said cages should be constructed in an place having 10-feet depth and cages should be three foot above the backside of the river.

Some 10-15 percentage of the water bodies in the u . s . a . can be used for cage way of life if floating feed is used. On the different hand, cages could be mounted on 5 percentage region of a river if sinking fish feed is used, according to the policy.

Mosharef Hossain Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Cage Culture Association, said cage tradition in a flowing river is extra profitable than farming in ponds.

“This is because of the leverage to grow more fish in cages than in ponds,” he said.

A 200-square-feet cage can yield seven-hundred fishes compared a hundred and fifty fishes in the equal location in ponds, according to Chowdhury.

Chowdhury started out growing tilapia fish in 15 cages in the Dakatia river in Chandpur in 2008. Encouraged by using excessive margins, he went on to amplify the variety of cages to 150 cages at one point.

He, however, decreased the number of cages to forty in the face of soaring costs of feed, rising movement of vessels and oil spill from the vessels plying on the river.

He said the rising costs of feed have put farmers in a tight spot as prices of fishes, in particular tilapia, have not long gone up due to the fact of the extend of manufacturing and supply of different fishes.

Chowdhury stated a coverage on cage tradition would yield a proper result, as there is still a massive probability in Bangladesh.

Md Asadul Baqui, district fisheries officer in Chandpur, also said the wide variety of cages had risen quicker when the farming technique was once introduced. Later, the growth slowed owing to the rising expenditures of feed. “Many bad farmers had to end due to the fact of the excessive expenditures of feed,” he said.

Chandpur is one of the pioneering districts in cage lifestyle in the country.

Prof Md Anwarul Islam, a former vice-chancellor of Bangladesh Agricultural University, said the cage way of life may want to be a practical solution to improve fish production as land is scarce to make ponds for aquaculture.

Citing his experience, he said, throughout winter, fishes develop nicely in rivers due to the fact of higher temperature compared to that of in ponds.

The farming of fish in cages is not without environmental concern.

Islam said water quality of rivers can deteriorate if cages are put in region miles after miles. This can take place in the rivers that have low depth and gradual glide of water. “Biodiversity of rivers and its water high-quality would now not be affected if cages are installed in a planned manner,” he said.

Another challenge is rivers are a primary supply of different types of fishes, but all fishes are no longer appropriate for cage culture. “Farmers will incur losses unless cage cultures are extended without discovering applicable technology and workforce,” said Islam.

Md Abdul Matin, customary secretary of the Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, said the water waft in rivers would be sluggish due to the fact of the obstruction imposed by using placing up of a large quantity of cages.

River water is probably to be polluted if a chemical feed is used. Also, there is a opportunity of setting up constructions centring cages, he said.

In order to tackle the environmental concerns, the DoF plans to allow cage lifestyle in positive areas of a river, now not in the complete river.

“We will examine the influence if we get a idea for a giant project,” stated Azad, of the DoF, adding that the draft policy would be posted on the DoF’s internet site for feedbacks.