Persistent inflation, rising costs squeeze profit margins of multinational companies
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has formed a $500 million fund to contain erratic movements in the foreign exchange market, as the country moves towards a more flexible exchange rate regime in line with International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions.
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The stock market has bounced back strongly within two months of falling to its lowest in the past five years, thanks to some macroeconomic-level recoveries, including a drop in inflation and the strengthening of the local currency against the greenback.
Banks have several layers of professionals to regularly assess their financial health and raise early warnings at the first sign of trouble.
Renata PLC, one of the country’s leading pharmaceutical companies, discontinued nearly 30 percent of its product line in the last fiscal year after production costs outpaced selling prices, according to the company’s chief executive officer (CEO).
Nineteen banks failed to pay any dividend to shareholders for 2024. While seven posted losses, the remaining 12 reported profits but were barred from dividend payouts due to inadequate capital and deferred provisioning for bad loans.
The Washington-based multilateral lender’s Business Ready (B-Ready) report, which was released yesterday, also places Bangladesh in the fourth tier of five stages for public service delivery, indicating weaker performance in this area too
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has alleged that manipulators were fuelling protests against the regulator to prevent it from taking a stand against corruption and reforming the stock market.
Bangladesh can join hands with Malaysia to develop a sector that caters to global semiconductor industries, which can play a vital role in increasing export earnings, said Shabbir A Khan, president of the Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI).
Over the past 15 years, the country’s economy presented a number of marvels, including over 6 percent growth on an average per annum. But, its stock market showed a sharp contrast: sluggish, dry and in decline.
The stock market regulator formulated a large number of policies, rules and regulations and passed orders in the last 15 years citing the best interests of investors.
The way that the stock market has been run over the past 15 years under the Sheikh Hasina-led government can be best summarised as facilitative to the manipulation of stock prices.
Over the past 15 years, investors have fled the market, initial public offerings (IPOs) have been scarce and capital market growth has fallen short of expectations. Despite this dry market, the number of stock intermediaries entering the market increased steadily.
The stock market regulator approved 127 firms for listing in the past 14 years, allowing their transition from private to public companies. However, the subsequent outcomes are disheartening as most of these companies showed declined performance rather than growth.
United Commercial Bank (UCB) PLC is on the verge of incurring losses of around Tk 75 crore as one-third of its total share market investment has been on a lone stock that has undergone price manipulation.
Per capita foreign debt of Bangladesh more than doubled in the last eight years, according to official data, as economists attribute the hike to unplanned foreign-funded projects and corruption, ultimately ballooning the liability on low-income people, including the extremely poor.
