HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

BUDGET DEFICIT

COULD SWELL BE-

YOND ORIGINAL ESTI-

MATE

Budget deficit that stood at Tk402 billion in the first six months to December would widen further in the aftermath of pandemic, economists fear.

They say revenue mobilisation will fall significantly as business activities have started slowing, as people are getting panicked and going into self-isolation in the wake of the outbreak of Covid-19 that claimed the lives of over 13,000 people world-wide as of Sunday.

Source:https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/economy/budget-deficit-could-swell-beyond-original-estimate-1584935041

LOCAL AIRLINES BAT-

TLING AN EXISTEN-

TIAL CRISIS

Local airlines -- Biman, US-Bangla, Novoair and Regent -- are on course to losing Tk 350 crore in revenue just this month alone for the coronavirus pan-demic, which has forced coun-tries to close borders and brought air travel to a near-halt.

Source:https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/local-airlines-battling-existential-crisis-1884565

TAMING CORONAVIRUS RAMPAGE:

BB RISES TO THE OCCASION

In an unprecedented move, the central bank yes-terday said it will buy Treasury bills and bonds from banks and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) to tackle the impending economic slow-down brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

The government securities from the secondary bond market will be purchased such that liquidity management of banks and NBFIs will not face any impediment due to the coronavirus pandem-ic, according to a central bank notice.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/

banking/news/taming-coronavirus-rampage-bb-rises-the-occasion-1884556

Bangladesh: Economy March 23, 2020

ITEMS USED TO COMBAT CORONA-

VIRUS NOW DUTY-FREE

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) yesterday removed all forms of import duties and taxes im-posed on personal protective equipment (PPE), raw materials used in hand sanitisers, coronavirus testing kits and re-agents, said an official notifica-tion from the revenue authority yesterday.

The moves comes amid public outcry on the shortage of testing kits and PPE materials in the country, where an increasing number of con-firmed coronavirus patients are being reported.

As of yesterday, the number of confirmed corona-virus patients in the country rose to 27, leading to a scramble amongst the general public for hand sanitisers and other protective gear to protect themselves from the highly contagious pathogen.

Source:https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/items-used-combat-coronavirus-now-duty-free-1884547

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

TURNOVER PLUMMETS TO FIVE-YEAR-

LOW

Turnover on the stock market yesterday crashed to its lowest since December 11, 2014 amid a thin presence of buyers despite a regulatory move that aimed to forestall major slides seen a num-ber of times in recent days.

An important indicator of the stock market, it dropped 66 per cent from last Wednesday to Tk 145 crore.

Source:https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/turnover-plummets-five-year-low-1884544

Bangladesh: Economy March 23, 2020

PERSONAL TIES NOT ENOUGH,

NORTH KOREA TELLS US

Intelligence Donald Trump has sent a letter to Kim Jong Un detailing a plan to develop ties, state media reported citing the North Korean leader's powerful sister, but she warned their good personal relationship is not enough, as a hiatus in disarmament talks drags on. "In the let-ter, he (Trump)... explained his plan to propel the relations between the two countries and ex-pressed his intent to render cooperation in the anti-epidemic work,"

Source:https://www.thedailystar.net/world/news/personal-ties-not-enough-north-korea-tells-us-1884571

“Either you run the day or the day runs you”

-Jim Rohn

TWO MORE BANKS DECLARE DIVI-

DEND

Mercantile Bank: The board of directors of Mer-cantile Bank has recommended 11 per cent cash and 5.0 per cent stock dividend for the year end-ed on December 31, 2019.

Bank Asia: The board of directors of Bank Asia has declared 10 per cent cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2019.

Source:https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/stock/two-more-banks-declare-dividend-1584941322

US HELP OFFER BAFFLES IRAN

The offer by the United States to help Iran fight the coronavirus pandemic is strange, Iran's Su-preme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech yesterday, rejecting the offer. Despite heightened tensions between the long-time foes, Washington has offered humanitarian assistance to Iran while it struggles with the coro-navirus outbreak.

Source:https://www.thedailystar.net/world/news/us

-help-offer-baffles-iran-1884577

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

CRUDE REALITY: PRICE CRASH

MEANS OIL FIRMS MUST SLASH

SPENDING

Confronted with a dizzying drop in prices, oil firms face a real challenge as they try to cut in-vestment spending in order to survive a corona-virus-induced collapse in demand coupled with a Russia-Saudi Arabia price war.

Investment in oil exploration and production was set to hit just over half a trillion dollars this year according to the French research body IFPEN, as firms sought to maintain and expand output.

But the emergence of the coronavirus, which has seen nations across the world confine citizens at home and shutter businesses to slow its spread, has upended all forecasts.

Source:https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/crude-reality-price-crash-means-oil-firms-must-slash-spending-188450566

Bangladesh: Economy March 23, 2020

This photo from May 1969

shows people scrambling

to catch the fish with their

bare hands, as the

California law required.

PHOTO OF THE DAY FROM ‘SAM-SUCK’ TO APPLE RI-

VAL: THE SAMSUNG TRANSFOR-

MATION

6Military-style management and an unquestioning reverence for the founding Lee family have fuelled Samsung's transition from the world's most ridiculed phonemaker to its biggest, says the author of a new book.

Today Samsung -- by far South Korea's most powerful conglomerate with more than 50 affili-ates from electronics and insurance to hotels and apartments -- is a larger smartphone manufactur-er than Apple, and at the same time a key supplier to its great rival.

Source:https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/sam-suck-apple-rival-the-samsung-transformation-1884529

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