Bangladesh: Govt under pressure to inject bailout funds into SoBs

The government is under pressure to inject fresh funds into the state-owned banks and to bail them out of the capital crunch spawned by a recent series of financial scams, officials said.

The state-owned banks, including the country’s largest commercial bank Sonali, have already sought fresh funds, after the little-known Hallmark Group had embezzled around Tk 3,600 crore from a Sonali Bank branch allegedly by the blessings of certain ruling alliance quarters, they said.

Fund crisis at Sonali Bank has been so acute that it could not provide a loan to Biman Bangladesh Airlines for procuring new aircraft late last year.

The government was forced to arrange the loan from the Sonali Bank incorporated in the UK. 

Economists have already called on the government to inject fresh capital into the beleaguered SoBs to revive them.

They, however, suggested that the government should maintain certain criteria in injecting fresh funds and enhance monitoring to prevent any misappropriation of funds in the future.

 The International Monetary Fund has echoed the economists, saying the government should inject fresh capital into the SoBs to bail them out of the crisis, officials said.

‘Recapitalise the state-owned banks in FY14,’ said the multilateral lending agency in a letter to the government, following the visit of an IMF delegation to Dhaka early this month.

The IMF also advised the government to formulate a strategy for strengthening the SoBs, including Sonali and BASIC Bank, after making a ‘special diagnosis’ by next June.

The IMF team visited here to assess the overall economic situation in the outgoing fiscal year in line with its Extended Credit Facility deal with the government.

The team members said recapitalisation of the SoBs should aim at covering the fund shortage being faced by them.

The SoBs have landed in a serious fund constraint after being swindled by certain vested quarters, they observed.

The fund embezzlement by Hallmark Group from Sonali Bank Ruposhi Bangla Branch early last year can be described as the single biggest financial fraud in the country’s history.

Finance minister AMA Muhith on February 26 told parliament that eight state-owned specialised and private commercial banks had a total capital deficit of Tk 7,149.56 crore as of September 30, 2012.

Officials said the situation deteriorated further as the Bangladesh Bank unearthed unreported defaulted loans to the tune of Tk 4,359.11 crore in the four state-owned commercial banks – Sonali, Janata, Agrani, and Rupali.

Former Bangladesh Bank governor Saleh Uddin Ahmed said the state-owned banks were facing capital shortfall due to unprecedented loan scams.

‘Loan disbursement on political considerations and lack of monitoring by the authorities concerned are mainly blamed for the situation,’ he said.

Former caretaker government adviser Mirza Azizul Islam said the law should be changed to stop political interference in bank operations.

He said the masterminds behind the Hallmark Group scam and the Sonali Bank officials involved in it should be brought to justice.

Officials said the IMF suggested the government should set aside a bank recapitalisation fund in the new budget to be announced early June.

The IMF also has asked the government to chalk out a new strategy for running the SoBs. It wanted the government to sign a revised memorandum of understanding on the SoBs by this month. The IMF said the government should make a ‘special diagnosis’ of the SoBs by a special wing under the central bank.

The IMF has made a commitment to provide the government with around $1 billion in seven instalments under the ECF. It has already disbursed two instalments in the past one year, after the government complied with some major conditions. (Source)

Bangladesh: Consumers reel under frequent power outages

Overloaded transformers are causing frequent power outages, particularly in rural areas, as nearly 14.5 per cent transformers in the country are forced to operate beyond their supply capacity.

Nearly one lakh of the 6.43 lakh transformers of three power utilities are running overloaded as the number of power connections provided is far more than their capacity allows, said a Power Division report.

Overloading of transformers joined with a huge supply shortfall have resulted in a sharp rise in both frequency and duration of power outages, causing immense sufferings for the consumers amid the scorching heat of this time of year as well as interrupting boro irrigation in rural areas, a Power Division official told New Age.

To compensate for the interruptions in irrigation, the Power Division on April 11 decided to extend the time approved for boro irrigation by two hours. According to the new decision, farmers are now allowed to run electric water pumps from 10:00pm to 8:00am a day instead of the previous time slot from 11:00pm to 7:00am.

Rural clients of Palli Bidyut Samitis under the Rural Electrification Board are suffering the most due to overloading of transformers as 91,731 of approximately 6.27 lakh transformers of the samitis, or rural power associations, are running overloaded.

Rural consumers face power outage up to 15 times a day, said an REB official.

The pace of increasing the capacity of their power supply system has been slower than that at which the samities have been providing new power connections, he said.

The REB, however, had promised the consumers to raise the capacities of overloaded transformers ahead of the boro irrigation season comprising December and January.

REB chairman Moin Uddin could not be reached over telephone for his comments on the problem.

Dhaka Power Distribution Company has 1,015 of its 10,565 transformers overloaded while West Zone Power Distribution Company has 232 of its 5,563 transformers in the same state.

Power Development Board and Dhaka Electric Supply Company had not provided the power ministry with the number of transformers suffering from overloading till March, a Power Division official told New Age.

‘In most cases, power utilities are forced to provide new power connections to consumers beyond their distribution capacity due to political pressure,’ he said.

A major task of a power utility is to give electricity connections to consumers. But by providing power connections on political pressure before augmenting the distribution capacity the utilities have become enmeshed in an acute transformer overloading problem, alleged officials at the utilities.

Power distribution agencies are forced to suspend supply to one or more 11 kilo volt feeders, when a power transformer gets overloaded during the peak hours.

When a feeder becomes overloaded, the authorities have to impose a blackout in the area concerned as the demand for power then climbs above the feeder’s capacity. (Source)

Bangladesh: 7-year jail for cheating foreign job seekers

The cabinet on Monday approved in principle the draft Overseas Employment and Migrant Workers Bill 2013 stipulating a maximum punishment of seven years jail and Tk one lakh in fine for irregularities in visa trading in sending workers abroad.

The Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment placed the draft bill at the weekly cabinet meeting chaired by prime minister Sheikh Hasina at the Secretariat.

Officials later said that the draft bill was prepared in the wake of rampant incidents of fraudulence and harassments experienced by workers seeking employment abroad.  

The draft bill proposes to repeal the 1982 Immigration Ordinance.

The new bill seeks to introduce stringent punishments for the recruitment agencies for cheating the workers seeking overseas jobs, additional cabinet division secretary Murtaza Ahmed later told reporters. 

It would, following enactment, ensure rights and welfare of these workers, he said.

The new bill stipulates five years’ imprisonment and Tk one lakh in fine for cheating workers aspiring to get jobs abroad or those working in other countries, he added. 

It would enable the cheated workers to go to courts to seek redress, he said.

The proposed law would specify the offences in the schedule of the Mobile Court Act 2009, Murtaza said.

He said that the existing law empowers a magistrate to fine an offender a maximum fine of Tk 10,000.

The proposed law stipulates a wide range of punishments and a maximum fine of Tk one lakh for the offences against overseas job seekers, he said.

It would require the courts to dispose of the cases filed by the aspiring overseas job seekers or those working abroad within four months of charge framing, he said.

The courts would have to record a reasonable ground for the failure to dispose of cases within the stipulated time or for seeking extra time, states the draft bill.

Murtaza said the main objectives of the proposed law were to make the recruitment agencies accountable and transparent and ensure the rights and welfare of these workers. 

The draft law contains 61 clauses under seven sections.

The cabinet also gave final approval to the draft Bangla Academy Bill 2013 to bring the activities of the institution under a legal framework. 

The existing law, ‘The Bengali Academy Ordinance 1978’, which was amended in 1983, is in English and the proposed law would be in Bangla, he said.

He said the responsibilities of Bangla Academy include standardization of spelling method of Bangla language, taking advices from experts in important academic matters and inviting foreign writers and researchers for the development of the language.

The cabinet endorsed in principle the draft Bangla Academy Bill on December 31, 2012, he said. (Source)

Washington to renew pressure on Dhaka for signing TICFA

Washington is likely to renew its pressure on Dhaka for signing the Trade and Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement and for improving labour rights in the apparel sector when the two sides meet here in May.

Foreign ministry officials said engagement between the two sides called the second round of ‘Bangladesh-USA Partnership Dialogue’ is scheduled to take place on May 27-28 in the capital.

Foreign secretary Shahidul Haque will lead the home side while the visiting delegation will be led by US undersecretary of state for political affairs Wendy Sherman.

The officials said Dhaka has long been pressurised by Washington for signing the TICFA.

More than half a dozen negotiations have been held in last four years between the two sides on the proposed deal. But the differences on immediate elimination of child labour from all sectors and allowing trade union at factories could not be sorted out.

Dhaka prefers more talks and wanted implementation of the conditions in phases, but Washington wanted signing of the deal immediately. 

The ministry of foreign affairs has already asked the government agencies including the ministry of commerce, ministry of industries and ministry of labour to send their opinions on TICFA and labour issues by April 4.

Bangladesh will also discuss with US on outcome of the hearing Dhaka would give before the United States Trade Representative on labour rights.

A 15-member team headed by commerce secretary Mahbub Ahmed left the capital on Monday to take part in the hearing to be held on March 28. 

The USTR in last January threatened that it would withdraw GSP, a special facility, for Bangladeshi products while they enter into US market.

It threatened after observing that the government’s action to nab the killers of Aminul Islam, a popular labour leader, was not convincing.

Meanwhile, the government has taken a series of measures including declaring a bounty of Tk one lakh for capturing Mustafizur Rahman, the prime suspect for killing Aminul.

Bangladesh and the US signed an agreement in May last year under which both the countries decided to hold discussions between them to strengthen bilateral relations.  

The first dialogue took place in September last year in Washington. (Source)

Bangladesh tornado kills 20

At least 20 people were killed and over 200 others injured as a tornado tore through three upazilas in Brahmanbaria yesterday evening.

The twister left a trail of destruction in 20 villages of Brahmanbaria sadar, Bijoynagar and Akhaura upazilas.

Rain and hail accompanied the tornado, which razed over 150 houses in 15 minutes beginning around 5:30pm, said locals.

The control room at the office Brahmanbaria superintendent of police told The Daily Star the death toll was 20 as of 12:30am today.

Comilla-Sylhet highway remained closed, as uprooted trees and wrecked vehicles littered the road.

Md Mohsin Bhuiyan, who is in charge of Akhaura Railway Junction locomotive shed, said rail communications between the capital and three districts — Chittagong, Sylhet and Noakhali — were suspended, as tracks were blocked by trees felled by the fierce storm.

At least five people were killed in Brahmanbaria sadar upazila, five more in Akhaura upazila, and three on Comilla-Sylhet highway when trees collapsed on vehicles and some vehicles lost control and crashed during the storm.

Dolly Rani, 30, of Patirhata village and Sumi Akhter, 10, and Joynal Mia, 32, of Jarultola village, Abu Taher Miah, 60, of Mohammadpur village, and Janu Chowdhury, 52, of Chinair of sadar upazila, and Lovely Akhter, 35, of Pattan union in Bijoynagar upazila were among the dead.

A wall of Brahmanbaria jail partially collapsed when the tornado hit. Jail keeper Masudur Rahman, 25, was killed on impact.

The identities of the rest of the deceased could not be known immediately.

Most of the injured were rushed to the 250-bed Brahmanbaria Sadar Hospital.

Doctor Abu Sayed of the hospital said several unidentified bodies were in the morgue.

The deputy commissioner of the district said five people had died in Brahmanbaria Sadar Hospital alone. He promised Tk 20,000 for the families of those killed, and Tk 5,000, one bundle of corrugated iron sheets and 20kg of rice for those injured as immediate relief.

Sources said eager-to-help locals closed TA Road of the district town for all traffic to allow smooth passage of the injured to the hospital.

Upazila Health Officer Shah Alam of Akhaura upazila health complex said they had five deaths at the healthcare centre.

Storm survivor Nizam of Gaingahata village said, “It came out of nowhere and destroyed everything … nothing is left. It struck with rain and hail. We found ourselves rolling in the mud moments later.”

The worst affected villages were Ghatiara, Chandpur, Paghachang, Bhatshala, Sultanpur, Senda, Shilaour, Urshiura, Gaingah, Ujnishar, Jibantula, Chinair, and Gaingahata of Brahmanbaria, and Merashani of Bijoynagar, and Azampur of Akhaura.

The tornado hit an area of the district where the three upazilas share borders with each other.

Border Guard Bangladesh 12 Battalion commanding officer Lt Col Maksudul Alam said nine BGB teams including a medical team had been deployed in the affected areas and an army team was on standby.

Meanwhile, Fire Service and Civil Defence officials said around 50 firemen from five stations were engaged in the rescue efforts and clearing the roads of debris. (Source)