Ahsan Habib

National Bank Ltd (NBL) that raked in Tk 550 crore in annual profit a few years ago incurred unprecedented losses of Tk 357 crore in January-September of 2022 due to lower interest incomes and higher non-performing loans.  

Businesses in Bangladesh went through a tough time in recent months due to a dearer US dollar that pushed up their costs of raw materials and a rocketing fuel bill that contributed to the surge in operating expenses. 

Most state-run listed power and energy companies secured higher profits year-on-year during the July to September period while ripple effects of the Russia-Ukraine war, including skyrocketing energy prices, had been turning lives of the masses topsy-turvy. 

Sinobangla Industries had not secured exorbitant profits that could have supported a high jump in its share price.  

Most of the drug makers in Bangladesh posted lower profits in the January to June period of 2022 owing to the higher cost of raw materials driven by a continuous fall of the local currency against the US dollar. 

The involvement of listed and non-listed companies in the manipulation of stocks is growing, an ominous sign for a market already facing a confidence crisis.     

The government should stop fund wastage in the energy sector and eventually phase out subsidies, which have created pressure on the public coffer, according to economists and entrepreneurs.

Though Bangladesh has made stellar progress in many economic indicators in the past one decade, entrepreneurs, industrialists and the entire business sector still rely on the banking sector for financing. 

The exit process for 29 low-performing companies whose shares are traded on the over-the-counter market of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) has begun.  

The Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA), the sole regulatory body for insurance companies in Bangladesh, has identified nine issues that are impeding growth in the country’s non-life insurance sector.

Over half of the life insurance companies in Bangladesh exceeded their allowable management expense in 2021, putting a negative impact on life funds and eroding their capacity to settle claims.

The claim settlement ratio of life insurance companies in Bangladesh plunged to its lowest level at least in a decade in 2021 as their capacity to pay out has been reduced by bad investment, excessive costs and business slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Anwar Hossen, who holds an MBA, works for a private firm and draws a monthly salary of more than Tk 60,000. But he has not purchased any life insurance policy although private sector employees in Bangladesh are not entitled to any pension support and his four-member family will be in trouble if he faces any untimely death. 

International Finance Corporation (IFC) wants to issue taka denominated bonds worth $4 billion, either through public issuance or private placement, among local investors to lend the proceeds to projects in Bangladesh. 

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has found that three investors and their associates made gains of around Tk 12 crore by manipulating stocks of Provati Insurance in 2020.

Stocks in Bangladesh suffered a steep fall yesterday as worries about a slowdown in the economy deepened among investors amid continued stress in the forex market, the decline in export and remittance, higher inflation, and the escalating war in Ukraine.

Trading of government securities is going to start on the stock exchanges from Monday in a bid to make general investors accustomed to dealing with these treasury bonds and bills. 

Five listed companies that have an accumulated loss of at least Tk 500 crore each saw their share price rise sharply in the past three months, whereas the stocks of the top profit-makers fell.  

Financial wellness platform Wagely Bangladesh this week hosted its sixth “wagely day” on the premises of garment manufacturer SQ Group. 

Stocks of Orion Infusion soared more than five times in recent months despite having low earnings per share and repeated warnings from the company that it has no undisclosed information that could have spurred such an abnormal rise.