BANGLADESH

Less foreign aid has been released than usual in the ongoing 2011-2 fiscal year and it put pressure on supply of foreign currency, the finance minister told parliament on Wednesday.

And the shortage of foreign currency in the market resulted in depreciation of taka, AMA Muhith said, responding to a question of AL MP Mohibur Rahman Manik.

"The net foreign aid in the first five months of 2011-12 fiscal was only $68.9 million which was $322.7 million in the same period of the last fiscal."

The letter of credit settlement amount during July-Jan period of the current fiscal stood at $20.6 billion while export receipts was $11.77 billion and remittance inflow $7.28 billion, Muhith added.


LIQUIDITY PRESSURE

Steps have been taken to reduce pressure on liquidity by using different instruments including repo, reserve repo and liquidity support, the finance minister told MPs.

In reply to a question of treasury bench colleague Jafrul Islam Chowdhury, he said call rate is now less than 20 per cent and in future, it is likely to come down to a reasonable level.


WIDER TAX NET

The minister said the government has taken steps to widen the scope for levying value added tax and supplementary duty.

In reply to a question of Jatiya Party legislator Salma Islam, he said digitalisation at the revenue department is going on and by 2016 customs, VAT and income tax departments would be modernised.

In reply to another question AL lawmaker Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin, the minister said the Modernisation of VAT Environment project has been undertaken.

"Under the project VAT return can be submitted online," he said.

SOE DEBTS

The minister said until November last year, state-owned enterprises (SoEs) had a total of Tk 316 billion in dues.

In reply to a question of Jatiya Party lawmaker Nasrin Jahan Ratna, Muhith said Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation owed Tk 163 billion followed by Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation with Tk 53 billion.

CITY BANK ANOMALIES

Employees at the City Bank can lodge complaints with the central bank if there is any anomaly in promotion or discrimination in salary packages, the minister said.

Mostaque Ahmed Ruhi in a question asked the minister whether the allegation about promotion and salary discrimination in the bank is true. In reply, Muhith said City Bank is a private commercial bank and it has its own guidelines on appointment, salary package, promotion and transfer.

"If there is any anomaly in promotion, salary discrimination or yearly increment, the aggrieved employees can lodge complaints with the board of directors of the bank and if they don't get any solution, they can take turn to the central bank."

"If the allegation is proved, the central bank will take necessary action," Muhith said.