BANGLADESH

The Dhaka Stock Exchange benchmark index opened Tuesday's trade with a surge as it gained 39.11 points bagging a Tk 774.08-million turnover within half an hour.

The DSE General Index reached 4506.89 points gaining 0.87 percent at 11am on the week's third business day.

Of the traded issues so far, prices of 163 advanced, 18 declined and 11 remained at their opening prices.

Bangladesh's premiere bourse had opened the week lower shedding 30 points in its key index.

Over the previous week, the DGEN shed 164 points or 3.53 percent. The average daily turnover was Tk 8.51 billion. In the week before, the key index fell by 36 points.

The central bank is buying US dollars from the market to keep the expatriates interested in remitting money back home.

Bangladesh Bank on Monday bought $50 million.

"We are buying dollars from the market to prevent fall in its price against taka," General Manager of the bank's Foreign Exchange Reserve and Treasury Management Department Kazi Saidur Rahman told bdnews24.com.

The inter-bank exchange rate for the greenback was Tk 81.25 on Monday which was Tk 81.80 a fortnight ago.

The foreign exchange reserves with the central bank on Monday reached a new record of $11.65 billion.

The expatriates remitted $593 million in the first 12 days of October, setting another record. They are remitting more money to foot the Eid-ul-Azha bill, Saidur Rahman said.

According to him, the forex reserve was $11.53 billion on Thursday. Bangladesh received $203 million in the first five days of October and $390 million in the next seven days (Sep 6 to 12), he said.

Rahman hoped the remittance in October would be the highest for a month.

In the first week of September, just before paying import bills of Asian Clearing Union (ACU), the reserves stood at $11.46 billion.

A top official of the central bank, requesting anonymity, told bdnews24.com that the reserves would go further up once the International Monetary Fund clears $150 million in the second tranche of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) next month.

According to Bangladesh Bank, the first three months (July-September) of the current fiscal year saw expatriates remit $3.5517 billion, nearly 20 percent higher than $2.9687 billion they had in the same period last fiscal year.

Last year, Bangladesh had received $1.0115 billion in July, $1.1018 billion in August and $850.5 million in September.

In January this year, it received $1.2214 billion remittance, which was also a record for a single month.

The World Bank's external panel on Monday asked the Anti-Corruption Commission for some documents.

Commissioner M Shahabuddin told reporters the touring delegates of the global lending agency requisitioned for the papers in the second meeting with them.

"They have some requirements and we will supply them with the papers," M Shahabuddin said after a meeting with the panel at the ACC headquarters.

The three-strong panel led by former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno Ocampo arrived in Dhaka early Sunday.

The two other panel members are Timothy Tong, former Commissioner of the Independent Commission against Corruption in Hong Kong, and the former director of the UK Serious Fraud Office, Richard Alderman.

The Commission will again meet with the panel in December or January, Shahabuddin said. The commissioner added the panel did not say when they would submit their report, nor did they hand any list to the ACC

"They also have some suggestions and we also have some. We will assist each other by exchanging those," he added.

ACC lawyer Anisul Haq said the panel was reviewing the information already given by the commission. "They inquired about anticorruption laws and which activities are considered as corruption," he added.

The lawyer categorically said the panel was yet to hand over any documents to the commission.

In the meeting, ACC chairman Ghulam Rahman and WB Country Director for Bangladesh Ellen Goldstein were present.

Earlier on Sunday after the first meeting, Chairman Rahman said the World Bank had agreed that Bangladesh's laws and rules will be followed in investigating alleged corruption in the Padma bridge project and handing down punishment to the guilty.

The fate of the $2.9 billion project now depends on the panel's findings, as the report will decide whether the largest financier in the project will return with its $1.2 billion promised fund.

The World Bank on June 29 had cancelled its pledged fund, claiming to have found 'credible evidence' of high-level corruption by government officials, SNC-Lavalin executives and private individuals for the project. But the government refuted the allegations.

Amid the government's persuasion, the Bank announced revival of the agreement on Sep 20 but said the final decision would be taken based on its enquiry supervision panel's report.

The Bank's graft probe panel is assigned to supervise the anti-graft watchdog's current investigation into the corruption allegations from outside as per the condition set by the bank.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim on Saturday expressed his hopes that the lender's review panel will ensure transparent investigation into the alleged corruption in the project.

Bangladesh had signed a loan agreement with Washington-based lender, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency last year to construct the six-kilometre long bridge, biggest ever infrastructure project in Bangladesh.

After the World Bank decided to cancel funding for the project, former Communication Minister Syed Abul Hossain resigned and the Bridges Division Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan was sent on leave, as part of an understanding with the global lending agency.

Besides these moves, the government also agreed to allow the ACC to supervise the investigation into the alleged corruption later.