Ahead of the holy Eid-ul-Fitr, the price of gold in the country's market has increased yet again. The new price of 22 carat gold per bhari (11.664 grams) has been fixed at Tk. 1 lakh 17 thousand 573. This is the highest price of gold in the history of the country. The previous price of this quality gold was Tk. 1 lakh 15 thousand 823 taka.

Bangladesh Jewelers Association (BAJUS) announced the new prices in a press release on Monday (April 8). These prices will be effective from tomorrow, Tuesday (April 9).

According to the notification, the price of acid gold (pure gold) has increased in the local market. As a result, the new price of gold has been fixed considering the overall situation.

According to the new price, the price of 22 carat gold per bari (11.664 grams) will be Tk. 1 lakh 17 thousand 573. Apart from this, the price of gold has been set at Tk. 1 lakh 12 thousand 208 per bhari, 21 carat, Tk. 96 thousand 228 per bhari, 18 carat and Tk. 80 thousand 190 per bhari traditional method.

Earlier, on April 6, Bajus had fixed the price of one bhari of best quality 22 carat gold by Tk. 1,750 to Tk. 1,15,824. And the price of 21 carat gold is Tk. 1 lakh 10 thousand 575 per bhari, 18 carat gold is Tk. 94 thousand 770 taka and the price of traditional gold is Tk. 78 thousand 965 which came into force from 7th April.

Bajus adjusted the gold price 7 times this year. And in 2023, the price was adjusted 29 times.

The existing officers and employees of the transferee bank-company or finance company shall not be retrenched by the transferee bank-company before completion of 3 years. However, after 3 years, the reorganized or transferee bank-company can take appropriate decisions after evaluating the performance of the said officers-employees.

These things have been said in the bank and financial institution merger policy issued by Bangladesh Bank on Thursday (March 4).

According to the policy, the Managing Director, Additional Managing Director and Deputy Managing Director of the defunct bank/finance company cannot be held in any position in the merged bank-company.

The board of directors of the merged bank-company may appoint any officer of the post of managing director, additional managing director and deputy managing director of the defunct company on a new contractual basis if it deems fit. However, if the transferring bank/finance company is a government-owned institution, then the government can retain/transfer the managing director, additional managing director and deputy managing director of the concerned bank/finance company to its other bank/financial institution.

Bangladesh Bank has informed that after the merger, no incumbent director of the transferee bank/finance company can be appointed as a director on the board of directors of the transferee bank-company. However, after the lapse of 5 years, the shareholders of the transferor bank in proportion to their shareholding, subject to the requisite qualifications and suitability may be included as directors on the board.

Further, in the case of those who were in charge as directors at the time of amalgamation, after 5 years as one of the qualifications for becoming a director, the condition of regular retention of those directors in the loan/investment bank/financial institution without any rescheduling/reorganization must be fulfilled within the period of 5 years.

According to the policy, the transferee bank/finance company shall generally give priority to the payment of deposits of the transferee bank/finance company to the payment of individual depositors or the activation of their accounts and banking transactions.

In the case of payment of institutional depositors, if a payment action plan is sent for the approval of Bangladesh Bank for the purpose of full payment at a specified time, Bangladesh Bank shall give approval to the proposed plan, with or without necessary modifications, for the trial implementation of the said action plan.

CPD's Distinguished Fellow Professor Dr. Mustafizur Rahman said, the rate at which the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is increasing in Bangladesh, the foreign debt position is increasing at a much higher rate.

He commented that if this situation continues, the ability to repay the foreign debt will decrease as well as the opportunity to get new loans will decrease due to the decrease in credit quality.

CPD (Center for Policy Dialogue) organized a roundtable titled 'Bangladesh's External Public Borrowings and Debt Servicing Capacity and their Reasons for Concern?' at the Westin Hotel in Gulshan, Dhaka, on Thursday (April 4) at 11 am.

In this meeting, the Prime Minister's economic adviser Moshiur Rahman, distinguished fellow of CPD Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya, economists, experts and private sector entrepreneurs spoke.

CDP Distinguished Fellow Professor Dr. Mustafizur Rahman said, to deal with the dependence on foreign loans and the pressure of debt repayment, emphasis should be placed on domestic resource collection.

In this context, he said, in the last few five-year plans, big targets have been set for collection of taxes and revenue against GDP, but they have not been met. If this situation continues, new loans will have to be taken to repay the interest and principal of foreign loans.

This economist also urged to speed up the implementation of projects to reduce debt pressure.

He said more foreign financial aid is currently in the pipeline. But as the speed of payment is delayed, the tax burden on the people of the country will increase. Besides, the speed of project implementation will decrease further.

He advised to use the opportunity to take more 'concessional' (flexible) loans to make the implementation of the project profitable with foreign loans.

Dr. Mustafizur Rahman said, earlier, ERD was very strict in the case of 'non-concessional' (inflexible) loans. In the case of such loans, communication was done cautiously. This is no longer the case.

He said several sources of flexible loans have emerged, including the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank. All these sources should be used to increase the adoption of flexible loans.

Advising on being stricter in determining projects, lenders and conditions in foreign loans, he said, OCD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) has prepared a term sheet in all these matters. It has been said, which project should go to which donor, which project should take loan under which conditions.

In this regard, he also said that in order to avoid such problems, the International Monetary Fund should be increased at the rate of 0.5 percent every year in addition to the increase in domestic resource accumulation.

However, he also commented that there is no effective initiative to fulfill this goal.

Ban on foreign travel of willful defaulters, ban on trade license issue, ban on company registration with Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission, Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms are coming. They will not receive any state award or honor.

Bangladesh Bank issued a circular on Wednesday (April 3) ordering the establishment of a willful defaulter identification unit.

In the circular sent to the managing director/chief executive officer of all financial institutions operating in the country, it is said that Bangladesh Bank can send the list of willful defaulting borrowers to the various organizations concerned against willful defaulters and ban their travel abroad, ban on trade license issue, Bangladesh Securities and If requested by the Exchange Commission, Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms to take necessary measures to impose restrictions on company registration, the concerned agencies of the government will take necessary measures to fulfill the purpose of the law; A willful defaulter shall not be eligible for any State award or honor. The list of willful defaulting borrowers will be sent by Bangladesh Bank to the registration authorities of vehicles, land, houses, flats etc. In this case concerned authorities can take appropriate action under their existing laws/rules.

According to the circular, if a borrower is listed as a willful defaulter by a finance company or a bank company, in that case, the concerned borrower will not be eligible to become a director of a finance company or bank company until five years have passed after the borrower is exempted from the said list by repaying the loan. can't; If a director of a finance company or bank company is listed as a willful defaulter, his directorship will be declared vacant under the Finance Companies Act; If a person or institution is finally listed as a willful defaulting borrower and if no appeal is filed against the said listing or if the appeal is rejected by Bangladesh Bank, the concerned finance company will issue a notice to the borrower giving 2 months time to repay the full amount due to him. If the willful defaulting borrower fails to pay the amount due to him within 2 months of receiving the notice, the concerned finance company will file a criminal case against the said borrower with the approval of the board of directors.

Notwithstanding the filing of such a criminal case, the proceedings of the Money Debt Court shall not be interrupted in respect of the recovery of the related debt or advance or due; Report on willful defaulting borrowers should be presented quarterly in the Audit Committee meeting of the Finance Company. The audit committee will inform the next board meeting considering the importance of the report and related issues. In the regular or special internal audit report conducted by the finance company, the willful defaulting borrowers should be included in a separate paragraph with review and disclosed in the audited financial report.

Any interest charged or uncharged against the respective loan account of the willful defaulting borrower shall not be waived and the said account shall not be rescheduled; If a defaulting borrower is finalized as a willful defaulting borrower, the customer's loan account cannot be transferred by any other finance company or bank. The concerned borrower shall be treated as a willful defaulter until the loan taken by the willful defaulting borrower is fully recovered.