Wednesday World Business News

Tourism takes root in Eid
Sayeda Akter
Guesthouses and hotels in tourist spots have almost been booked out due to pressure from local tourists seeking to spend long Eid holidays with their loved ones.

 
3 mobile operators get extra spectrum
Star Business Report
The telecom regulator yesterday allocated 17.5 MHz additional spectrum to three top mobile operators at a cost of Tk 80 crore per MHz. 

 
BB set to make bank services less costly
Rejaul Karim Byron And Sajjadur Rahman
Customers will be able to take balance confirmation certificates from banks for free twice a year, according to a decision of Bangladesh Bank (BB).

 
Finance adviser sees no effect of US recession on local economy
Supports power tariff hike move
Unb, Dhaka
Finance and Planning Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday said the country's economy, having no major stress at present, is unlikely to be affected largely due to the near recession in the United States and elsewhere.

 
Govt moves to amend law to stop sales of toxic milk
Star Business Report
The government yesterday took a move to amend the breast milk substitute regulation of marketing ordinance to prevent sales of health hazardous contaminated milk in the local market.

 
Banking
Crisis slams European banks
Belgian-French bank Dexia is the latest in line after Fortis and Bradford & Bingley
Afp, New York
A 700-billion-dollar deal to save the US economy awaited approval Monday but the global crisis swept on regardless, hitting European banks, slamming stocks and freezing money markets.

 
Eid
Afghan tailors race against the clock
Afp, Kabul
Mobin Frough's eyes are red and bleary.

 
BSTI resumes special drive against adulteration
Unb, Dhaka
Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution (BSTI) is set to kick off a special drive across the country to check the sales of adulterated food and other commodities that caused serious public health concern.

 
Citigroup to take over Wachovia banking assets
Afp, Washington
Citigroup yesterday agreed to a takeover of Wachovia Bank in a deal backed by regulators and which gives the government a stake in one of the nation's biggest banks.

 
Asian stocks tumble despite US bailout deal
Afp, Hong Kong
Asian stocks tumbled Monday despite a deal being reached in Washington on a massive bailout plan for the US finance market and as the global credit crisis spread to Europe.

 
India's SMEs to contribute to GDP's 22pc
Ann/The Statesman
With the improvement in technology, India's small and medium enterprises' contribution to the GDP of the country is likely to go up by at least 5 per cent and touch 22 per cent by 2012, a study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) has said.

 
$540m ejected from Pak market in only 3 months
Ann/The Nation
Foreign investors have ejected US$540 million from the Pakistani stock market in only three months from July to September amid prolonged political uncertainty, burgeoning insecurity in the tribal belt of the country coupled with global and local economic slowdown.

 
Oil prices slide on demand fears
Afp, London
Oil prices sank on Monday amid persistent worries about long-term global energy demand, as traders feared that the tentative US bailout deal would fail to boost slowing global economic growth.

 
Dollar jumps against euro before US bailout vote
Afp, London
The dollar shot up against the euro and also rose versus the yen on Monday as US lawmakers prepared to vote on whether to rubber-stamp a 700-billion-dollar bailout of stricken Wall Street banks.

 
International Business News
KfW managers fired for payment to bankrupt Lehman Brothers
Afp, Frankfurt
The German public bank KfW said Monday it had fired two directors who were suspended after the bank transferred more than 300 million euros (434 million dollars) to Lehman Brothers after it filed for bankruptcy.

 
International Business News
Japan faces 'uncertainty' from financial crisis: BoJ
Afp, Tokyo
Japan will likely avoid a deep slump from the global credit crisis but faces "considerable uncertainty" and downside risks to growth, a top central bank official said Monday.

 
International Business News
Wal-Mart subsidiary in Japan to close stores
Afp, Tokyo
Japanese supermarket chain Seiyu, a subsidiary of US retail giant Wal-Mart Stores, said Monday it will close 20 stores in a bid to turn a profit after six straight annual losses.

 
International Business News
Vietnam GDP growth at 6.5pc
Afp, Hanoi
Vietnam's economy grew 6.5 percent in the first nine months of the year, lower than its target rate but still "encouraging" in the "context of a deteriorating world economy", the government said Monday.