Bangladesh Bank has instructed banks to keep a minimum LC margin (cash advance) for importing rice and wheat, in order to keep their market prices at a tolerable level. Banking regulation and policy department of Bangladesh Bank issued a circular in this regard – with immediate effect – today and sent it to top executives of all banks. Read more: Bangladesh Bank allows LCs to import commodities for Ramadan The circular instructed that banks should kept LC margin at the minimum level, depending on the bank-client relationship. “Rice, wheat and crops prices are seeing an upward trend, owing to the disruption in the global supply chain caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. As a result, the transport cost of global commodities has gone up, affecting prices in the local market,” the central bank circular added. Read more: Bangladesh wants to buy sugar, wheat, soybean oil from Brazil To keep the import and supply channel smooth for rice and wheat, Bangladesh Bank asked banks to keep a minimum LC margin. The central bank also directed banks to take a minimum cash advance from importers while opening LCs for a number of essential commodities in order to keep their prices at a tolerable level during Ramadan. The demand for edible oil, lentils, onion, spices and dates usually goes up during Ramadan. As a result, the prices of the items also increase.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem has called upon the United Kingdom to be the voice and conscience of the most vulnerable countries including the LDCs, SIDs and countries with special needs, and ensure equitable and affordable access to vaccines and therapeutics manufactured by the UK and other developed countries. 

The first freight train loaded with onions was handed over by Indian Railway  to Bangladesh Railway authorities at Gede (India) - Darsana (Bangladesh) interchange point on Saturday.   After customs clearance, the train consisting of 42 covered wagons containing onions will be placed in a suitable rail terminal of Bangladesh Railway for unloading.   In the wake of the global supply chain disruptions due to coronavirus, bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh has also got disrupted to some extent.    To ensure the supply of essential commodities to Bangladesh, measures have been taken to transport the essential commodities through the existing Rail Links between India and Bangladesh, said the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.    There are several trains carrying essentials in the pipeline and these freight trains will be handed over to Bangladesh Railway using the four functioning rail links such as Gede(India)- Darsana (Bangladesh), Petrapole (India)- Benapole (Bangladesh), Singhabad (India)-Rohanpur (Bangladesh) and Radhikapur (India)-Birol(Bangladesh).

The longer than expected shutdowns of Chinese factories because of the coronavirus outbreak are having a big impact on the world’s second largest economy and the global supply chain.

The outbreak of coronavirus in China’s Hubei province is disrupting shipping services and export-import activities, sending reverberating effects throughout the markets.