The finance ministry has asked the civil aviation and tourism ministry to examine the possibilities of offloading 49 per cent of the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel shares to meet the renovation expenses of the five star hotel.
The Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MoPEMR) has placed a proposal to the Ministry of Finance for approval of Islamic Development Bank (IDB) supported US$1.2billion soft loan to procure nearly 30 lakh tons of petroleum products this year.
The finance ministry has decided to immediately release Tk 291 crore from the Tk 700 crore climate change fund for the Climate Change and Risk Management Trust and to implement five other projects to tackle the impact of the climate change in the country, official sources said.
The government has created a new outfit of the Finance Ministry titled 'Bank and Financial Division' for further devolution of the vital ministry's function. Now the number of divisions under the ministry stands at four with the creation of the new one. The other three divisions are Finance Division, Internal Resources Division and Economic Relations Division. As planned, the new division is likely to be manned by 82 officials and employees.
A cabinet division meeting has approved a ministry of finance proposal to establish a separate banking division to be headed by a secretary. This approval was given Monday at the meeting of the secretary-committee on administrative affairs, presided over by cabinet secretary Md Abdul Aziz.
The government is likely to announce an additional recession package of Tk 2,000 crore within this month to promote different sectors suffering from the global meltdown. Finance ministry sources say they are considering allocating the money to the new areas like product diversification, ship building, frozen food and apparel sector.
Finance minister AMA Muhith has turned down the proposal for restoring the banking division in the finance ministry as the number of the government-run banks has diminished in the last few years and the ministry does not need to have much of a say in their affairs and operation, said officials.
The finance ministry is against the release of a single paisa from the proposed incentive package at the present moment, saying that additional financial assistance is not essential for the garment exporters.
The finance ministry has again turned down a home ministry proposal for formation of an industrial police force, saying that continued use of Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Party (VDP) or strengthening of local police stations will suffice.
The Finance Ministry has prepared a list of activities to monitor the budget implementation process and ensure timely execution of the fiscal measurers.
