Moldova expels 3 Russian diplomats, Moscow threatens retaliation

 The Moldovan government has ordered three Russian diplomats to leave the country, accusing them of helping a pro-Kremlin Moldovan lawmaker escape prison.

Moldova has threatened to take retaliatory measures after the move.

Moldova's Foreign Ministry expelled the three Russian embassy staff on Monday. The move was announced on the messaging app Telegram, saying it was "based on clear evidence of actions that contradict diplomatic positions."

Moscow responded swiftly to Moldova's move. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it would take countermeasures, according to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

The new diplomatic row with neighboring Russia began after a complaint from Moldova on Monday. Moldova has accused the Russian embassy in the country of helping a Moldovan lawmaker flee to the Russian-backed breakaway region of Transnistria.

The lawmaker was sentenced to prison after being convicted of corruption.

The lawmaker is named as Alexander Nesterovsky. Moldova's intelligence agency has released video footage showing Nesterovsky entering the Russian embassy in Moldova on March 18. The following day, a court sentenced Nesterovsky to 12 years in prison. Nesterovsky denies the corruption charges against him.

Brother becomes bank chairman after sister

 

Ahsan Khan Chowdhury has been elected chairman of Midland Bank. He is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of PRAN-RFL Group. Earlier, last week, Uzma Chowdhury was elected as the new chairperson of Meghna Bank. She is a director of PRAN-RFL Group. The two are related by relationship. Major General (retd) Amjad Khan Chowdhury, founder of PRAN-RFL Group, is their father.

The late Amjad Khan Chowdhury retired from the army in 1981 at the age of 42 and started the foundry or tubewell manufacturing and housing business. His assets were pension money. However, he did not do the housing business for long. Leaving the housing business, Amjad Khan Chowdhury focused more on the foundry business. He established a foundry in Rangpur and named it Rangpur Foundry Limited (RFL).

Uzma Chowdhury, Chairperson, Meghna Bank

It is known that Ahsan Khan Chowdhury was one of the entrepreneurs when Midland Bank was established in 2013. Since its establishment, Midland Bank was under the control of Awami League Presidium member Kazi Zafar Ullah. His wife Nilufar Zafrullah was the chairman of the bank. After the fall of the Awami League government on August 5 last year, he was absent from the bank's meeting. In such a situation, Ahsan Khan Chowdhury was elected chairman in the 165th meeting of the bank's board of directors on March 20. Ahsan Khan Chowdhury was a member of the executive committee of the board of directors of Midland Bank. Apart from this, he is also serving as the chairman of the risk management committee of the bank's board of directors. Ahsan Khan Chowdhury studied at Wartburg College in the United States and joined PRAN-RFL Group as a director in 1992. He is currently serving as the chairman and CEO of PRAN-RFL Group.

In 2013, Uzma Chowdhury was one of the entrepreneurs of Meghna Bank. However, the bank was under the control of Awami League treasurer HN Ashiqur Rahman from the beginning. Last week, Bangladesh Bank reconstituted the bank's board of directors. After that, the bank elected Uzma Chowdhury as chairman. She is a registered Certified Public Accountant (CPA) of Texas, USA.

Uzma Chowdhury holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Texas at Dallas. She has over seven years of experience in the country's petroleum industry. She has been serving as the Finance Director of PRAN-RFL Group since October 2008.

Expatriate income reaches $2.7 billion in 24 days

 The first Eid has come to an end since the fall of the Awami League government in August last year. On this occasion, expatriates from abroad are sending more remittances or expatriate income through legal channels than at any time in the past. Bankers say that mainly because money laundering has decreased, expatriates have chosen legal channels to send their income. As a result, a new record has been set in expatriate income during the month of Ramadan. 2.7 billion US dollars came into the banking channel in the first 24 days of this month. In total, expatriate income came in at 2.52 billion dollars in February. This information has been found in the updated statistics of Bangladesh Bank.

If the current trend of expatriate income continues, bankers expect that the amount of expatriate income may exceed 3 billion US dollars by the end of this month. Officials said that the dollar crisis that was going on in banks has largely been overcome due to the increase in expatriate income. They said that the instability that was there regarding the price of the dollar has also reduced. Banks are now buying expatriate income within the maximum rate of 123 taka set by the central bank.

According to Bangladesh Bank data, in the first 15 days of this month, expatriate income came in at 1.66 billion dollars. Four days later, on March 19, the expatriate income coming through banking channels, i.e. legal channels, stood at $2.25 billion. Of this, $130 million came in on March 19 alone. Again, from March 1 to 22, i.e. the first 22 days of the month, the amount of expatriate income stood at $2.43 billion, which increased to $2.7 billion on March 24.

Usually, expatriate income comes in more than any other month of the year before the two Eids. Last year, expatriate income of $450 million came in in the five days before the holy Eid-ul-Fitr. That is, an average of $90 million came in a day. In the first week of this month, it came in at an average of $110 million and in the second week, it came in at an average of $120 million. Over the next four days, expatriates increased their remittances. During this time, they sent an average of about $150 million daily.

Since the political change in the country in August last year, expatriates have sent more than $2 billion every month for seven consecutive months. The most recent was in February, when expatriates sent $2.528 billion, which is 17 percent more than the same period last year. In January this year, expatriate income was 3 percent higher than the same period last year.

In total, expatriates sent $18.49 billion to the country in the first eight months of the 2024-25 fiscal year, July-March, which is 24 percent more than the same period in the previous fiscal year. In the same period of the previous 2023-24 fiscal year, expatriate income was $14.93 billion.

It is known that the purchase of dollars for expatriate income has now decreased significantly due to competition among banks. As a result, the price of the dollar is within 123 taka. This is also reducing the price of the dollar in importing goods. Earlier, the price of each dollar rose to 128 taka.

Expatriate income is the only non-liable source of dollar supply in the country. Because, no foreign currency has to be spent against this income, or there is no need to pay any liabilities. On the other hand, even if dollars come into the country against export income, foreign currency has to be spent again to import raw materials and equipment. Again, dollars are needed to repay foreign loans. As a result, as expatriate income increases, dollar reserves in the country's central bank increase rapidly.