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Modern Syntex gets nearly Tk 900cr
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“This is an import substitute item, the daily demand for which in the country is 1,200 to 1,300 tonnes,” he said.
Abu Sufian Chowdhury, managing director and chairman of Modern Syntex Limited, said in a statement: “With the help of timely financing, we could implement the project on time and are targeting to start commercial production by February, 2024.”
It continued: “The project will save foreign exchange of approximately $60 million per year. It will also create about 1,500 direct employment opportunities and shall positively contribute to the MMF industry, which is expected to grow exponentially driven by increased demand for synthetic textiles worldwide.”
Standard Chartered Bank was the sole lender of the Export Credit Agency (ECA)-backed term loan facility.
The bank provided end-to-end structuring and arrangement services to all stakeholders -- the borrower, the guarantors, ECA and the supplier.
The bank’s product expertise enabled the Bangladesh-based client to access German government support, competitive pricing, and extended tenure for their project financing.
The commercial syndicated term loan in the local currency was jointly facilitated by eight commercial banks and financial institutions.
Standard Chartered was the mandated lead arranger, facility agent and security agent for both loans.
“Globally, the apparel industry is moving towards MMF, and Bangladesh has scant capacity in backward integration to support apparel exporters and meet this growing global demand,” said Naser Ezaz Bijoy, chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Bangladesh.
“This timely investment will not only reduce the dependency on imported MMF, thereby saving foreign exchange and transportation costs, but will also enable our RMG sector to diversify their product basket for export of more high-value-added MMF products, such as technical textiles, functional apparel, and smart textiles.
“We are proud to support Modern Syntex Limited in this landmark achievement and look forward to working together to help the nation’s textile and RMG sectors scale ever greater heights,” he said.
A crest handover ceremony recently took place in Dhaka to mark the start of commercial operations at the plant.
Enamul Huque, managing director and head of corporate of commercial and institutional banking of Standard Chartered Bangladesh, and other senior officials from both organisations were present.

Forex reserves fall to $20.89b
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payments of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation, and Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation among other agencies.
On the other hand, export and remittance receipts, the two biggest sources of US dollars for Bangladesh, have remained lower than the expected levels.
Remittance inflows dropped to a 41-month low in September. Although export earnings were up 10.4 percent year-on-year in the month, the takings were the lowest in three months.