The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has decided to focus on facilitating initial public offerings (IPOs) of well-performing local, multinational, and state-run companies in order to boost investors' confidence.

 The BSEC took the decision at an emergency meeting on its premises on Tuesday night with Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser Anisuzzaman Chowdhury.

 It was organised to take steps to boost investors' confidence as the stock market index was in a downward spiral.

 Regarding the meeting's outcome and the government's plan, Chowdhury talked with journalists at his office in Agargaon yesterday in the presence of BSEC Commissioner Farzana Lalarukh.

 "We hope that we will be able to make some positive announcements for the stock market," Chowdhury said. However, he did not disclose what could be expected.

BSEC already demanded a 10 percentage point gap in taxes paid by listed and non-listed companies in the next budget to help attract good firms

 Lalarukh said the BSEC already demanded a 10 percentage-point gap in taxes paid by listed and non-listed companies in the next budget so that good companies feel encouraged to go public.

 Chowdhury said the government is working on offloading its portion of multinational companies' shares. "But we don't want to take any drastic decision because there might be side effects," he said.

 The government is focusing on it, and it will try to allow companies which have good governance into the market, he said.

 The capital market is "very shallow" and the BSEC ordered a focus on bringing new companies and new instruments like orange bonds, he said.

 Regarding the stock market's fall, Chowdhury said it was partly due to price adjustments, which were artificially inflated by the floor price, and for some other reasons.

 The BSEC will investigate whether there was any artificial pressure to make sales, he said.

 He believes that stock prices are now almost at a natural equilibrium and the economy is now rebounding, for which its impact would become apparent on the stock market soon.

 Chowdhury said he understands that people lost their money and so are seeking compensation. "We know that they lost their money, which is heartbreaking, but compensating them is not its (the BSEC's) task."

 On the other hand, there is no way the government can provide any compensation as people related to the previous government had siphoned off a huge amount of money from the country, he said.

 The government is now trying to resolve all issues, and each of such activities is painful. But the BSEC will not intervene to raise the index. The BSEC will see whether the market is functioning properly, he said.

 "We want to strengthen the BSEC. You all know that the regulator faced internal incidents when it went to resolve issues. It took a huge time to fix it," said Chowdhury.

 The BSEC is focusing on strengthening coordination among all regulatory bodies related to the financial sectors so that their decisions cannot hurt investors in the stock market, according to a BSEC press release issued on Tuesday night.