Piecemeal steps won’t restore stock investor confidence

Simply raising the tax gap between listed and non-listed firms and taking some piecemeal steps would not restore investors' confidence in the stock market, BNP Standing Committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said yesterday.

"Many foreign investors want to invest in the stock market, but when they see there is a lack of coordination and the market is more regulated, they back off," he said while addressing a workshop titled "Capital market restructure and reality" in Dhaka.

"In order to restore people's confidence, a coordinated and holistic approach in policymaking, coordination among regulators, and ownership by the government is necessary," he also said at the event organised by the Economic Reporters' Forum (ERF) and the DSE Brokers Association of Bangladesh (DBA).

Stating that the capital market can provide long-term funding to both the private and public sectors, he said, "However, it is not even conceptualised in the system that the government can raise funds for its projects."

"The government can raise funds through issuing municipal bonds and in many other ways. Actually, the capital market was not taken as an important sector by the previous government," said Chowdhury.

He pledged that if the BNP is elected to power, the party "will own the stock market" and refrain from "political appointments" in regulatory bodies like the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission and Bangladesh Bank.

He went on to say that political appointments did not exist during the previous BNP-led regime, and so there was no bank collapse or capital market loot.

Furthermore, the BNP leader pledged to focus on the democratisation of the economy in order to connect more people to economic activities if his party comes to power. "When people's participation in economic activities rises, their confidence will also rise."

Mentioning that the BNP will focus on self-regulation, he said, for instance, DSE will have a self-regulatory structure while the BSEC will monitor whether the stock exchanges are being properly regulated.

"In the self-regulation process, stock exchanges will have to raise their capacity so that they can truly play their due roles," he added.

He also criticised the interim government for talking about "bringing foreign experts to reform the stock market when there is a huge number of local experts" who can contribute effectively to reforming the market.

Also speaking at the event, DSE Chairman Mominul Islam said the premier bourse is already aiming to allow 10 initial public offerings (IPOs) in the next one year.

Besides, IPO issuance time will be reduced to two months, which currently takes a couple of years, he added.

DBA President Saiful Islam, DSE Director Minhaz Mannan Emon, CSE President AKM Habibur Rahman, and ERF President Doulot Akter Mala also spoke at the event.