ZCZC
BSS-20
KAMAL-CAPITAL MARKET
Capital market to be taken to sustainable level: Kamal
DHAKA, Sept 16, 2019 (BSS) – Asserting that the government would continue to support the capital market for its development, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today said that the existing hurdles and challenges of the capital market would be overcome to take the market to a sustainable position on a long-term basis so that it could further advance.
“All of you must acknowledge to what extent our economy is strong. We want to see our capital market much more dynamic in the same way our overall macro economy is dynamic,” he said.
The Finance Minister was briefing reporters after holding a five-hour long marathon meeting with all the concerned stakeholders of the capital market at the NEC conference room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
Bangladesh Bank Governor M Fazle Kabir, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Chairman M Khairul Hossain, Insurance Development Regulatory Authority (IDRA) Chairman Md Shafiqur Rahman Patwari and Financial Reporting Council (FRC) Chairman CQK Mustak Ahmed, officials of the two bourses, among others, attended the meeting.
The Finance Minister said the capital market is a basic area of the economy and that is why the government never neglects it. The people from all classes, including rich, middle class and the marginalized, are engaged in this share market for which it attracts special and cautious attention of the government.
Kamal said all who attended the meeting reached at a consensus that there is no thought left expect ensuring development of this capital market. “Our government will continue to support the capital market with its various organs, divisions and institutions,” he added.
He said that the government is pledge-bound to bring all the well-performed companies, especially the state-owned companies, into the capital market with proper pricing.
The Finance Minister said a special committee is being formed under the BSEC which would oversee the listed companies round the year as to see which companies remain operational or which remain inoperative.
He said the BSEC along with the FRC would work in a coordinated manner to look after the proper pricing of the IPOs and the balance sheets of the listed companies.
He said that steps would be taken to bring all the best IPOs in the share market alongside engaging more people in the capital market through infusing more trust and confidence into the existing investors.
Kamal said the government can assure that good governance would be ensured in the capital market. “BSEC is looking into whatever happened in the past. But, from now on no one can blame us that we don’t ensure justice or we’re very weak to someone. Those who will commit offense, whatever their affiliations are or to what extent they are powerful, would be brought to justice through due legal process and thus we’ll restore the trust and confidence of people on this market,”
He said inspired by the PM’s zero tolerance policy against corruption, the regulatory watchdog of the capital market would pursue proper measures so that the trust and confidence of the general investors on the capital market is restored.
Answering to a question, the Finance Minister said the government companies would definitely come into the capital market, but it would definitely take some time.
In this regard, he mentioned that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed her sincere willingness that these state-owned enterprises and companies must enter the capital market.
Kamal told another questioner that the process has already started to bring the non-listed insurance companies into the capital market by December.
Replying to another question, he said that the shares of those companies which are witnessing quantum jump of their prices despite having weak fundamentals would be brought under strict monitoring and would not be spared if irregularities are found.
BSS/ASG/GM/KU/1835 HRS