United News of Bangladesh

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Wednesday said the government is committed to restoring stability in the capital market and rebuilding investors' confidence through reforms, greater transparency and stronger regulation, noting that the market is gradually improving. "The condition of the capital market is gradually improving and it is now doing well. The government is fully committed to restoring stability in the capital market and rebuilding investors' confidence," he told Parliament during the question-answer session. The issue was raised by Patuakhali-4 lawmaker Alhaj ABM Mosharraf Hossain on behalf of Khulna-4 MP SK Azizul Bari. The parliamentary sitting began at 3 pm with Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad  in the chair. The first 30 minutes were allocated for the Prime Minister's Question Time, during which Tarique answered four starred questions and nine supplementary questions from lawmakers. Responding to the question of MP Mosharraf Hossain, the Prime Minister said the government has already taken a series of initiatives to develop a stronger and more sustainable capital market by ensuring good governance, transparency and accountability, increasing market depth through product diversification, and expanding investor education. The Prime Minister then outlined the government's 17 priority programmes for reforming the capital market. He said investigations conducted by experts, investor organisations and relevant agencies found that the prolonged decline in the stock market during the previous Awami League government's tenure was driven by market manipulation, artificial price movements, irregularities in IPOs and bond issues, weak regulatory oversight, poor corporate governance, lack of transparency, limited participation by institutional investors, a crisis of investor confidence, policy inconsistencies and the absence of investor-friendly tax policies. Tarique said the government plans to identify everyone responsible for the market collapse that left thousands of investors facing heavy losses and bring them to justice. He said the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has already investigated stock market scandals, identified several individuals and initiated legal action against them, while investigations are continuing to determine whether more individuals or organisations were involved. The Prime Minister said the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has already imposed fines amounting to Tk 1,497 crore on individuals and institutions involved in market manipulation, irregularities and corruption. He said the reports of various investigation committees have also been sent to the ACC for necessary legal action. Listing the government's reform measures, Tarique said a new chairman and three commissioners with expertise in the capital market were appointed to the BSEC on June 4 this year. He said the new commission withdrew the floor price soon after assuming office and is working to encourage the direct listing of profitable state-owned enterprises, multinational companies and other large firms. The Prime Minister said the government is also planning to list more fundamentally strong and SME companies, strengthen whistleblower protection, reform audit practices, facilitate foreign portfolio investment, introduce capital market tribunals, establish reform and investigation commissions, expand the use of blockchain technology, introduce AI-based market surveillance, digitalise BO account services, adopt investor-friendly tax policies and strengthen investor protection through legal reforms. He expressed hope that these measures would help restore confidence among investors and ensure the long-term stability and sustainable growth of Bangladesh's capital market. Replying to a supplementary question from MP Sarwar Jamal Nizam, the Prime Minister said reducing disparities in different sectors is one of the government's key objectives, and the capital market is no exception. He said the experts recently appointed by the government are expected to provide recommendations that will help strengthen not only the Dhaka Stock Exchange but also the Chattogram Stock Exchange. Responding to another supplementary question from MP Abdul Hannan Masud regarding alleged irregularities in insurance companies, Tarique said the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) now has a newly appointed chairman who is investigating the complaints. "Once the investigations are completed, action will be taken in accordance with the law," he said.