Finance minister directs regulators to boost investment in stock market

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal at a meeting with Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Fazle Kabir and other senior officials of the ministry asked them to work on boosting stock market investment.

He said the economy of Bangladesh stands on a strong base and the growth position is very positive, but the unstable situation of the stock market is not acceptable.

Despite the Russia-Ukraine war and Covid-19 pandemic, the economic growth of Bangladesh will continue, he said.

Kamal on Sunday gave several directives to the BB and Bangladesh Security and Exchange Commission (BSEC) for immediate implementation to boost the stock market

In order to attract capital in the market, state-owned investment institution ICB has been instructed to keep the bank’s investment outside the investment limit or exposure limit of this institution in the capital market.

It has also been decided to double the size of the Tk 150-crore funds given to the ICB for small investors, which had expired.

The finance minister asked for the increased tenure of the funds along with doubling the funds’ size. The investments will be made from this fund from Monday, finance ministry officials said.

Finance Secretary Abdur Rauf Talukder and Secretary of Financial Institutions Division Sheikh Mohammad Salim Ullah were also present at the meeting.