Higher economic growth hinges on strong stockmarket: analysts
The stockmarket should be turned into a regular source of funds to ensure sustainable economic development of the country, analysts said.
“To achieve the goal, it is necessary to ensure smooth operation of primary and secondary market, increase financial literacy among investors and minimise volatility of the market.”
The comments came at a conference, “Capital market and economy: role of investors”, as part of an event held on Friday to observe World Investor Week.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) organised the seminar at the ICAB auditorium in the capital.
Bangladesh's equity market was extremely depressed due to the mass exodus of investors from the stock exchanges after the share market disasters of 1996 and 2011.
However, the market regained some of its momentum in the last couple of years, speakers said.
Prashanta Kumar Banerjee, professor and director of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management, presented a keynote paper on the subject at the seminar.
The ratio of GDP growth and market capitalisation of the stockmarket is very low in Bangladesh compared to other countries like USA, Hong Kong, Singapore and India, said M Khairul Hossain, chairman of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC).
Bangladesh's stockmarket is yet to be developed properly to contribute to the economy's growth, he said.
The economy would develop if the proportion of GDP growth and capital market capitalisation is increased, Hossain said.
Three BSEC commissioners—Helal Uddin Nizami, Amzad Hossain and Swapan Kumar Bala—also spoke at the seminar where KAM Majedur Rahman, managing director of Dhaka Stock Exchange, was also present.
Mostafa Kamal, acting president of ICAB, delivered the welcome speech at the seminar, which was chaired by Md Shaifur Rahman Mazumdar, a council member.
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