DSE chief blasts govt for inertia in offloading shares

The government's inertia in offloading shares of state enterprises has again come under fire at a press meet in Dhaka yesterday.
Dhaka Stock Exchange organised the programme to mark the completion of one-year tenure of the bourse’s Board of Directors where Rakibur Rahman delivered his speech as its president.
A bit emotional but vocal enough to reiterate the demand for the government's quick action to raise fund from the capital market, now facing a supply dearth, through going public, Rahman said: “Unfortunately, there is no headway in listing the state-owned enterprises (SoEs) on stock exchanges, although a committee on the issue was formed three months back.”
Rahman pointed his finger at the decision to offload shares of 26 SoEs by June, which was taken at the inter-ministerial meeting in January.
However, the development so far is the expression of the officials' firmness at the maiden meeting of the newly formed Bank and Financial Institution Division of the finance ministry on Sunday last that such share offloading would start next month, Rakibur Rahman pointed out.
He said this firmness has now become questionable when the ministries concerned are yet to respond to the letters from the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) asking for initiating the process.
ICB is the institution that looks after such SoE shares offloading.
The DSE president sought the finance minister's intervention in this regard in the interest of the capital market investors.
“Officials who are at the helm and are not willing to list SoEs on bourses should be replaced by market- friendly officials,” he said.
“There is no alternative to boosting share supply to make the market more stable and vibrant,” said Rahman, who has been chosen as a director for a one-year term in the March 21 DSE polls.
Of the 26 SoEs, 12 are of the power and energy and mineral resources ministries. The remaining 14 are of the six ministries industries, bridge division, civil aviation and tourism, post and telecommunication, health and family welfare and shipping.
The SoEs include Gas Transmission Company, Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution System, Pashchimanchal Gas Co Ltd, Sylhet Gas Fields Co Ltd, Bangladesh Gas Field Co Ltd, Rupantarito Prakritik Gas Co, Rural Power Co, GEM Company, Bangladesh Blade Factory, Bangabandhu Bridge, Teletalk Bangladesh, Bangladesh Telecommunication Co, Telephone Shilpa Sangstha, Bangladesh Cable Shilpa and Essential Drugs.
Currently, some 10 companies Desco, Power Grid, Titas, Meghna Petroleum, Jamuna Oil, Eastern Lubricants, Eastern Cables, National Tube, Usmania Glass and Atlas Bangladesh -- are listed.
Rakibur Rahman took over as the president on February 28 last year. DSE's annual general meeting tomorrow will elect its new chief.
In the last one year, the market capitalisation to GDP ratio increased to 38.38 percent from 18.44 percent and the benchmark index rose from 2570.96 points to 5828.38 points, showing 127 percent jump. “This achievement was not of a single person, but of all stakeholders,” the outgoing DSE president said.
Referring to the National Board of Revenue's proposed tax on profit generated from the stockmarket, Rahman requested the NBR not to take any move that might force retail investors to quit the market.