Kamal puzzled by stock investors’ behaviour
Much hue and cry is made every time the stock market falls, a sight not seen anywhere else in the world, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday.
“Even if the index comes down to zero from 1,000 no one abuses or attacks the securities market regulator anywhere in the globe. They don’t break cars or come to the streets,” he told reporters after a meeting of the cabinet committee on purchase.
Kamal’s comments come as the stock market crashed to a three-and-a-half-year low under his watch as the finance minister.
The finance minister’s job is to strengthen the economy and to monitor whether the companies and banks are manipulating the capital market or not, he said.
He is also responsible for checking whether the companies are announcing dividends properly.
“The kind of misdeeds I have seen when I took charge as finance minister is not taking place anymore.”
Awareness should be raised among retail investors about the risks related to trading and the misconceptions, he said.
The government previously tried but could not implement single-digit interest rates for deposits and lending.
“This time we will be stricter in ensuring that banks maintain the rates.”
The lending rates hover between 2-3 percent worldwide, whereas it is as high as 14-15 percent in Bangladesh, which is a major barrier to boosting industrialisation in the country.
“Investment will get a boost if these rates are implemented,” he said, adding that private sector credit growth has been sliding as entrepreneurs are holding off their investment plans for the single-digit interest rates to take effect.
The government had to discard its earlier plan to implement the single-digit rates in phases to ensure that all sectors get benefits at the same time.
About the 6 percent interest rate on deposits, he said: “People can earn something against their deposits in Bangladesh whereas one has to pay banks if he/she wants to deposit money in any foreign country.”
Meanwhile, the cabinet committee yesterday approved a plan to import 24.6 lakh tonnes of petroleum products for Tk 11,578 crore.
Of them, 7 lakh tonnes of crude oil each will come from Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi for Tk 6,578 crore under a state-to-state arrangement in 2020.
Some 8.8 lakh tonnes of diesel, 1.1 lakh tonnes of jet A-1 oil, 40,000 tonnes of furnace oil and 30,000 tonnes of octane will be procured through international tenders at a cost of Tk 5,000 crore to meet the demand of the first six months of the year.
