Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus has been urged by the Dhaka Stock Exchange Brokers Association (DBA) to take the lead in bringing Bangladeshi state-owned and foreign corporations to the capital market.
According to a DBA statement, the request was sent to the interim prime minister on Tuesday by DBA President Saiful Islam.
The letter emphasizes that over the past 15 years, the stock market has been plagued by serious irregularities, poor management, and volatility, which has caused many businesses to become ineffectual or fail.

It claims that as a result of these problems, the market has shrunk by around 40% in terms of capital and real returns.
The DBA pointed out that the market’s recovery has been hampered by previous unfavorable occurrences as well as regional and global geopolitical considerations.
According to the trade group, “the’scams’ of 1996 and 2010 set off financial crises that permanently harmed investor trust and the integrity of the market as a whole.”

“During these periods, the artificial inflation of stock prices led to severe investor losses.”

The organisation pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, coupled with the imposition of “floor prices” on stocks for nearly 20 months, caused lasting harm to the market.

This led international asset managers to pull out from Bangladesh while local investors incurred substantial losses in their savings and investments.

“During the period, billions were siphoned off through substandard [Initial Public Offering], creating a permanent liquidity and trust crisis in the market,” the letter read.

The DBA observed that the lack of governance, transparency, and accountability among regulatory bodies, companies, market intermediaries, financial auditors, rating agencies, and other stakeholders has resulted in a severe crisis of trust.

The organisation has called for the leadership of the chief advisor to address the ongoing crisis swiftly.

It warned that failing to resolve the situation would result in missing a valuable opportunity to restore the market, enforce discipline, and create an environment conducive to capital mobilisation and business expansion for the country.

The letter further highlighted the availability of numerous profitable state-owned enterprises in the commercial and infrastructure sectors.

“If these companies are listed on the market, there will be a growing supply of quality stocks, which will help balance demand and supply.

“This will fix the liquidity problems and draw investors back to the market.”
Numerous big international corporations have been doing business in the nation for years, according to the DBA.
It called on the government to sell off its shares in these businesses by listing them directly and paying reasonable prices.