Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Commissioner Farzana Lalarukh said, at different times, when we meet with different stakeholders, the first big problem we hear from them is the lack of confidence of investors.
He said, in about 32 meetings held with them so far, we have heard lack of confidence due to the lack of continuity of the capital market, as a result investors do not want to come to the market. The biggest issue we are facing right now is restoring trust.
He said these things in his speech as a special guest at the seminar titled ‘Policy Dialogue on Financial and Economic Reforms in Bangladesh’ organized by BRAC Business School of BRAC University at Badda in the capital on Saturday (November 16).
Farzana Lalarukh said, as an academician, if we could present the things that we have taught, such as circular trading or market manipulation, with our market, then we could show you that those who are manipulating the market are much ahead of us. And our surveillance and intelligence is far behind them.
This Commissioner of BSEC said, we are fining these mischievous people in many cases, but the question is whether we are ready to do these things when they need to be done. To deal with this crisis in the capital market, our main task will be to restore confidence in the market. We want to restore this trust through transparency, accountability and digitization.
In this dialogue program, the inaugural plenary session entitled ‘Actionable Financial and Economic Policies for an Inclusive, Equitable and Prosperous Bangladesh’ was attended by Interim Government Finance and Science and Technology Advisor as the chief speaker and chief guest. Salehuddin Ahmed. Honorary Fellow of the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) was also present as a special guest. Debapriya Bhattacharya and BRAC Bank Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Salim RF Hossain.
In the chief guest’s speech at the event, the finance advisor said that policy and implementation will be separated in the revenue sector. He said, most of the institutions are on the verge of destruction. Many projects have been done, feasibility tests have not been done. All multilaterals and bilaterals have assured cooperation in the field of reforms. If there is no economic stability, foreign partners will also reduce aid, said Salehuddin Ahmed.
Assuring the common people, the adviser said that work is being done to get out of the looting in the economic sector. We have already met with several international organizations including World Bank, IMF to maintain stability in the economy. They are very willing to give us loans. I hope this situation will improve soon.
The dialogue featured panel discussions on important reforms in the country’s financial sector, poster presentations and discussions on reforms needed to address ongoing challenges in the financial sector. Invited guests including policy makers from different sectors, industry professionals, academicians were present as negotiators in the day-long dialogue program.
In the speech of the special guest, CPD Honorary Fellow Dr. Devapriya Bhattacharya said that people were kept inside the central bank through masohara. They printed money, showed fake reserves. A person who is not qualified to run a bank is allowed to bank.
Debapriya said, we are in the middle income trap. If the state is not repaired, two paise reforms will do no good. If economic stability cannot be brought, it is not possible to move forward on the path of reform. This honorable fellow of CPD also commented that after bringing economic stability, there will be no possibility to move forward if reforms are not done quickly.
He said, Bangladesh has two kidneys. One is financial sector, another is energy sector. Both have been eaten by the previous government. Those who ate the energy sector also ate the financial sector.
Through the program’s plenary session, panel discussion and poster presentation, the discussants outlined the reforms of various important issues of the economy of Bangladesh. The panel discussion included Standard Chartered Bank Bangladesh CEO Nasser Ejaz Vijay, Lankabangla Finance Managing Director Humaira Azam, BRAC University Professor and former Caretaker Government Advisor AB Mirza Md Azizul Islam, National Board of Revenue Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan, Sanem Executive Director Dr. Salim Rayhan, Director of Economic Growth and Governance of USAID, Mikhail Turad, and other dignitaries from various sectors participated in the discussion.
This dialogue was held with three objectives in mind. The first is to identify weaknesses in the current policies and procedures of the country’s financial sector. The second is to propose reforms for the development of the financial sector and the third is to provide necessary recommendations for the implementation of financial sector reforms.
The organizers believe that these proposals will help build an efficient and transparent financial system, which will drive the entire economy and individual, institutional
