Adviser to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on private industry & investment, Salman F Rahman said, the ongoing crisis in the country for US dollars will resolve by coming January.
“The sanctions on the import of non-essential goods have had a positive effect. Due to the lack of dollars, there have been issues opening LC for the last 60 days but we are surplus in the present account. But there are some issues with legacy payments, which will be over in December. Hence, the dollar issues will be conclude next January,” He said speaking as the guest of honor at the signing ceremony of a strategic partnership between ABG Limited and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) at Radisson Blu Chittagong Bay View Hotel on Sunday, November 20.
ABG Limited – a concern of the Bashundhara Group, has purchased a 25 percent stake in CSE.
“Bashundhara is coming to the stock market, I was amazed to hear it at the beginning. Bashundhara Group chairman and I have met several times but he has not shown his willingness in the stock market. I am very astonished by this,” Salman F Rahman said.
“In 14 years Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has brought the economy of Bangladesh to an unimaginable place. After coming out of jail at the end of 2008, if someone had said that the country would reach this height in the next 12-14 years, I would not have believed it myself. But Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has shown that,” he added.
Salman F Rahman also said that there are two contradictions in the nation’s economy.
“The first contradiction is that the tax-to-GDP ratio is very low. According to the growth in the economy, the ratio of tax to GDP should increase, but it could not. Yet economic growth is taking place,” he added.
Another major contradiction is the capital market capitalization to GDP ratio, said, adding, “The major weakness of the capital market of Bangladesh is that there are few institutional investors. The whole market depends on retail investors. Brokerage houses, merchant banks and all the infrastructure are there but institutional investors are not coming. Because of that, I am encouraging companies like Bashundhara Group. Although Bashundhara Group’s emphasis on commodity exchanges, it will play a role in equity markets too.”
Salman F Rahman urged other institutional investors to invest in the market too.
He further said that the prime minister has been able to bring the nation to this place because of private-sector entrepreneurs.
