In 1996, former Finance Minister late lamented S.M.S. Kibria had said: "I don't understand share market". Now the same government and present finance minister A.M.A. Muhith and all concerned responsible persons seem to be playing the same role as their predecessors had played in 1996. The Governor of Bangladesh Bank, a few days ago, made a comment about the central bank not controlling the share market. Last Thursday the president of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) said government is not responsible for the present market crisis because it doesn't control the ups and downs of prices, And the finance adviser to the prime minister said the other day in Khulna: "Retail investors in the capital market are no genuine investors in the economy".We would all like to know what actually has happened to the market. Why does the Awami League government, again and again, play an unexplainable role, dealing with a sensitive segment of the economy of Bangladesh? We don't know the answer and possibly, under the given circumstances, will get one from the responsible authorities. The investors in the capital market do not belong to any particular political party in Bangladesh. They do not support en block any such party. But the tragedy with the capital market in Bangladesh, either incidentally or accidentally, is that the retail investors do ultimately burn their fingers in the market when a particular political party remains in power. Is it because the manipulators, behind-the-scene operators, the so-called 'piped pipers' and the devils of all sorts who allure the innocent investors to the market find it easier to operate under a system of political patronage and connections during its rule. It is time for the people to seriously ponder over this matter.
A committee of all parties do need to be constituted immediately to probe into it, covering all the episodes in the market over the recent years, relating to floatations of initial public offerings at high premiums, the so-called book-building system, direct listing method, pre-placement of shares, and everything else.
Borhan -Ud- Dbin
Associate, Research.
CMRWD
E-mail : infocmrwd@gmail.com
23 January 2011
23 January 2011
