The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) is set to hold a roadshow in Dubai from February 9-12 to attract foreign investors, and non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) willing to invest in the country's bourses, said its chairman Prof Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam on Wednesday.
Speaking at a press briefing about the roadshow, titled “The Rise of Bengal Tiger: Potentials of Bangladesh Capital Markets”, he also said that non-listed blue chip companies can also be motivated in entering the bourses if they received more tax incentives.
The expo will highlight various issues including Bangladesh's economic development, investment prospects and opportunities, as well as availability of facilities.
The chairman of the securities regulator also said that blue chip companies were usually sceptical about joining the bourses, as the government last year had removed the 10 per cent tax incentive for listed companies, which used to set the companies apart from non-listed ones.
As a result, they are not interested to come in the stock market, he also said.
“Regarding corporate tax ratio, we will propose to the government for increasing the gap to 15 per cent between non-listed and listed firms,” Islam said.
He also said that their (blue chip companies) operating cost will increase by 2-3 per cent If they enter the capital market. Therefore, the corporate tax incentive has to be increased for multinational companies to enter the bourses.
"We want to uphold the image of Bangladesh. We hope more foreign investment will come soon," said the BSEC chairman.
According to the Dhaka Stock Exchange, the total transaction of the foreign portfolio investors was Tk 10,388 crore in 2020, which was 7.69 per cent of the total transaction of the exchange.
The total transaction of the foreign portfolio investors was Tk 7,845.45 crore in 2019, which had 6.89 per cent of the total transaction.
BSEC's executive director Md Mahbubul Alam, its spokesperson Md Rezaul Karim Reza and other officials were also present at the briefing.
