Capital market key to bridge infrastructure financing gap: DCCI President

To encourage good companies and pursue well-performing large corporates for listing in the capital market, the tax difference between listed and non-listed companies should be rationalized, said Rizwan Rahman, president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI).

The DCCI president made this remark during a courtesy call with Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Chairman Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam at BSEC headquarter in Agargaon on Sunday.

Referring to the Global Infrastructure Hub Report, DCCI President Rizwan Rahman said "Bangladesh will need to invest $608 billion from 2016 -2040 in the infrastructure sector”.

The current trend indicates that Bangladesh will be able to meet $417 billion investment in the infrastructure sector leaving a financing gap of $192 billion from 2016-2040. The capital market can play a pivotal role to reduce the investment gap in Bangladesh, he added.

He also said that the capital market has a huge potential to address the CMSME financing gap as well as encourage businesses to source long-term capital reducing dependence on banks and NBFIs. The DSE SME platform needs to be effectively operationalized as well as listing rules for SME platform needs to be relaxed.

To create a vibrant secondary bond market, priority needs to be given to implementing enabling policy to develop market infrastructure, simplification of the bond issuance process, tax incentives for both issuer and investors, and credible credit rating by the national as well as international credit rating agencies.

BSEC Chairman Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam said that BSEC already organized several road shows in the UK, USA and Switzerland to attract foreign investment in the capital market as well as to brand Bangladesh. Another one will be organized in Qatar next month.

He thus invited DCCI to join the road show to showcase Bangladesh’s economic advancement.

He sought cooperation from the private sector to expedite country branding in a much wider manner. Bangladesh has made tremendous progress in many sectors especially in the infrastructure sector but these achievements did not get much promotion.

DCCI Vice President Monowar Hossain was also present on the occasion.