Salman F Rahman, Prime Minister’s adviser on private industry and investment, on Sunday urged stakeholders to find means for long-term financing for the benefit of the local capital market and economic growth. He also emphasised restoring the confidence of all stakeholders in the country's capital market.
Salman F Rahman made the remarks at an international conference on local capital market infrastructure financing jointly arranged by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) and GuarantCo at Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden in the capital.
He noted that commercial banks utilise short-term deposits to finance long-term projects which has been a fundamental problem in the banking sector. “We need to have a strong bond market in the stock market to facilitate long term finance for the industries as well as infrastructure. Fluctuation is common in the stock market but for a vibrant bond market we have to have an effective stock market”, Rahman added.
Salman said previously, some initiatives were taken for solving the problem of long-term finance but it was not effective. “For this, we need to have a strong bond market in the stock market to facilitate long-term finance for the industries as well as infrastructures,” he added. He also said fluctuation is common in the stock market and for a vibrant bond market, the country should have an effective stock market.
Chairman of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) Andrew Bainbridge was present as guest of honour while DCCI President Osama Taseer and Chief Executive Officer of the GuarantCo, among others, delivered speeches on the occasion. Osama Taseer said that riding on the commendable economic growth over the last decade, Bangladesh is set to meet 8.13 percent GDP growth this fiscal year and the country is becoming one of the five fastest growing economies in the world.
“Today, we estimate that our economy will require US$300 billion to $320 billion until 2030 for infrastructure development, increasing the infrastructure investment to 5 percent to 6 percent from current 3.64 percent to GDP,” he added. Andrew Bainbridge said capital markets, especially bond markets, have been the dominant source of finance for infrastructure projects in mature and developed markets.
