Ahsan Habib

Over the past 15 years, the country’s economy presented a number of marvels, including over 6 percent growth on an average per annum. But, its stock market showed a sharp contrast: sluggish, dry and in decline.

The stock market regulator formulated a large number of policies, rules and regulations and passed orders in the last 15 years citing the best interests of investors.

The way that the stock market has been run over the past 15 years under the Sheikh Hasina-led government can be best summarised as facilitative to the manipulation of stock prices.

Over the past 15 years, investors have fled the market, initial public offerings (IPOs) have been scarce and capital market growth has fallen short of expectations. Despite this dry market, the number of stock intermediaries entering the market increased steadily.

The stock market regulator approved 127 firms for listing in the past 14 years, allowing their transition from private to public companies. However, the subsequent outcomes are disheartening as most of these companies showed declined performance rather than growth.

United Commercial Bank (UCB) PLC is on the verge of incurring losses of around Tk 75 crore as one-third of its total share market investment has been on a lone stock that has undergone price manipulation.

Per capita foreign debt of Bangladesh more than doubled in the last eight years, according to official data, as economists attribute the hike to unplanned foreign-funded projects and corruption, ultimately ballooning the liability on low-income people, including the extremely poor.

What does it take to manage  undistributed money of stock investors and hand it over to rightful recipients? You appear to be wrong if the answer is simply sincere effort.

City Bank PLC is investigating how and why it spent about Tk 86 crore, or roughly one-third of its total market exposure, on purchasing shares of Sea Pearl Beach Resort and Spa Ltd in 2023, according to bank officials.

The government has requested China to lower the interest rates on existing Chinese loans to 1 percent and extend the repayment period to 30 years.

The newly appointed board of National Bank PLC (NBL) will scrutinise all waived and written-off loans and interests, regardless of whether they were justified or not.

Share prices of most companies with directors connected to the immediate past Awami League government saw a big drop in the past month after the fall of Sheikh Hasina, though the market was in a rising trend during the period.

Stock investors and analysts are hoping for the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), led by its new Chairman Khondoker Rashed Maqsood, to focus on its prime tasks of proper monitoring and ensuring good governance in the share market.

Bangladesh Bank permitted Mohammed Saiful Alam and his family to seize multiple banks and funnel enormous sums as loans

Even though Bangladesh is an agricultural country, its agricultural product exports grew at a slower pace compared to other goods over the past decade due to a lack of policy support, high costs and the absence of good agricultural practices.

Less than a year after Prof Shibli Rubayat-Ul Islam was appointed as chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) in May 2020, the regulator started holding roadshows abroad to lure in foreign investors and boost the local market.

The Bangladesh Bank restricted six banks linked to S Alam Group from lending activities to prevent their situation from deteriorating further amid allegations of wrongdoing.

Directors of eight private banks borrowed heavily from each other’s banks in reciprocal lending practices fraught with serious risks. Some banks went one step further and lent thousands of crores to relatives of these banks’ chairmen or directors. 

Just a day after a mass uprising toppled Sheikh Hasina’s government on August 5, a group of people, introducing themselves as activists of a major political party, visited an outlet of a leading footwear maker in Rangpur and demanded Tk 5 lakh in return for allowing the showroom to operate.

Unrest has gripped the banking sector at a time when several banks are burdened with huge default loans and are suffering from low asset quality.