Express (August 08, 2011)
Finance minister AMA Muhith Sunday branded the stock market demonstrators as "fatkabazari" who are not "real investors" rather they are out to make quick buck from share trading.
His sharp rebuke came as scores of traders hit the streets in front of the Dhaka Stock Exchange for the second day on a trot after the DSE began the new week with a steep fall of 139.74 points or 2.22 per cent.
Angry protesters carried placards demanding an end to what they say frequent intervention in the affairs of the DSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission. They also sought resignation of the finance minister and the central bank governor.
Muhith reacted sharply to the new protests, questioning the demonstrators' motives and likening them to 'fatkabazari' or fly-by-night investors.
"I have repeatedly said that people who indulge in vandalism with the hope that their actions will lead to share prices corrections are not real investors, rather they are 'fatkabazaris'," Muhith said after meeting with SEC Chairman M Khairul Hossain at his secretariat office.
"There is no investor in the demonstration. They (demonstrators) are fatkabaj. Real investors never demonstrate," Muhith told reporters.
He raised questions on the real motive of the protesters. "How the investors can expect that they would make money everyday from share business?," he said.
The finance minister said no one should be panicked at the planned government action against the rogue traders and manipulators behind the December-January share market scam.
"It makes no sense to make hue and cry or get panicked for the planned action of the government against the capital market manipulators," he said, adding the authorities would take "normal course of action" against them in line with the recommendations made by the share scam probe committee.
Muhith ruled out chances that the country's capital market could be hit by the fear of double-dip recession and the deepening debt crisis in the United States and the European Union, which account for some 80 per cent of Bangladesh's export market.
He, however, said the country's economy might face downturn due to spill-over impact of the latest global economic crisis.
Breaking his silence on the share market protests for the first time, the SEC Chairman also went hard on the unruly demonstrators, saying people involved in the unlawful protests will be dealt with in accordance with the law of the land.
The perpetrators will be given opportunity to defend themselves, he said.
Khairul said the securities regulator has made progress in plugging the loopholes in the Book Building method, making it manipulation-free and attractive to companies willing to go public.
He said regulations for the most modern but controversial Book Building method will be finalised by August 11 and a set of new rules will be initiated very shortly to help boost the volatile market.
"Without doubt (I can say that) the capital market will be stable. We have been working hard to stabilise the market," Khairul told the reporters, adding market volatility will evaporate if traders invest in fundamentally sound shares.
No comments:
Post a Comment