Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said on Tuesday the paid-up capital for any new commercial bank should be Tk 10 billion (1000 crore).
"The government will work to increase the paid-up capital of any commercial bank so that the consumers are not affected even after any possible shocks to their deposits," he added.
Mr Kamal said the government would overhaul the capital market for a vibrant economy.
"The capital market is the mirror of economy. We have failed to take it to a better level. If the market becomes strong, so will be the economy."
The minister said this at a 'Meet the Press' at his Economic Relations Division office in the capital.
He said many good companies have not entered the capital market, adding that they should be enlisted for making it vibrant.
-------------
* Defaulters to pay bank loans at 9.0 per cent interest rate
* Perks for businessmen to enter capital market
* Plan to bring all under insurance coverage
------------
"The government will provide monetary as well as fiscal support to the businessmen to bring them to the capital market," Mr Kamal added.
"For monitoring and overseeing the market he will sit with the related authorities at least once a month."
The minister made a correction of his earlier comment on the bailout package for honest businessmen who had become defaulters for various valid reasons.
He said, "The non-performing loan (NPL) holders will have to pay back their outstanding loans at 9.0 per cent interest rate" instead of 7.0 per cent as stated earlier.
On March 25, Mr Kamal told the media that the government is going to offer a bailout package for defaulters to reduce the soaring NPLs of the local commercial banks.
He then said, "We've prepared an exit plan for honest businessmen-turned-defaulters. Commercial banks will charge a simple 7.0 per cent interest rate for their default loans to give an exit".
"Initially, a defaulter will have to make 2.0 per cent down payment of their total loan. And then, they have to repay at 7.0 per cent rate on a quarterly basis."
"The banks will give them 12 years to pay back the loans," the minister told the reporters, adding that the bailout package will take effect from May 01.
However talking about insurance at Tuesday's programme he said they would try to bring all the people under insurance coverage.
"…insurance has not expanded in our country. The government is working to bring all the countrymen under the insurance coverage gradually."
The finance minister said mega infrastructure projects like Rooppur nuclear power plant and Padma Bridge should have insurance coverage.
The insurance of crops would be introduced in the country very soon, he told the programme.
About additional taxes in the next budget, Mr Kamal said no additional tax would be imposed.
"No additional taxes will be imposed. Rather, the tax net will be widened in the next budget. New areas will come under the tax net."
Mr Kamal said fresh manpower would be recruited for the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to improve its capacity.
NBR chairman Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, finance secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder and Financial Institutions Division secretary Md Asadul Islam, among others, were present at the event.
[email protected]
