DSE for allowing investment of untaxed money in bourses

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FE Report
The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) Wednesday suggested allowing untaxed money to be invested in the stock market to bring dynamism in the economy of the country.
"There is a large amount of untaxed money in the country and we feel if the government allows the money to be invested in the stock market in compliance with the recently declared opportunity to declare undisclosed income, the economy of the country will be benefited to a large extent," senior vice president of the country's main bourse, Ahmad Rashid said in a post-budget press briefing of DSE.
DSE, however, demanded waiver of five per cent additional tax imposed through the statutory regulatory order (SRO) of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued June 4 last.
He said the untaxed money should be guided to the 'mainstream economy' through investment in the stock market, otherwise it will be diverted to the underworld economy.
DSE president Abdullah Bokhari hailed the government for presenting 'a balanced growth-oriented budget' for fiscal 2007-08 saying great emphasis on the development of country's capital market was laid in the budget for the first time.
"We express our heartfelt felicitation for presenting such a balanced budget showing visions for the future growth of the country specially for understanding the need for increasing the supply of securities," Abdullah Bokhari said.
Meanwhile, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) has also congratulated the government for presenting a budget where 'right emphasis on the development of country's capital market has been given for the first time.
The CSE in its statement urged the government to simplify the operational process of non-resident investors' taka account (NITA) to attract investments of non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) in the local securities markets.
The DSE president, however urged the government to reconsider the budgetary measures proposing 10 per cent import duty on industrial raw materials and textile machinery.
"We feel the government should reconsider the proposal for the sake of establishing a strong backward linkage," the DSE president commented.
He praised the government for its 'strong commitment' to combat corruption and also implementing the budget.
DSE chief executive officer Salahuddin Ahmed Khan said shares of Jamuna Oil Company Ltd will be floated in the stock market within a short period as per the government decision to offload the shares of a number of state-owned companies.
"The private telecommunication companies are also interested to go public and we are grateful to the government for framing policies to encourage the telecom entities to float shares," the DSE CEO said.
The DSE also urged the government to turn Chittagong and Mongla ports and Biman into public limited companies to facilitate them to float shares for general public.
"The tax incentives, as proposed for treasury bonds and zero coupon bonds, will enable provident funds, pension funds and insurance funds to use government bonds and thus strengthen the secondary market for such bonds," the DSE said.
The DSE president stressed the need for strengthening the bond market to reduce dependency on bank borrowing.