Budget good for stocks: DSE

Finance Minister AMA Muhith’s budget proposals will create a favourable climate for capital markets, feels Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) chairman Justice Siddiqur Rahman Mia. “Whatever steps have been suggested in the budget proposals for the stock markets will end up boosting investor sentiment,” Siddiqur Rahman Mia said on Sunday. "It will also infuse dynamism and growth in the national economy." He said more companies will like to get themselves listed in the stock exchanges. "That will attract domestic and foreign investors to our bourses."  The DSE chairman said that this 'timely' budget will go a long way in creating a ‘Digital Bangladesh’ – and it will boost investments and industrialisation. "The efforts to boost the stock markets reflected in the budget proposals will ultimately infuse dynamism in the national economy." The 2015-16 budget proposals include raising the threshold of tax exemption on dividend income from Tk 20000 to Tk 25000. It also proposed to cut the tax rate from 42.5 per cent to 40 percent for publicly traded banks, and insurance and other financial institutions. Muhith also proposed a tax reduction from 27.5 per cent to 25 per cent for other companies listed on the bourses. The 10 per cent deduction at source on income from share market by any company or joint venture would also be withdrawn, Muhith had said. But DSE managing director Swapan Kumar Bala felt the government needs to do more. He urged the government to provide a full tax exemption facility for five years, instead of the existing partial exemption at graduated rates, for sustainable growth and smooth operation of the bourse, according to bdnews24.com.