STOCKS REFINANCE SCHEME
Fin min asks ICB to collect Tk 300cr 1st instalment from BB
The finance ministry on Thursday asked the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh to collect the first phase of Tk 900 crore to implement the refinance scheme for
the small-scale investors affected by the stock market crash in 2010.
‘The ministry has asked the ICB to collect the fund worth Tk 300 crore under the government initiative to implement the refinance scheme for the affected small-scale investors,’ the ICB managing director Fayekuzzaman told New Age.
The fund for the capital market would be disbursed through the state-owned enterprise ICB.
Fayakuzzaman said the fund would be provided from the government’s block allocation in the budget not from the Bangladesh Bank.
‘Now, we have to develop a mechanism to utilise the fund. The finance ministry, Bangladesh Bank and Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission will jointly develop the mechanism,’ he said.
The allocation of the fund for the capital market is the
reflection of government’s positive attitude to the market, he said.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday asked the BB governor to release the fund for the capital market as soon as possible.
BB sources on the day said that fund was ready to be delivered to the ICB.
The BSEC on April proposed the finance ministry to refinance Tk 1,266 crore for the capital market to restore investors’ confidence over the capital market and implement the scheme for the affected small-scale investors.
The government in March 2012 announced the compensation package which also included waiver of interest on margin loans for the investors who suffered losses during the market crash in 2010-2011.
The BSEC report said that only five merchant banks and brokerage houses, out of total 308, waived only Tk 16.78 crore in interest and rescheduled loans of Tk 274.58 crore in last one year.
Only 7,413 investors out of the total 9.53 lakh got the compensation, it said.
The BSEC report said that as the five organisations had already rescheduled Tk 274.58 crore, the remaining brokerage houses and merchant banks would need Tk 1,266.69 crore in refinance fund.
-With New Age input
