Stock market set for turnaround within a year: Amir Khosru

Bangladesh’s battered stock market could see visible positive changes within the next 12 months, provided the economy and politics remain free of any major shock, Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said on Sunday.

He said the government was moving to make the capital market a major source of long-term financing, arguing that Bangladesh could not build a $3 trillion economy by relying heavily on bank loans and foreign development assistance.

“The market is now going through a rescue process,” Amir Khosru said, adding that difficult decisions were being taken to put the stock market on a sustainable footing.

He was speaking as chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of World Investor Week 2026 at the Krishibid Institution Bangladesh (KIB) auditorium in the capital. This year’s theme is “Investor Resilience, Digital Fraud and Fraud Awareness.”

The finance minister said Bangladesh needed to reduce its dependence on high-cost bank borrowing and foreign assistance by mobilising long-term funds through alternative financing instruments, including equities, bonds, derivatives and securitisation.

A stronger capital market, he said, was essential for financing long-term investment and supporting the country’s ambition to become a $3 trillion economy.

The government was also taking initiatives to tap global investors through dollar bonds in New York, Bangladesh-focused equity funds in Hong Kong, Panda bonds in China and Samurai bonds in Japan, he said.

Amir Khosru blamed the stock market’s past weaknesses partly on inadequate policy support and poor coordination among financial-sector regulators. He said coordination among Bangladesh Bank, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) had now been strengthened.

BSEC Chairman Masud Khan, who chaired the event, said the commission was moving to slash the lengthy approval process for initial public offerings (IPOs), with a target of reducing it from as long as one to one-and-a-half years to a maximum of three months.

He said rules governing direct listing were also being revised to ensure that only eligible and financially strong companies could enter the market.

The BSEC is also preparing to deploy artificial intelligence in market surveillance and establish real-time connectivity with brokers’ back-office systems to detect irregularities more quickly, Masud said.

The commission was simultaneously working to deepen the bond market, introduce derivatives and create opportunities for provident funds to invest part of their resources in corporate bonds and equities, he said.

Financial Institutions Division Secretary Nazma Mobarek stressed the need to strengthen the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) to rebuild investors’ confidence and improve the quality and credibility of financial reporting.

She also called for greater use of digital technology in market surveillance and said financial literacy campaigns should continue throughout the year rather than being confined to World Investor Week.

For the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), restoring investor confidence remains the biggest hurdle.

“No reform will be successful unless investors regain confidence,” DSE Chairman Mominul Islam said.

He said the DSE was strengthening surveillance to combat misleading information and fraud spread through social media. The exchange also plans to introduce AI-based monitoring to identify suspicious trading and other market abuses.