JCI North arranged a seminar named “Development Opportunities in Emerging Economies and Roadmap for Scholarship and Funding” on 25 May 2024 at EMK center, Gulshan Dhaka. The main presenter of the seminar was Ms. Laura E Kodres, Former IMF Assistant Director and Associate at the Global Center for Finance and Policy. The other discussants were Prof Dr Abdul Hannan Chowdhury, former dean of the School of Business and Economics (SBE) at North South University (NSU), Mr. Ifty Islam, Chairman, Asian Tiger Capital Partners, Mr. M. Shaifur Rahman Mazumdar, FCA, FCMA, Managing Director, Chittagong Stock Exchange PLC (CSE), Mr. M.S. Siddiqui, Chief Executive Office, Bangla Chemicals and Legal Economist and Mr. Md. Nazmul Hasan, Associate Professor, University of Dhaka. Mr. Md. Minhaz Bin Salim, Board of Directors of JCI Dhaka North was the moderator of the event.

Ms. Laura covered the following points in her presentation such as, she underscored the pivotal role of central banks, particularly in maintaining trust through prudent monetary policy. The main action of a central bank is to create trust of the investors and others and also, ensuring depositors can retrieve their funds and facilitating lending for productive endeavors. In today’s more globalized world, a central bank not only supervises commercial banks but it also has a mandate to maintain the value of money. So, when depositors do get their money back, potentially with interest, that will actually help the country’s financial stability. She also discussed inflation rate, infrastructure, stock market and private sector. The opportunities in emerging economies are high, the main focus is to understand the opportunities and cope and also utilize them based on the needs.

Prof Dr Abdul Hannan Chowdhury, former dean of the School of Business and Economics (SBE) at North South University (NSU), highlighted the importance of creating a conducive environment for entrepreneurs, stating, “Country is yet not being able to actually create an atmosphere for entrepreneurs to even start their businesses. So, ease of doing business is something very important for Bangladesh to actually help out the entrepreneurs.”

Asian Tiger Capital Partners Chairman Mr. Ifty Islam said, “Financial technology could be a prime solution to reaching more investors with a variety of products at cheap prices and getting utmost returns. He added, Technology has a huge role and opportunity to play in bringing more investors into Bangladesh’s capital markets, potentially increasing the number of trading accounts to 20 million if we achieve similar proportions to China. Imagine a future where a rickshaw driver’s digital wallet automatically allocates his earnings into savings, mutual funds, and health insurance, transforming him into an active investor in Bangladesh’s stock market.

  Managing Director of Chittagong Stock Exchange PLC (CSE) Mr. M. Shaifur Rahman Mazumdar, FCA, FCMA, underscored the need for comprehensive policy support in the capital market. He said, the policy makers need to address a sound tax GDP issue. There are very few in our country. He emphasized the need for policies tailored to different sectors, stating, “The NBR is solely focused on revenue collection without providing specific policy directions for sectoral development. For instance, in the capital market, we require targeted policy support. Therefore, ensuring a robust regulatory structure becomes imperative.”

Legal economist and columnist Mr. MS Siddiqui remarked on the issue of market manipulation, stating, “Most of the companies are not giving the dividend. Now, when the problem arises, the mindset of the investors prompted the market manipulators to take advantage of this situation. “He further said, “We observe numerous non-profitable and weak companies experiencing sudden increases in share prices without any apparent reason or merit. This could be due to rumors or technical manipulations, creating a situation where inexperienced investors end up losing their money in the stock market. “Referring to the country’s Small and medium-sized enterprises [SME] sector situation and said, “Though we love SMEs but looking into this sector’s policy, we see that all of our policies are very regressive to this sector.”

In the panel discussion, moderated by JCI North Director Mr. Md Minhaz Bin Salim. Mr. Salim is currently serving as a financial sector regulator in Bangladesh. Mr. Minhaz also presented a brief presentation on “Roadmap of Scholarship and Funding” for the esteemed guests for their future career.

Moreover, the experts also emphasized the impact of technology on Bangladesh’s stock market, bank and other financial institutions. They noted that the proper use of technology in the financial sector will increase the trust of the customers and also will help increase the investment in this sector.

The participants were from reputed universities and renowned organizations.  More than 100 people joined through  Zoom connections and  in person . The main focus of the seminar was to explore the knowledge from experts among newcomers, who will be the next economic expertise in future. The program closed with the Vote of thanks by JCI National President Mr. Imran Kadir.