Shibli Rubaiyat-ul-Islam, chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), the capital market regulator, said the next budget would propose a 15 per cent tax gap between listed and unlisted companies.

He was speaking as the chief guest at a press conference on the sidelines of a road show in Dubai, United Arab Emirates today (February 2) to attract expatriate Bangladeshis and foreigners to invest in the Bangladeshi capital market .

The BSEC chairman said that if multinational companies were listed on the capital market, the cost would increase by two to three per cent in compliance with their rules and regulations. By doing so, they are losing interest in getting listed. Moreover, multinational companies do not need money. They have extra money. That’s why they have to give some incentives. In this case, the only way to give them incentives is tax exemption. If the corporate tax rate gap is made 15 per cent, they will be interested in the case as they are listed.

He added that the corporate tax gap needs to be widened if multinational companies are to be listed on the capital market. Earlier, the non-list tax gap was 10 per cent, but in the current budget it has been reduced to 6.5 per cent. As a result, multinational companies are losing interest in being listed on the capital market. Therefore, in order to bring multinational companies to the capital market, the gap between these two categories of corporate tax has to be increased.

Regarding the road show held in Dubai at that time, Shibli Rubaiyat-ul Islam said, “Even though it is called a road show, it is not like the usual road show.” The BSEC Road Show on Dubai has organized some special exhibitions to attract foreign and Bangladeshi expatriate investors to invest in the country’s capital market. The four-day event will feature a variety of events and special attractions for non-resident Bangladeshis, interested in sukuk or Islamic bonds, angel investors, venture capitalists and guests from a variety of sectors. There were plans to hold the event in the future in various developed cities including London, Rome, Toronto, Hong Kong, New York, Singapore, Tokyo, Malaysia, but it is not happening due to the Corona epidemic. However, the situation in Dubai is somewhat normal, he said, adding that the event is being started in Dubai.