It's not govt responsibility to protect small investors: Salman F Rahman

The prime minister's private industry and investment adviser Salman F Rahman on Wednesday said it is not the responsibility of the government to protect investors who experience losses after making their own investment decisions without coming through institutional investors.

"I have also heard today that everyone is talking about protecting small investors. It is not the government's responsibility to protect small investors. Small investors should not invest here. They should invest through institutional channels," he said at a pre-budget discussion at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center in the capital.

The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the daily Samakal, and the private television station Channel 24 jointly organised the event.

Salman F Rahman said 90-95% of the daily transactions in the country's stock market are done by small investors, while the remaining 5-10% are done by institutional investors. Whereas in the frontier markets of other countries, the participation of institutional investors in daily transactions is 90% and that of small investors is 10%.

"Here we only use a broker as an intermediary, but the investment decisions are taken by me as a retail investor. And whenever I incur a loss due to my mistake, the responsibility will be on the government to make up for this loss. Very nice!" he ridiculed.

"There remains a very vital structural flaw in our capital market. Many of us talk a lot, but we are not doing the work that needs to be done to solve these weaknesses," added the prime minister's adviser.

He emphasised prioritising the bond market to strengthen the capital market of the country.