Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury Sunday said the face of Bangladesh`s capital market will change completely within the next year, with the market becoming far stronger.

"If there is no accident and the capital market keeps running the way it is now, a huge positive change will come in the market within the next year," Khosru said at World Investor Week 2026, organised by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) at Khamarbari in the capital.

The minister said the capital market is in a much better position than in the past and investors are regaining confidence.

He added that many large foreign companies have also shown interest in investing in Bangladesh`s stock market.

"I was not confident about how I could approach big foreign companies with the capital market in this state. But when I talked to them, they expressed interest. They are constantly keeping track of Bangladesh. They trust the current leadership of Bangladesh. They will come to the Bangladesh market soon," he said.

Urging everyone to stop dwelling on past events in the capital market and move forward, Khosru said, "If we want integrity and transparency, we must become self-regulated. Every institution, including brokers, exchanges, investors and financial entities, must play the role of a self-regulator. I do not believe in regulatory bodies."

Stressing the need to bring the capital market into the broader economic ecosystem, he said the NBR, Bangladesh Bank and the capital market had so far worked like isolated islands. "Now we have built an ecosystem where everyone will work together."

The minister also warned that businesses relying on high-interest bank loans will not survive competition.

He said the government and private institutions alike tend to borrow from banks at high interest rates at the slightest need, an approach that cannot sustain businesses in the global market.

"Money must be raised from the market, and the best avenue for that is the capital market. We are also working to strengthen the bond market," he said.

Khosru said Bangladesh can never become a trillion-dollar economy by 2034 by borrowing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

"I have cancelled my meeting with the IMF. I have told them plainly that the government is not bound to accept their conditions. We need $50 billion every year. How much will the IMF give us? And then we would have to accept conditions again. All that is out from now on. We will raise money from the market and do business," he said.

Saying the government will not finance the business needs of state enterprises, the minister said, "Why should the government pay to buy aircraft? It cannot be that the government provides taxpayers` money and enterprises do business with it."

He said the country`s financial architecture is being overhauled and the economy will become market-based in the days ahead.

The depth of the shallow capital market will be increased to make the economy more market-oriented, he added.

Source: UNB