Government supports secondary debt market

SECP to ensure trade of govt bonds enter stock markets.

ISLAMABAD:

Finance Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar has said that the government is keen to develop the secondary debt market with particular focus on the retail segment. Trading of government securities at the stock exchanges of Pakistan will encourage participation of small and private investors, and the increase in depth of the secondary debt market will also contribute in the development of the secondary corporate debt market, he said.

He made these observations during a presentation made to him by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) at the Finance Ministry on Saturday.

Acting chairman SECP Tahir Mehmood also informed the finance minister that there has been an increase of 17% in the incorporation of new companies since 1st July 2013 as compared to the same period, last year. In addition, nearly 2,000 companies, which had been dormant for many years, have recently regularised themselves by filing over-due returns.

The finance minister said that although government securities are being actively traded in the over the counter market, the same is not visible at a single platform. The availability of trading data at a single platform will enhance the visibility of the secondary debt market, thereby encouraging foreign investment.

The finance minister said that this is reflective of the confidence of the business community in the pro-business policies and the economic initiatives taken by the PML-N government including the incentives scheme launched recently by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The minister directed the SECP to draft necessary regulations for setting up a Real Estate Regularity Authority to regulate the sector at par with modern jurisdiction.

The finance ministry had decided that T-Bills and PIBs would be listed, quoted and traded in the Stock Exchanges in February 2014 after completing the necessary legal and corporate formalities.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2013.

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