Government is not serious-Dengue in the health sector killing the people whereas dengue in the stock market destroying the market!

Nepal’s battle with dengue took a serious turn this year as a number of cases are being diagnosed as dengue in a number of hospitals throughout the country. Things got more serious as the capital Kathmandu had more than 1000 cases reported as dengue in the first week of September. Things got even worse when dengue was reported even in the Hills and Himalayas of the country and among ministers of the country. However, the rate of mosquito carried illness has escalated rapidly as government failed to create effective awareness among the general public. A lot of residents might use mosquito nets at night however, dengue is the disease caused by a female mosquito that remains active during day time. The unmanaged wastages around the city further increase the likelihood of accelerating the disease. In the days to come, the frequent rainfall accompanied by high temperature is likely to upsurge the number of dengue causing mosquito. While all of these are taking place, the least active party seems to be the government. Government needs to intervene in order to control the further prevalence of the disease. Resources from local, provincial, regional and national level are to be mobilized in order to create awareness campaign to stop further prevalence of the disease. However, government does not seem to be serious as no actions have been taken place.

The fatalities caused by dengue cannot be compensated in any form. Government’s lack of interest to create effective awareness is evident not only in the health sector but also in the stock market. Nepalese stock market that has been the victim of continuous downtrend looks no different than the dengue infected market. The market has been affected by lack of innovative stock market related products, consistent hinder in Capital Gain Tax (CGT) calculation, a back and forth approach in introducing several policies and technical glitches in NEPSE’s website have contributed to the downfall of the market. Although a lot of experts keep on quoting “market moves on its own pace and no intervene can change market direction” however, government’s policies and perspective towards stock market can change investors’ thinking towards stock market. For instance, US president Donald Trump’s tweet in favour of trade war impacted the US stock market. In the same way, if government remains positive about stock market, prioritizes banking economy and stock market equally and broadens the horizon of stock market, it is likely that the investors will be interested in the stock market.

Despite such good quarterly reports of banks and financial institutes, investors do not seem interested in the market. Although online trading has been brought back in track yet investors are not interested in the secondary market. A lot of negative events during the current government tenure changed investors’ impression towards the market, destroying the market’s momentum.

SEBON, the regulator body, hasn’t come up with even a single press statement showing concern to the downtrend. As a regulatory body, SEBON can be accountable for the bad performance of the market. SEBON has never really undertaken strict action against the slowdown in license distribution to banks, broker houses inefficiency in opening branches outside valley, ineffective online trading and several CGT issues. When the regulatory body is itself passive, how can we expect investors to be active in the market?  Besides, the ministry of finance hasn’t shown any interest in reforming or restructuring the stock market. Usually, the stock market is also motivated by new companies being listed in the stock market. However, ministry has done nothing to ensure that the new companies take part in the IPO process. The only thing that is lacking in the market is enough awareness and confidence among the investors. If government and concerned institutes come together to encourage investors and to reform stock market, then the secondary market can progress considerably.   

Let us know your thought on this. Should government intervene with some effective policies or words of encouragement?