ent in the current fiscal. But to achieve the target, total investment should be around 34.3 percent from existing 28.7 percent, the editorial stated quoting the ADB. The investment growth is lower than expected, which is the main reason for the growth deficit in Bangladesh, said the editorial. Analysts said foreign investment will increase if the Board of Investment (BoI) could ensure two things for the investors – sufficient land and uninterrupted utilities like electricity and gas. Bangladesh economy has maintained a healthy 6 percent-plus growth rate in past decade, despite global shocks. Sustained growth has generated higher demand for improved infrastructure including uninterrupted power supply, better transport and telecommunication services. All these require higher private-sector investment, the editorial added. FDI inflow into the country was increasing during the last several years, which stood at $1.73 billion in FY 2013, registering a 45 percent growth over $1.19 billion a year ago. According to the Board of Investment (BoI) data, the United Kingdom topped the list of FDI contributors into Bangladesh followed by Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and USA in 2013. But analysts believe that most of these FDIs are meant for expansion of existing industries. FDI constituted a low share of 1.2 percent of the GDP in 2013 as against 1.3 percent in 2012, which is considered to be much lower compared to other countries, such as Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, the ICCB News Bulletin mentioned. Bangladesh has the potential to attract significantly higher FDI by positioning itself as a competitive center for labour intensive garment and footwear manufacturing as well as having a favorable location between the two large and dynamic economies, China and India, the editorial opined. Preferential access to key consumer markets in developed countries also makes it an attractive place for relocation of export-oriented industries. In order to attract more FDI, experts stressed the need for bringing all the services under one umbrella to ensure hassle-free investment atmosphere and one-stop service in true sense. At present, getting permission for any foreign investment-related project is very cumbersome. Investors need to move several ministries and government departments to obtain permission or licenses before making their investments, the ICCB bulletin added. BoI, being the apex private investment promotion agency, should formulate an Investment Policy to attract more FDI. There are vast amounts of government land which remained abandoned for long. The Privatisation Commission took a number of measures to use those, but could not make any significant headway because of some inter-ministerial issues. Besides, BoI needs to strengthen its human resources, develop its own basic core staff and arrange necessary training to provide better and prompt services prospective investors. Despite having very liberal legal framework, analysts stressed the need for removal of security concerns, further liberalization of trade-related policies and resolution of the problem of political uncertainty to attract more FDI, the bulletin suggests. In order to achieve higher growth trajectory, Bangladesh has to attract more FDI to address infrastructure deficit, productivity gap and diversification of export base as well as transparent and timely decision-making and ensuring stricter enforcement of government commitments, said the ICCB bulletin.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Bangladesh needs to boost GDP growth to become middle-income country:Daily Sun
ent in the current fiscal. But to achieve the target, total investment should be around 34.3 percent from existing 28.7 percent, the editorial stated quoting the ADB. The investment growth is lower than expected, which is the main reason for the growth deficit in Bangladesh, said the editorial. Analysts said foreign investment will increase if the Board of Investment (BoI) could ensure two things for the investors – sufficient land and uninterrupted utilities like electricity and gas. Bangladesh economy has maintained a healthy 6 percent-plus growth rate in past decade, despite global shocks. Sustained growth has generated higher demand for improved infrastructure including uninterrupted power supply, better transport and telecommunication services. All these require higher private-sector investment, the editorial added. FDI inflow into the country was increasing during the last several years, which stood at $1.73 billion in FY 2013, registering a 45 percent growth over $1.19 billion a year ago. According to the Board of Investment (BoI) data, the United Kingdom topped the list of FDI contributors into Bangladesh followed by Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and USA in 2013. But analysts believe that most of these FDIs are meant for expansion of existing industries. FDI constituted a low share of 1.2 percent of the GDP in 2013 as against 1.3 percent in 2012, which is considered to be much lower compared to other countries, such as Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, the ICCB News Bulletin mentioned. Bangladesh has the potential to attract significantly higher FDI by positioning itself as a competitive center for labour intensive garment and footwear manufacturing as well as having a favorable location between the two large and dynamic economies, China and India, the editorial opined. Preferential access to key consumer markets in developed countries also makes it an attractive place for relocation of export-oriented industries. In order to attract more FDI, experts stressed the need for bringing all the services under one umbrella to ensure hassle-free investment atmosphere and one-stop service in true sense. At present, getting permission for any foreign investment-related project is very cumbersome. Investors need to move several ministries and government departments to obtain permission or licenses before making their investments, the ICCB bulletin added. BoI, being the apex private investment promotion agency, should formulate an Investment Policy to attract more FDI. There are vast amounts of government land which remained abandoned for long. The Privatisation Commission took a number of measures to use those, but could not make any significant headway because of some inter-ministerial issues. Besides, BoI needs to strengthen its human resources, develop its own basic core staff and arrange necessary training to provide better and prompt services prospective investors. Despite having very liberal legal framework, analysts stressed the need for removal of security concerns, further liberalization of trade-related policies and resolution of the problem of political uncertainty to attract more FDI, the bulletin suggests. In order to achieve higher growth trajectory, Bangladesh has to attract more FDI to address infrastructure deficit, productivity gap and diversification of export base as well as transparent and timely decision-making and ensuring stricter enforcement of government commitments, said the ICCB bulletin.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment