BD’s potentials of attaining huge FDI needs more to do: Experts
Reza Mahmud :
Unabated potentials have been created for Bangladesh to attain enormous direct foreign investment (FDI) after imposing USA additional tariff on different countries.
Experts urged the government to ensure strong infrastructural support for tapping those potentials of mammoth FDI and local investment.
The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida) and other government authorities received a total of $1.25 billion in investment proposals between January and June this year.
Of the total proposals, foreign investments accounted for $465 million, while local investors put forward $700 million. Joint ventures contributed another $85 million, CA Press Wing said it on Thursday.
The figures were disclosed at the 5th meeting of the Investment Coordination Committee held at the Chief Adviser’s Office in Dhaka.
The meeting was chaired by Lutfey Siddiqi, special envoy to the chief adviser on international affairs, and attended by Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur and National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan.
Meanwhile, experts said, US additional tariff has created huge opportunities of FDI in different sectors in Bangladesh but needed ensuring certain facilities including uninterrupted gas supplying and port efficiency.
When contacted, Mir Nasir Hossain, former President of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) told The New Nation on Thursday, “US additional tariff kept Bangladesh to a favorable position as many of our competitors fell in hardship like neighboring India.”
“In these circumstances, Bangladesh has to ensure uninterrupted gas supplying for industry sector. The efficiency of port facilities also has to increase the other infrastructural supports and political stability also needed,” he said.
The business leader said the government has to import more LNGs to make up shortages of gas supply as our local productions are declining.
He said also that Chinese investors have shown their keenness on investing more in different sectors in Bangladesh.
The Investment Coordination Committee meeting disclosed that China emerged as the largest source of foreign investment proposals, with commitments of around $330 million. Significant proposals also came from Singapore, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates.
Bida officials informed the meeting that of the $1.25 billion worth of proposals, $231 million have so far reached the final stage of approval.
This represents a conversion rate of around 18percent, which they noted is consistent with the global average of 15-20percent.
The meeting also discussed container congestion at Chattogram Port, where around 6,500 containers have remained stranded for an extended period.
The Chattogram Port Authority informed the committee that more than 1,000 containers had been auctioned in the past two months as part of measures to ease congestion.
Special Envoy Lutfey Siddiqi instructed officials to further accelerate the auctioning process.
Port officials added that preparations were underway to auction another 500 containers next month, with the handover of auctioned goods already in progress.
The meeting also reviewed the progress of the Bangladesh Business Portal (BBP), an integrated online platform that will combine services of Bida, Beza, Bepza, and BSCIC.
Authorities said the platform was in its final stages of development, with a soft launch planned for the first week of September and a full launch by the end of the month.
