It is very encouraging to learn that foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increased by 37% year on year (YoY) and reached $3.44 billion in the previous fiscal year.
By now, everyone is aware of the integral role investment will play for Bangladesh to reach the next level in its economic journey, and the authorities concerned have indeed become cognizant of this fact, enacting a number of policies that would help the country become more investment-friendly.
And it is good to see these policy changes paying dividends; particularly encouraging is the figure of over $2billion in reinvestment of earnings, up 29%, that shows that foreign investors are willing to expand their businesses with the money from current operations.
However, despite these positive turnarounds, to even begin to get complacent would be an error. We have yet to reach even pre-pandemic levels of FDI in Bangladesh, and if we are indeed to successfully transition to a middle-income economy and then beat the middle-income trap to become a high-income nation, we must increase the overall investment in our country manifold.
It is disappointing to learn that, as per numerous economic experts, foreign investors still face various hurdles that need to be overcome before establishing their business ventures; indeed, as per the Centre for Policy Dialogue(CPD), only about a third of registered investors eventually end up investing in the country, which is a monumental loss.
Thus, it is now up to the authorities concerned to investigate why we are losing these investors, and ensure that we have the right policies along with the appropriate practices to ensure that they are able to go from registration to eventual investment smoothly, receiving all the necessary services. It is the only way Bangladesh will ever truly become a destination for investment.