Ever since the dawn of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns that were put in place to contain the spread of the virus, the entire world economy has undergone a severe downturn. The state of affairs were absolutely further exacerbated by world events such as Russia's ill-conceived invasion of Ukraine.
While the impacts of these events have definitely been felt within the Bangladeshi context as well, the fact that the number of greenfield investment projects in our nation saw a steep decline during the first 11 months of the last year is indicative more of the fact that we have consistently failed to attract foreign investment in any meaningful capacity, in reference to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
In 2022, Bangladesh received greenfield investment projects worth $376 million, which was a 59% drop from 2021; while international project finance deals announced in 2022 also fell drastically, by 97% to be exact.
These are not sustainable trends for a country that seeks to earn the middle income status within the coming years.
Indeed, the fact that our nation seems to drop the ball in attracting, and indeed retaining, sources of foreign direct investment (FDI) is entirely in fashion with how we are still faring so poorly in facilitating businesses, both foreign and local.
According to the Greenfield Performance Index, factors such as contradictory regulations and profit repatriation difficulties are the primary reasons behind why we perform so poorly in attracting FDI.
Bangladesh has all the factors and in place to attract copious FDI. With the right mix, our country can achieve significant FDI, providing our economy with a much-needed boost and accelerating the journey towards becoming a developed country.
But, for that to pan out, we need to shed the historic barriers which have long kept Bangladesh's business environment from flourishing.