Bangladesh has a vision of becoming middle income country by 2021 and for that it needs growth of 7.5% to 8% with a rise of total investment to 33% from existing level of 27%.
Bangladesh has made good progress in business environment but with more simplification and improvement of regulatory framework, it can attract more investment, World Bank Group Trade and Competitiveness Director Cecile Fruman told the Dhaka Tribune.
There is improvement in Bangladesh in global Doing Business indicator but it is still long way to go, she said.
Fruman is of the view that a significant portion of the additional investment should come from private domestic and foreign sources as there is evidence private investment helps most in increasing growth rate.
Bangladesh needs $5 billion of foreign direct investment annually to meet the investment gap, he said.
According to the investment statistics, at present the FDI level is at $1.5 billion.
She said to increase investment, business climate needs to be improved.
It is very common that businesspeople complaint about red-tape or complicated administrative procedures like getting licence, she said.
Citing example, she said there are some laws which are hundred years old and those need to be upgraded.
Froman said according to law even at the present time, shareholders cannot be informed about annual general meeting through email or fax, rather a printed copy must be sent to them for notification.
Institutional capacity is another area where its improvement can help implement legal provisions, she said.
About global value chain, she said Bangladesh made good progress in readymade garment industry but has not been very successful in textiles value chain and branching into other related industries.
About overall environment, she said business people want predictability and good regulatory environment.
World Bank Group through IFC is helping the government in simplifying and improving regulatory regime, Froman said.
Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund was formed in 2007 and so far helped the government in streamlined 51 regulatory processes and enactment or amendment of 23 laws.
These resulted in saving of $253 million by the private entrepreneurs, she said adding IFC also helped attract 23 investment worth of $427 million.
IFC has a lot of expertise in legal and regulatory framework and ready to assist more in the area, she added.
