Given the ongoing challenges plaguing both global and Bangladesh economy, there was no other way to draw foreign direct investment (FDI) to boost local industrial production without efficiency, experts said during a book launch on Thursday.
These constraints must be addressed as soon as possible, which may be addressed by increasing the efficiency of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida)'s one-stop service (OSS), they also said.
They made the remarks during the launching of four books by Abdullah Shibli, a former Dhaka University faculty, who also worked for the World Bank and Harvard University.
The launch was organized by the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI), where Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen was the chief guest.
“I have read several of his (Shibli) op-eds on Covid-19. He gave an excellent account of many of the issues during that time. But I think he didn't write much about how we, as a country, have overcome that problem. I hope that the direction of this write-up will be useful for us in the days to come,” Momen commented.
“There is no denying that we are going through a few problems in the economy. In this case, FDI could be very useful. If we can secure investment from abroad, it is also possible to increase our exports along with solving the dollar crisis,” he added.
“Moreover, if investment increases, job resources will also increase. But many people are not interested in investing here, because if you want to do business in this country, you need permission from 43 institutions. These should be facilitated through the OSS. And in this case, Bida has to be more efficient,” the minister went on to explain.
“Bida's infrastructure has improved a lot but I think their institutional efficiency in ease of doing business has not improved much in terms of bringing in FDI and foreign investors,” said AKM Abdullah, senior financial sector specialist at the World Bank.
The titles of the four books are “Economics Crosscurrents”, “Economic Essays”, “A Fairy Tale: Autobiographical Stories” and “Stories in Memory of Syed Mujtaba Ali” respectively.
Contents
“Economic Crosscurrents” is a collection of short essays published in Op-Ed section of The Daily Star during 2018-2021.
The essays cover a range of topics including Brexit negotiations, international trade issues, monetary policy, inflation, and environmental policy.
“A Fairy Tale: Autobiographical Stories” is the second volume of Shibli's autobiography, written at different time periods, mostly between 2010 and 2018, and captures the life of his family over half a century.
“Stories in Memory of Syed Mujtaba Ali” includes essays inspired by Ali.
“Economic Essays” is a collection of short essays published in the Op-Ed section of The Daily Star.
The book offers insights into tricky questions that the global economy is now facing in 2023 with rising inflation, energy crisis, and the Ukraine War.
“I had to face a lot of problems in getting the data while writing the op-eds. I believe, exact data is essential not only for writing good op-eds or books, but also for making sound policies," said Shibli.
Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of PRI; Syed Manzoorul Islam, former professor, University of Dhaka; CQK Mustaq Ahmed, former senior secretary, and Rebecca Haque, former professor, University of Dhaka, were also present at the program.
Abdullah Shibli has a PhD and MA in Economics from Boston University and a BA (Honors) and MA in Economics from Dhaka University.
He has published several books and numerous articles on economics, environmental policy, and information technology in refereed professional journals.
He has written nine books including “Investment Opportunities, Household Savings, and Rates of Return on Investment”, “Economics is Fun, Short Essays for the Masses”, “A Chance Encounter”, and “Economics and Policy in the Public Arena”.
Currently he lives in Boston, USA and works in ICT in the healthcare industry.
He taught for 10 years at universities in Massachusetts.
He is currently a senior research fellow of International Sustainable Development Institute (ISDI), a think tank.
