It is not an
overstatement to say that Bangladesh has been
suffering--most undeservedly--from an unfavourable perception abroad
The lingering image problem
Fida Kamal
Foreign direct investments (FDIs) into Bangladesh continue to be not so impressive whereas other countries in its neighbourhood continue to be major beneficiaries of FDIs.
Thus, it is time to analyse what are the major constraints standing in the way of attracting a much greater volume of FDIs by Bangladesh and to address them promptly and effectively.
Any sound analysis in this respect is very likely to show up that the biggest bottleneck apparently is the countrys inadequate energy supply. Investors in many cases get scared by tendentious or poorly written pieces in the media about insufficient power and gas in Bangladesh.
For example, there is hardly knowledge abroad that in recent years government has been able to increase power generation from a paltry 3,500 mw to nearly 6,5000 mw. This added generation capacity is meeting largely the current demand for electricity. More significant is the fact that government remains engaged dedicatedly in a fast-track programme to boost power production to the neigbourhood of 10,000 mw by the time it ends its tenure in 2018.
A similar energetic programme and its execution is noted to increase gas production and find new reserves of gas. Already, some gas fields have been discovered and gas from the same is being readied for sending to the national gas grid .
Thus, the energy situation is looking up as a whole and foreign investors can expect steady and reliable supplies of energy in Bangladesh in the mid and longer terms. But how many potential foreign investors know about this improving energy situation in Bangladesh? A few perhaps.
It is not an overstatement to say that Bangladesh has been suffering--most undeservedly--from an unfavourable perception abroad. There are many determinants of FDIs such as a positive macro economic environment, sound state of infrastructures, easily trainable workers, good terms and conditions for repatriation of capital and profit by the investors, etc.
Bangladesh is not lacking so much in these aspects in relation to its neighbours. In fact, its labour cost is lower than even China or other countries in the South Asian region. Its infrastructures need upgrading and improvement but are not so bad as to divert foreign investments on a large scale. Its macro economy, with some slumps, has been stable on the whole for a long period. The macro economic indicators, specially the foreign currency reserve, improved a great deal in recent years.
Besides, the aptitude of its workforce to adapt to the requirements and training of foreign funded enterprises is noted to be relatively good. Certainly, the conditions for FDIs in Bangladesh can be further improved or need to be improved. But the same can be no reasons for greater foreign investments not coming into the country.
Bangladesh should have been a notable investment destination for foreign investors by now from whatever opportunities it presently extends to them. Why the investors have not responded yet to these opportunities, if one main answer is sought to this question, it could be that potential investors are mainly ignorant about what this country has to offer to them or they are demotivated by an image problem of the country that does no justice to it. The local press and local correspondents of the foreign media, operating from Bangladesh, should take the lead in reporting extensively the success stories of Bangladesh in the economic spheres instead of emphasizing only the negatives of the country.
The writer is a contributor to The Independent
