FDI soars 71pc, hits record

Bangladesh received its highest-ever foreign direct investment of $3.6 billion in 2018, official figures showed yesterday.

The FDI flow is 71.43 percent higher than the $2.1 billion the country drew in 2017, according to Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida).

“Yet, the inflow hasn’t met our expectation,” said M Aminul Islam, executive chairman of Bida, at a press briefing at the agency in the capital’s Agargaon.

“We will have to amend our rules and regulations to take the FDI flow to our expected level.”

Of the FDI amount, $834 million came from China, the highest from any country, followed by the Netherlands that brought in $692 million.

Besides, $371 million came from the United Kingdom, $174 million from the United States, $171 million from Singapore, $170 million from Hong Kong, $121 million from India and $108 million from Norway.

Of the total, $1.12 billion was in the form of equity capital, $1.3 billion reinvested earnings and the rest $1.18 billion intra-company loans.

Islam said Bida has taken initiatives to amend a number of rules and regulations that were directly related to foreign direct investment.

Bida received proposals involving $11 billion in foreign direct investment last year.

“If all of the proposals are materialised, the need of FDI in Bangladesh will improve massively in the coming days,” Islam said.

He said foreign investors who were already in Bangladesh were reinvesting which proves that their confidence in the country has grown.

The FDI inflow is rising because of the improvement in power generation as well as implementation of a number of mega projects, he said.