'Govt devising ways to address challenges of LDC graduation'

The government is drawing up a plan to address the challenges the country may face after graduating from the grouping of least-developed countries in 2024, an adviser said yesterday.

"We are trying to create an enabling environment for investment, and for that, skills development is very important," said Salman F Rahman, the prime minister's adviser on private industry and investment.

He spoke at a virtual roundtable organised by the Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).

Businessmen from different foreign companies operating in Bangladesh took part in the event styled, "FDI in a post-Covid world: New realities and reform priorities for Bangladesh."

At the event, participants raised concerns related to value-added tax (VAT) they face while paying indirect taxes to the government exchequer. He said the government will address the issues in the upcoming national budget. However, it will be difficult to reach the revenue collection target if the tax net is not expanded.

Bangladesh's duty structure is determined not only on the basis of protectionism, but also on productivity and local market size.

For instance, India can formulate a very liberal duty structure as its domestic market is big and productivity in its industrial units is also higher compared to that of Bangladesh, Rahman said.

There are a lot of challenges in attracting foreign direct investment and the government is addressing all of them, he added.

"Private investors want to know the predictability and continuity of policies of the National Board of Revenue," said FICCI President Rupali Chowdhury.

Some excellent progresses in the special economic zones took place in the areas of congenial legal and regulatory framework, said M Masrur Reaz, chairman of the Policy Exchange of Bangladesh.

He also said that further attention is required to ensure policy consistency at the country's economic zones.

Avijit Chowdhury, an executive member of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, said his office has been collecting information on the different challenges faced by foreign companies in Bangladesh so that the government can solve them.

Skills are considered as the software of economic growth while infrastructure is the hardware, said Kedar Lele, chief executive officer and managing director of Unilever Bangladesh.

Md Mahbub ur Rahman, CEO of HSBC Bangladesh, and Naser Ezaz Bijoy, CEO of Standard Chartered Bangladesh, also spoke at the event.