Bangladesh attracts second highest FDI in South Asia

Foreign Direct Investment in Bangladesh hit a three-year high last year, enabling the nation to stay as the second most favoured destination in the subcontinent after India, said World Investment Report 2022.

Bangladesh got $2.9 billion last year, registering 13 percent growth year-on-year and recovering from the drop to $2.56 billion the previous year caused by the pandemic, according to the report released at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on June 9.

The UNCTAD report said FDI flows recovered to pre-pandemic levels last year, reaching nearly $1.6 trillion, but this course is unlikely to sustain in 2022.

With the 2021 inflows, FDI stock rose to $21.58 billion, according to the report titled "International tax reforms and sustainable investment".

It said to cope with an environment of uncertainty and risk aversion, developing countries must get significant help from the international community.

"The need for investment in productive capacity, in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in climate change mitigation and adaptation is enormous. Current investment trends in these areas are not unanimously positive," Rebeca Grynspan, UNCTAD secretary-general, said in a statement.

"It is important that we act now. Even though countries face very alarming immediate problems stemming from the cost-of-living crisis, it is important we are able to invest in the long term."

The FDI inflows to India were $44 billion last year, down from $60 billion the previous year, the report said.