Licensing bottlenecks, power shortages, utility constraints and high borrowing costs are among the biggest challenges facing investors in Bangladesh, participants in a workshop observed on Thursday.
They also noted that high lending rates have made it difficult for entrepreneurs to secure working capital for setting up new industries.
The observations came at a divisional workshop on the 'Survey of industries in Bangladesh', jointly organised by the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) at a hotel in Khulna, according to a press release.
The workshop brought together government officials, private sector representatives, investors and other stakeholders from across the Khulna division to discuss investment challenges and possible policy solutions.
The survey, led by BIDA with financial support from ADB and technical assistance from SANEM, aims to identify the barriers faced by investors, develop a comprehensive investment database and support evidence-based policymaking to improve the country's investment climate.
Additional Divisional Commissioner of Khulna Sifat Mehnaz attended the workshop as the chief guest, while BIDA Director General Gazi A.K.M. Fazlul Haque chaired the session. Achia Sea Foods Ltd Managing Director Md. Tariqul Islam Zaheer was the guest of honour, while Tasnim Alam, Public Sector Economist at ADB Bangladesh, joined the workshop virtually.
Drawing on her experience as deputy commissioner in Meherpur and Kurigram, where agriculture dominates the local economy and industrial development remains limited, Sifat Mehnaz said investment promotion efforts should extend beyond divisional level to district level.
At the technical session, SANEM Executive Director Dr. Selim Raihan and Programme Director Zubayer Hossen presented the scope, methodology and stakeholder engagement plan for the survey.
Dr. Raihan said Bangladesh is simultaneously undergoing structural changes in energy, technology and the broader economy, making it essential to establish an integrated investment database.
He said investment-related data are currently fragmented, duplicated and scattered across institutions, weakening the evidence base for policymaking.
The project aims to create a unified investment information system linked to BIDA's one-stop service portal to support investment promotion and evidence-based policy decisions, he added.
saif.febd@gmail.com
