The growth of private sector investment dropped by 4.13 percentage points to 7.47 per cent in the just concluded fiscal slowing down employment in the country, an expert said.
According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the private sector investment grew 11.6 per cent in fiscal 2006-07.
"The investment by the private sector has failed to create employment opportunities," said Zaid Bakth, research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
The private sector entrepreneurs invested about Tk 7174.42 billion in the FY08 while the investment was Tk 8548.14 billion in the previous fiscal.
The lower investment has been attributed to political uncertainty, anti-corruption drive, high inflation and high bank interest rates.
But higher trend of investment should be maintained to employ additional manpower and increase income generation capacity of the people in the present context of higher inflation and food price trends, Mr. Bakth said.
He said: "The lower investment has resulted in less employment and eroded purchasing capacity of middle and lower income groups."
Besides, it has affected the overall GDP growth in the FY08. The GDP growth in the last fiscal declined to 6.21 per cent from 6.5 per cent in the FY07.
"The country's GDP growth might hit 7.0 per cent if the investment growth sustained like previous years," he said.
The BBS data showed the public sector investment growth remained almost static in the last couple of fiscal years.
The public sector investment growth was 3.62 per cent in FY06, 2.97 per cent FY07 and 2.69 per cent in FY08.
Experts said the investment growth will be a major challenge in the coming years due to deteriorating situation in the country's energy and power sectors.
"Severe energy and power crisis is the major impediments to the country's investment mainly by the private sector," said an expert.
Private sector has been the main driving force of the country's economic growth accounting for more than 90 per cent in the recent years.
The expert said the country could gain investment boom if the government settles some big investment proposals including Tata's US$3.0 billion.
He suggested the government to develop infrastructure including improvement of energy and power supply for attracting more investment in the country.
