Boosting investments
Tuesday, 23 October 2007
THE problem that is showing up increasingly worryingly in the economy of Bangladesh, is the dearth of new investment activities. Recent reports in the media indicated a 30 per cent decline in investment proposals in the first nine months of 2007. This gives a clue how the economy is turning sluggish which has already affected and will affect more so in the coming months the gamut of necessities from employment and earnings to meeting the costs of living of people. Investment operations are central to any economy to take care of even the basic bread and butter issues of people. Very simply understood, investments lend to economic growth which in turn creates additional economic opportunities for the sustenance of people. Therefore, it is so very important to pull up the sagging investment activities with the taking of fastest measures to that end.
It is regrettable that the expected and badly needed drive to promote investments remains yet to be fully geared up although the move was initiated with high enthusiasm. For example, the concerned authorities held a number of dialogue with the expatriate Bangladeshi communities in several developed countries with the aim of inducing them to invest in Bangladesh specially in the changed context in Bangladesh. The response to the move was also not unsatisfactory. The Bangladeshis living in Canada, the UK, the USA, Germany and other countries expressed their desire in concrete terms to invest a substantial amount of funds in power, real estate, leather, agricultural goods and information technology sectors. The promises were held out about doing everything to smoothen the path of such investment flows. But no evidence is in sight that these investment proposals are moving forward.
The quick actions on these investment proposals from the non resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) would be highly favourable for the country on various counts. First of all, they would be readily filling an investment vacuum that was created in the wake of the crackdown against many local businesses for their alleged unethical activities. New investment by these businesses understandably remains on hold as they are yet to sort out the charges against them or acquire confidence. In this situation, a substantial amount of uncontroversial investments injected in the economy by the NRBs could be very helpful to keep the economy on a satisfactory growth track. But the same calls for fast actions on the part of officialdom in Bangladesh but the speed is clearly lacking. If the NRBs who have shown much interest and are keen to act on their investment proposals immediately happen to lose heart for inordinate delays in sorting out their investment proposals, then who should be blamed? The proverbial wisdom is to strike the iron while it is hot and this wisdom has to be exercised with a greater speed than before, in the present scheme of things.
Apart from the investment by the NRBs, already registered but not materialised investment proposals with the Board of Investment(BOI) to the tune of US$ 12.8 billion have been awaiting a positive decision for many months. Some of these projects will, of course, require scrutiny and consideration from the highest levels of the government. But no such serious controversy is there about a large number of other project proposals which could be dealt with, at greater speed to bring the investors around by now to implementing them. But this has not happened. Thus, investment-promotional activities have to be stepped up, more in practice than in words. In this context, all concerned do need to appreciate it now in earnest that improvement of the investment climate would largely depend on how well the official apparatuses get their act together and discharge their role quickly and efficiently than anything else in order to get things move expeditiously to translate the investment proposals into ground-level tangible actions.
It is regrettable that the expected and badly needed drive to promote investments remains yet to be fully geared up although the move was initiated with high enthusiasm. For example, the concerned authorities held a number of dialogue with the expatriate Bangladeshi communities in several developed countries with the aim of inducing them to invest in Bangladesh specially in the changed context in Bangladesh. The response to the move was also not unsatisfactory. The Bangladeshis living in Canada, the UK, the USA, Germany and other countries expressed their desire in concrete terms to invest a substantial amount of funds in power, real estate, leather, agricultural goods and information technology sectors. The promises were held out about doing everything to smoothen the path of such investment flows. But no evidence is in sight that these investment proposals are moving forward.
The quick actions on these investment proposals from the non resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) would be highly favourable for the country on various counts. First of all, they would be readily filling an investment vacuum that was created in the wake of the crackdown against many local businesses for their alleged unethical activities. New investment by these businesses understandably remains on hold as they are yet to sort out the charges against them or acquire confidence. In this situation, a substantial amount of uncontroversial investments injected in the economy by the NRBs could be very helpful to keep the economy on a satisfactory growth track. But the same calls for fast actions on the part of officialdom in Bangladesh but the speed is clearly lacking. If the NRBs who have shown much interest and are keen to act on their investment proposals immediately happen to lose heart for inordinate delays in sorting out their investment proposals, then who should be blamed? The proverbial wisdom is to strike the iron while it is hot and this wisdom has to be exercised with a greater speed than before, in the present scheme of things.
Apart from the investment by the NRBs, already registered but not materialised investment proposals with the Board of Investment(BOI) to the tune of US$ 12.8 billion have been awaiting a positive decision for many months. Some of these projects will, of course, require scrutiny and consideration from the highest levels of the government. But no such serious controversy is there about a large number of other project proposals which could be dealt with, at greater speed to bring the investors around by now to implementing them. But this has not happened. Thus, investment-promotional activities have to be stepped up, more in practice than in words. In this context, all concerned do need to appreciate it now in earnest that improvement of the investment climate would largely depend on how well the official apparatuses get their act together and discharge their role quickly and efficiently than anything else in order to get things move expeditiously to translate the investment proposals into ground-level tangible actions.