Economic Reporter :
Bangladesh is going to form a taskforce to make a strategic plan on “how to attract the companies, which are leaving from China,” to invest here.
According to the Commerce Ministry sources, Japan, the US and Europe have announced they will relocate their factories from China to reduce their dependence on a single country. Japan has already allocated $2.2 billion to help its manufacturers shift production units out of China. Korean companies are also planning to move out of China.
“Many factories are moving out of China. Already Indonesia, India and Vietnam have offered several packages luring the companies to invest in their countries,” said Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi in a meeting at the Secretariat office in the capital on Thursday.
“We will make a plan to attract the companies, after reviewing the offers of other countries,” the commerce minister added.
Foreign Minister Abdul Momen said, “Japan Embassy has sent a list of the Japanese companies, those moved from China, to us. We are communicating with them.”
He also said, “Foreign investors sometimes say, they have to face three governments while investing in Bangladesh. One is Bangladesh Bank, another is Commerce Ministry and last one is NBR.”
Vietnam, India, Indonesia – and some other countries – are racing to get their share of the pie from the probable exodus of factories from China. Bangladesh does not seem particularly active to get its share.
Sirajul Islam, Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), said that the investment scenario would be completely changed after the post Covid-19 pandemic and every country would have to take special efforts to draw the attention of foreign investors.
“We are working on making package proposals for foreign investors. However, we can just make recommendations,” Islam said.
He said he holding in talks with two Japanese agencies – the Japan International Cooperation Agency and Japan External Trade Organization – and discussed investment opportunities in Bangladesh.
An unprecedented shutdown amid the pandemic has badly impacted the global economy. The situation will slow Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA)’s ambition to bring in billions of dollars-worth of investments in its Mirsarai economic zone.
As of February, BEZA got investment proposals worth $20.50 billion from 151 local and foreign businesses. Of the amount, about $3 billion has already been invested in different special economic zones.
About $5.78 billion will come from foreign investors including: China, South Korea, Japan, India, Singapore, UK, Australia, Malaysia, and US.
So far, the two investment promotion agencies – the BEZA and the BIDA – have kept their activities limited to writing letters to the government mentioning the present situation, including challenges to getting foreign investments for post Covid-19.
However, Vietnam and India have started talking to many Japanese and US firms that want to move out of China. The Indian government, in April, reached out to more than 1,000 US companies and reportedly offered them incentives to move to India from China.
Paban Chowdhury, Executive Chairman of BEZA, said shocks to consumer demand and the economic impact of supply chain disruptions will affect investment prospects around the globe, amid the pandemic, and the ripple effect could cause a major setback to efforts of governments to attract foreign investments needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
