Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Political instability has become a major impediment on the way to free flow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Bangladesh, Rupali Chowdhury, President of Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) told the New Nation on Monday.
“Bangladesh has been suffering from considerable political instability could be identified as one of the key deterrents of foreign investment,” she added. Along with political unrest, she stated that bureaucratic red tape, bad roads and poor communications, high cost of doing business and energy crisis are other impediments to foreign investment.
Rupali Chowdhury, also the Managing Director of Berger Paints (BD) Ltd, further said that foreign direct investment in Bangladesh is still low in comparison with investment in other developing nations because the country is yet to address the problems.
When our regional competitors have been able to attract a large amount of foreign investment every year whereas investment in Bangladesh remained stagnant over the years, she observed.
Referring to a data, she said, despite the prolonged global crisis, Indonesia attracted $18 billion foreign investment, Vietnam $8.1 billion and Philippines $4.0 billion. But in Bangladesh, it hovered between $1.6 and billion $1.8 only due mainly to various bottlenecks.
Commenting on the ongoing political turmoil, she said, “Violent street protest has contributed to a deterioration of law and order situation. And it has created a deep sense of insecurity among the foreign investors operating in Bangladesh.
“A panic has been created all around, and it could further erode confidence of the foreign investors,” she added.
When asked, the FICCI leader said, “The foreign companies, which are operating in Bangladesh, however, will not certainly pull off their investment because they have come with a long-term business plan”.
She said that the current blockade has affected goods transportation and day-to-day movement of the common people. “It has also created disruption on distribution system, supply chain and factory production leading to huge financial losses to both foreign and local companies.”
“Our sales have gone down by 30 to 40 percent due to the non-stop blockade. If the situation lingers, it would negatively affect our yearly business transaction, profit and expansion plan”.
She urged all the stakeholders to work together in maintaining law and order, peace and stability in the country for the economic progress.
“I believe that political stability, rule of law, friendly policy and low level of corruption contribute not only to attract FDI inflow but also have a positive influence on economic development through the stimulation of investment in general,” she said.
