A new wave of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is all set to flow into Bangladesh after the Government’s decision to allow investments from overseas investors in the readymade garment sector in Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
“A good number of foreign investors for long have been pursuing the Government to allow investment in the readymade garment sector outside of the Export Processing Zones (EPZs). Considering the same, we have now decided to allow FDI in the garment sector in the SEZs as we are also working towards developing 100 such economic zones, spread across the country,” Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed reportedly maintained.
Bangladesh has set up the SEZs with an aim to attract FDI in all the potential sectors, including those located in the under-developed regions of the country to ensure rapid economic growth and development.
Although none of the SEZs is functional yet, countries like Japan, China and India (besides some individual foreign companies) have already taken land on lease from Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) to initiate their projects there.
“The Government has already allocated a SEZ for Japanese investors in Bangladesh; the Japanese investors can now invest in Bangladesh RMG sector,” Ahmed told the reporters after a meeting with Japanese Ambassador in Bangladesh, Masato Watanabe, at his Secretariat.
According to Statistics Bureau Data of Bangladesh, at present, there are around 350 Japanese investors including some multinationals that are doing business in Bangladesh. The number stood at a meagre 50, 10 years back.
To protect the local apparel manufacturers, Bangladesh Government has so far abstained from allowing FDI in the RMG sector outside the EPZs even though there’s no official bar on investment in this sector by overseas businessmen.
