Minister urges businesses to invest in Bangladesh, not export money abroad

The planning minister has launched an appeal for investment in Bangladesh when businessmen are lobbying to get their money abroad citing lack of infrastructure and political instability.

Both secretly and openly and in amounts large and small, industrialists are exporting money, much of it illegally. 

AHM Mustafa Kamal sought to reassure Bangladeshis at the closing ceremony of the ‘Bangladesh Investment and Policy Summit’ in Dhakaon Monday.

“Invest in Bangladesh. Please don’t channel your money out of the country,” the minister said.

At a post-meet news conference, FBCCI President Abdul Matlub Ahmed claimed to have portrayed Bangladesh as an attractive investment destination.

The conference took place amid the gloom in investment despite improvement in several key economic indexes over the past few years.

A day before, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the summit and urged local and foreign entities to invest in Bangladesh, which she said has changed in the last five years.

Mustafa Kamal, at the Radission Hotel, highlighted Bangladesh’s achievement in maintaining a steady GDP growth while many countries have failed on the front.

“Bangladesh has massive potential. It will be in the league of rich states by 2040,” he remarked.

He said the incumbent government is business-friendly, and “if you invest here, you will not lose capital”.

But businesses say money stacked in banks is not being invested in the country because of lack of gas and electricity supply, and fears of political volatility creeping back.

Many trade associations have approached the government for permission to invest their funds abroad.

But Minister Kamal claimed the political situation in Bangladesh was good. “If you invest abroad, after 10 years you’ll find that someone else has seized the opportunity that is being created now.”

He said if local investors bet their money here, it will act as an encouragement for foreign investors. “There’s no room for lack of confidence when it comes to investing in Bangladesh.”

Later, at the media call in the presence of Matlub Ahmed, Kamal said: “Money breeds money. The $11 billion worth of investment proposals made in this summit will bring in more investment if we can implement them.”

On the opening day of the summit, Indian conglomerate Adani Group expressed interest to invest $8 billion and Reliance Group $3 billion.

FBCCI chief Ahmed hopes big investors from other countries will follow suit.

“The biggest investment proposal has come in this summit. We have proved that Bangladesh is a great place for investment.”

Masroor Reaz, representative of the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, said the success of the summit lies in the fact that investors got a confident vibe about Bangladesh.

“We’ve been able to show our positive side to them,” added BILD Chairman Asif Ibrahim.

A former Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief, he said recommendations made in the summit include making the listing on the capital market easy, making available suitable land to set up  factories, developing skilled human resources, establishing an investment bank for long-term financing, making the process to leave business, agreement and tax holiday easy and updating foreign investment law.