Bangladesh: Optimal investment destination
1. Consistent Economic Growth
Despite ups-and-downs in the global economy and the subsequent slump in growth, Bangladesh’s economy has been maintaining an impressive growth rate of more than 6% on average over the last 10 years.
2. Industrious low-cost work force
Bangladesh offers a well-educated, highly adaptive and industrious workforce with economic wage level, proven by its remarkable success in RMG manufacturing and export. About 57.3% of the population is under 25, providing a youthful group for recruitment. In each year around 2 million youth is entering in the job market.
3. Low cost snergy
Energy prices in Bangladesh are much cheaper compared to neighbouring countries.
4. Strategic location of economic zones
The locations of economic zones of the country have been chosen, based on regional connectivity, proximity to highways, access to ports, abundance of labour force, and backward linkage opportunities.
5. Competitive incentives to the economic zone developers and units established in the economic zones
The government provided similar fiscal and financial incentives and benefits to industrial units as provided to the industrial units covered under Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority Act, 1980 and Bangladesh Private Export Processing Zone Act, 1996. Bangladesh offers the most liberal FDI regime in South Asia, allowing 100% foreign equity with unrestricted exit policy, remittance of royalty, facilities, equity and dividend.
6. Polices and reforms
• Continued reforms taking place embracing global best practices •A positive attitude among policy makers towards undertaking re- forms for business growth. •A special high-level committee works for policy and regulatory improvement. • Bangladesh has a large domestic
market of nearby 160 million. • Middle class (with purchasing
power) is growing fast. •Access to regional market of about 3.0 billion people through regional and bilateral integration in South Asia •Bangladesh has preferred market access (global reach) to large developed markets •ASEAN/East Asian investors can utilise Bangladesh as an export springboard to the world.
8. According to doing business report 1014 Bangladesh stands in the south Asian region in the following positions
• The 2nd easiest place for doing
business in the SA region • 2nd easiest place in the region
to do business • 2nd in region on
business’ • 1st in region on ‘protecting in
vestors’ • 1st in region on ‘ease of paying
tax’ ‘starting a Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in its 2014-15 survey mentioned that Bangladesh has continued to be an attractive destination for Japanese companies to do business due to its lower production cost and labour wage compared to those of 19 countries in Asia and Oceania.
In comparison to Japan, the cost of production in Bangladesh is less than half, (49.5 percent), while it is 81.9 percent in China, 73 percent in Vietnam and 8.6 percent in India.