Tue 26 Aug 2008
Complete lack of infrastructural growth and capacity building are killing our industries softly but surely. But who is talking about these issues?
“Due to shortages of electricity and natural gas, lack of adequate financial resources and political uncertainty, the entrepreneurs are shy to invest,” said Mohammad Fazlul Huq, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
Bangladesh at present faces up to 250 million cubic feet of gas shortages and up to 2,000 megawatts of electricity shortages every day forcing hundreds of manufacturing firms to close down.
Investment in Bangladesh textiles drops 26 pct
August 27th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Stop being such a drama queen. Just because Investment in Bangladesh textiles dropped 26 pct DOESN’T mean its “killing our industries”. Why didn’t you mention that there was FRESH INVESTMENT of $146 million during this year. Our industry is surely expanding albeit at a slowed pace but definitely NOT dying as you mentioned.
August 27th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Thanks for bringing such an issue.
Tender, retender, cancell, relist same old fashion. Almost two years still it seems energy plants are moving with the same pace.
Only difference is we do not hear much about the corruptions that stopped or eaten up all our development initiatives earlier, what it is now?
August 27th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
It now seems that Bangladesh’s economic progress has been deliberately slowed down by failed international institutions.
Under the BNP and AL Bangladesh made great strides inspite of all the smear campaign by the Western media to brand Bangladesh as the most corrupt country.
Have the west been able to do any better by destroying democracy for two long years by helping an army-backed undemocratic government?
The EU is giving legitimacy to all fascist acts of this unconstitutional government by holding consultations with the foreign adviser and brother-in-law of Fakruddin, Ifthekar Choudhury every now and then in Dhaka. This is not only killing time but also allowing them to carry repressive measures on politicians to bludgeon democracy in Bangladesh.
Such double standard will bring trouble into their own backyard today and tomorrow. The process has already started with Russia’s permanent penetration into it’s flanks. More flareups will follow soon if european hypocrisy continues abroad.
Therefore, i ardently appeal to eu not to help the undemocratic illegtimate govt in Bangladesh through their agents like fakruddin and ifthekar & co.
Please donot destabilize democracy in Bangladesh by throwing a lifeline to this illegitimate government.
August 27th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Amar, if you have read through carefully, you would have seen that the focus was not on new investments but rather lack of infrasture to support new investment. Here are the key lines:
Bangladesh at present faces up to 250 million cubic feet of gas shortages and up to 2,000 megawatts of electricity shortages every day forcing hundreds of manufacturing firms to close down.
Let’s talk about how much growth has happened on our infrastucture in the last 10 years to support our 6 percent growth every year. Very little. That’s why you see things are crumbling just like Dhaka traffic. The work is cut out for whoever comes to power to focus exclusively on this area.
August 27th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
By the way, Amar you should also check out the stats and trends of foreign investment in Bangladesh.
http://www.boi.gov.bd/invest_stat.php
In the last 4 years, from 2005 till 2008, the investment has steadily declined. From 3.8 billion in 2005 to a paltry 146 million this year tells you a striking trend of investors turning away from Bangladesh and compare that with countries like Vietnam.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
@ parvez
Well name me just one Asian developing country that is not going through electricity deficit….. (I rest my case)
@ Siraj
We never actually received $ 3.8 billion in FDI. It was JUST investment pledges (from TATA who recently pulled out). Also if you read carefully we didn’t receive just $146 million in investment, we actually received about $700 million. The $146 million in investment was just in the textile sector.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Also comparing BD to Vietnam is meaningless. They recently FULLY opened up their economy to foreigners so FDI just poured in. Do you happened to know how much trouble Vietnam is in now due to the massive FDI speculative influx? (hint: inflation is over 30%)
August 27th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Amar,
The trend of investing in Bangladesh is declining. I rest my case. The plain and simple reason for it is that the infrastructure is Bangladesh in not keeping up with its economic growth. So until and unless there is a change in that trend, fdi is unlikely to go up.
August 28th, 2008 at 1:04 am
@ siraj
Just because in one year (year 2008) the investment was down doesn’t make it a trend. For this decade the investment trend is STILL UP. A single year is economic downturn doesn’t mean its the end of the world, you have to look at the bigger picture. The author of this article seems very sensationalist to me.
August 28th, 2008 at 3:18 am
Amar,
Please check the link that I sent above. Check the numbers starting from 2005. Starts at 3.5 Billion and since then every year it has declined rapidly. If the declining investment from 4 years is not a trend, I don’t know what is.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:07 am
like I said before there was never a time when $3.4 billion of FDI came to BD. It was just pledges. And those pledges never materialized. In fact we receieved about $ 600 million of ACTUAL FDI. The FDI trend is still UP.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:10 am
meant to say ” in fact we receieved about $ 600 million of ACTUAL FDI” in 2005. Not $3.4 billion. In fact in BD’s whole history the FDI never crossed $1 Billion mark.
August 28th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Electricity is also useful for keeping the lights on so we dont have to read by hurricane lamp like previous generations.
most deshis work in small businesses, which get extremely jarred by power outages. recently in some areas advance knowledge of where and when the electrons will be shaking in an orderly fashion has helped them with planning.
but really there are years of disgraceful corporate, consumer, administrative, political and professional engineering SIN behind this.
Electric shocking, i think, might be an imaginative way of reaching some kind of retributive justice…
August 29th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Amar, please cite a reference to back up your stat. thanks.
August 29th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Siraj - I assume you are asking for reference to the stat that actual FDI in 2005 was $600m, not $3.5B? I thought the link you yourself provided above contains that information - perhaps I am missing something?
http://www.boi.gov.bd/pdf/FDIinBD2005.pdf states that actual FDI in 2005 was $845m.
As for the $3.5B, see http://www.boi.gov.bd/invest_stat.php#c7. The title of the table is “Foreign Investment Proposals Registered with (BOI)” and the number is $3.8B. I assume the title of the table means what it says - registered proposals, not necessarily realized FDI. It is difficult to draw any strong conclusions from a decline in that time series.
August 30th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Dear “admin”,
You seem to have forgotten to mention one of the largest field Bangladesh, in Bibiyana, controlled by the US’s Chevron operating under the name of Unocal in Bangladesh.
Do any of the readers of Drishtipat know the amount withdrawn per day in Bibiyana?
August 31st, 2008 at 2:10 am
There you go. Thanks for the info atalam. I knew the FDI wasn’t that high as Siraj stated.
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:22 am
Regarding the debate above, what should be most important whether or not we can sustain the garment industries with our present infrastructure and energy supplies?
It is apparent that in every breath we take, we’re only keen to blame the present CG with one excuse or other. Understandably, the CG is a consequence of pre-1/11 socio-economic-political scenario.
Does any one care to share/introspect on our RMG, say, about two decades ago….?
Why can we not debate about how this sector can be developed further….?