December 2, 2003	Tuesday	Shawwal 7, 1424

DHAKA, Dec 1: The Board of Investment (BoI) of Bangladesh has claimed that the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) marked a 71 per cent rise in the first six months of the current year, compared to same period of last year, report a couple of Dhaka based national dailies.

In its FDI inflow survey findings, the BoI claimed that FDI inflow during the January-July period stood at $287.67 million against last year’s $168.16 million.

But the estimate of the country’s central bank, Bangladesh Bank, shows, in sharp contrast to the BoI’s figures, that total FDI inflow was $92 million during the stipulated period, which up by 41 per cent from last year’s $62 million.

Meanwhile, New Age, an English language daily, quoting a local economist said that BoI’s FDI figures are “inadequate” because it did not take into account the Bangladesh Bank’s balance of payment status, portfolio investment, FDI stock and outflow and debts.

The BoI’s executive chairman, Mahmudur Rahman, however, described the present FDI data as more credible than before and gave a positive picture of the investment scenario, while the leaders of foreign chambers blamed the government for “indifferent attitude” in taking any decision, leaving the investors “totally uncared for”.

In another development, the US investment in Bangladesh declined conspicuously, so much so that the US occupies the 7th position among foreign investors, whereas it was once the first, says the BoI report. This trend of declining investment reportedly began after the country’s energy and gas sector faced a crisis when the question of exporting gas came up.

The president of American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham), Aftabul Islam, reportedly said at a business function on Sunday that the US companies were frustrated with the government’s indecisiveness about certain issues.

“The pending gas export issue is an economic one, and even if it is political, I would say the government has failed to take a political decision,” he said, replying to a question about the grievances of the American companies. “The government did not ask why some foreign companies like Shell are leaving.”

However, at present, France is holding first position among foreign investors — thanks to recent investment in the cement sector by a French company, Lafarge.