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Foreign Direct Investment

 
 
Foreign Direct Investment 202220232024
FDI Inward Flow (million USD) 1,5181,4641,270
FDI Stock (million USD) 17,86817,83118,294
Number of Greenfield Investments* 223453
Value of Greenfield Investments (million USD) 5942,7031,754

Source: UNCTAD - Latest available data.

Note: * Greenfield Investments are a form of Foreign Direct Investment where a parent company starts a new venture in a foreign country by constructing new operational facilities from the ground up.

Country Comparison For the Protection of Investors Bangladesh South Asia United States Germany
Index of Transaction Transparency* 6.0 5.8 7.0 5.0
Index of Manager’s Responsibility** 7.0 5.0 9.0 5.0
Index of Shareholders’ Power*** 7.0 7.4 9.0 5.0

Source: Doing Business - Latest available data.

Note: *The Greater the Index, the More Transparent the Conditions of Transactions. **The Greater the Index, the More the Manager is Personally Responsible. *** The Greater the Index, the Easier it Will Be For Shareholders to Take Legal Action.

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What to consider if you invest in Bangladesh

Government Measures to Motivate or Restrict FDI
The Bangladesh government is actively seeking to attract foreign investment, particularly in the areas of energy and infrastructure. Many incentives have been implemented through industrial policy, growth strategy through exports and a public-private partnership (PPP) program launched in 2009. Although there is little discrimination against foreign investors, the government often favours local industries. For example, the importation of drugs that compete with locally manufactured pharmaceuticals is tightly controlled, and local majority ownership in new shipping companies is required.

In order to mitigate the risks of being too dependent on industrial production in the textile sector (over 86% of Bangladesh's exports earnings come from textiles according to Bangladesh Textile Mills Association's latest data available), the government is seeking to develop certain sectors by granting companies involved in these areas with incentives and favourable conditions. These include agricultural and agro-industrial products, light engineering, leather footwear and leather goods, pharmaceuticals, software and ICT products, as well as shipbuilding.

In recent years, the government has also launched numerous infrastructure projects: the project to build a road and rail bridge over the Padma River and the Dhaka metro, for example.

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