Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine October Issue 2018 | Page 32

BANGLADESH CANVAS
Textiles & apparel lures maximum FDI
during Jan.-Mar. '18
Textiles and apparel sector lured
the maximum amount of foreign
direct investment (FDI) during the
first four months of 2018, continuing
the trend of a sharp rise in the
inflow of foreign funding throughout
the year 2017.
According to data released by the
Bangladesh Bank recently, the gross
FDI inflow during the January-
March 2018 in the textiles and
apparel sector amounted to over US
$ 167 million. This occupied over 24
per cent of the total FDI flowing into
Bangladesh – over US $ 695 million
– over the same period of time.
In the calendar year 2017,
Bangladesh witnessed over US
$ 421 million in FDI in its textile
and apparel sector – which was
nearly 16 per cent rise from the US
$ 364 million back in 2016. Experts
and stakeholders attributed the
rise to various steps taken by the
Government to entertain foreign
investors. Back to the latest data,
South Korea was the number one
investor in this sector – putting over
US $ 48 million in FDI, followed by
Hong Kong with US $ 31 million and
British Virgin Islands with US $ 14
million. India had an investment of
over US $ 5.8 million.
It is to be noted that Bangladesh’s
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa
Kamal is very optimistic on 2018
– in the prospect of drawing FDI
– after Bangladesh has knocked
on the doors of Singapore, India,
Japan, China, Thailand and other
countries to invest. Speaking at a
press briefing at his ministry office,
Planning Minister Kamal said
Bangladesh is expecting an FDI
inflow of about US $ 7 billion during
the fiscal of 2017-18. This is a huge
jump, considering that the highest
investment Bangladesh received in
recent years is of US
$ 2 billion.
Additionally, this can be attributed
to the development of 100 Economic
Zones by the Government of
Bangladesh. The country has spent
most of the last half drumming
about the Economic Zones and
seeking investment from other
countries.
RMG sector still reliant on foreign expertise,
says a CPD study
Despite significant improvement
in the sector, Bangladesh’s
readymade garments industry is
still reliant on foreign expertise
at the management level, a study
of local independent think tank
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)
has revealed.
According to its study, around
13 per cent of the total garment
sector hires foreign professionals,
who are remitting away US $ 5
billion worth of what the biggest
export sector worth US $ 30
billion is fetching, at the crucial
management levels.
Within the chunk of the big
groups, owning several factories
and raking in the majority of
the earnings, the percentage of
foreign professionals working
at the top-level management is
around 47 per cent, CPD said in
its study which was disclosed
at a press briefing in Khazana
Gardenia Grand Hall recently.
The study included findings from
226 enterprises and interviews
of 2,346 garment workers. The
think tank found there are 3,856
active garment factories in the
country that employ around 3.6
million workers. Among these
factories, 7.4 per cent are large
factories, 42.5 per cent are
medium-sized and the remaining
48.9 per cent are small.
Among the workers, 53 per cent
are female and 47 per cent male.
Some 98 per cent factories are
located in four districts: capital
Dhaka (38 per cent), its adjoining
districts Gazipur (28.9 per cent),
Narayanganj (14.7 per cent), and
in the port city of Chittagong
(16.1 per cent).
Faruque Hassan, Senior Vice
President of Bangladesh
Garment Manufacturers and
Exporters Association (BGMEA),
who attended the programme,
32 Apparel Online Bangladesh | October 2018 | www.apparelresources.com
said that the number of foreign
professionals did not increase
despite the rampant growth
of the garments sector. “If 10
foreign experts can train up
4,900 fashion designers in
Bangladesh, then it is ok. We
can afford it.”
Khondaker Golam Moazzem,
Project Director of the study
and Research Director of CPD,
and Abeer Khandker, a visiting
Research Associate at the
CPD, presented the findings.
Rehman Sobhan, Chairman of
CPD, called for holding a global
consultation to minimise the
discrimination in the value
chain. “They (retailers and
brands) sell every US $ 5 worth
short at US $ 25-$ 30 in retail
establishments in New York,
Europe and other various
places,” he said as an example
of the discrimination.