About Tk 330 crore net investment was made abroad from Bangladesh last year. Most of this money went to India. More than two-thirds of the total money invested abroad went to the neighboring country.
Bangladesh Bank has recently released data on outward foreign direct investment (FDI) for the year 2023. It showed that the net investment abroad from Bangladesh in 2023 was 2 crore 98 lakh dollars or about 330 crore rupees (at the dollar exchange rate of 110 rupees).
According to the data obtained, India was the foremost in attracting investment from Bangladesh last year. Bangladeshis have invested 2 million 1 million dollars or about 231 million taka in the country at this time. According to that, about 70.45 percent of foreign investment in a year went to India.
The top destinations for outbound investment from Bangladesh were United Arab Emirates (UAE), Nepal, United Kingdom and Hong Kong. In 2023, Bangladeshis have made a net investment of 8.9 million dollars in the United Arab Emirates and 3.5 million dollars in Nepal.
There is no opportunity to take money abroad from Bangladesh for investment purposes without the approval of the Central Bank. From 2013, the first government allowed investment abroad under special consideration. Later in 2015, the law regarding this was amended. Under the amended law, entrepreneurs involved in Bangladesh’s export business can legally obtain permission to invest abroad. So far 17 such Bangladeshi companies have invested in 22 countries of the world.
Net investment has decreased
According to the data of the central bank, the total (gross) outward investment from Bangladesh in 2023 was 73.1 million dollars, which was 64.6 million dollars the previous year. That is, gross FDI increased by 13 percent in one year.
On the other hand, the outward real (net) investment from Bangladesh was 5 crore 25 million dollars in 2022, which decreased to 2 crore 98 million dollars last year. Accordingly, Bangladesh’s net investment abroad has decreased by more than 43 percent in one year.
According to the statistics of Bangladesh Bank, the total investment of Bangladeshis abroad increased last year, but the net investment decreased. The reason for this is that last year a significant amount of foreign investment was withdrawn. For example, last year, Bangladeshis invested a total of 22.2 million dollars in Hong Kong. In contrast, $2.8 million was withdrawn from existing investments in the country. As a result, the net outward investment of Bangladeshis in the country became negative at the end of the year.
In 2023, 4 crore 32 million dollars have been withdrawn from the invested countries. Domestic investors repatriated these funds in the form of profits, as intercompany loans or through disinvestment.
At the same time, the outward net investment decreased. At the end of last year, the overall outward FDI amount of the country stood at 384 million dollars, which is about 4 percent less than in 2022.