Achieving target will be tough

Says Centre for Policy Dialogue

The additional requirement of Tk 117,000 crore for private investment in the coming fiscal year may not be fulfilled, the Centre for Policy Dialogue said yesterday.

In the proposed budget, private investment has been estimated to be 25.1 percent of the GDP, a 1.9 percent increase from the outgoing year.

Attaining such a fiscal target will be tough, the think-tank said at a press conference in the capital's Lakhshore Hotel.

Investors desire a one stop service to run their business smoothly, but that has not materialised, Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow of the CPD, said.

“A law has been enacted to implement a one stop service, but that is still on papers,” he said.

The cost of mega projects involving Tk 260,000 crore, meanwhile, would shoot up if implementation gets delayed, he pointed out.

Many entrepreneurs do not invest in the absence of the one stop service, he added.

Khondaker Golam Moazzem, CPD research director, said new investments that are linked with the mega projects may not take place.

“We have not observed any rapid measure to implement the mega projects. Investment would boost if the government implement the mega projects in the shortest possible time. It will also give a positive impact on the economy,” he said.

Quick implementation of the LNG terminal is one of the projects that could boost investment, he added.

“But we have not seen the tendency to implement the projects that are directly connected to creating jobs and industries.”

Towfiqul Islam Khan, CPD research fellow, said among the mega projects taken in last 10 years, only Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway was implemented.

But, the highway now needs repairing, he said.

The achievement of private investment to GDP ratio for the coming fiscal year will be difficult as the country did not attain such targets in recent years. 

TARGET APPEARS TOO HIGH

According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data, the provisional private investment to GDP ratio stood at 23.25 percent in fiscal year 2017-18, up from the achievement of 23.10 percent in 2016-17.

The share of the private investment in the GDP was 22.99 percent in 2015-16, 22.07 percent in 2014-15 and 22.03 percent in 2013-14.

In the coming year, a total of Tk 147,000 crore will be required to achieve the investment (private and public) to GDP ratio.

The government set an investment to GDP ratio target of 33.54 percent for the coming fiscal year.

• Courtesy: The Daily Star /June 09, 2018