SUMMARY
Abstract: An Investment Guide to Bangladesh, the most recent publication in the UNCTAD-ICC series of investment guides, was launched at the ICC Asia Conference in Dhaka on 11 November 2000. The guide offers a balanced overview of investment conditions, including opportunities. On the positive side, it points out that, besides representing a potential market in itself (and potential access to the much larger South Asian market), Bangladesh offers considerable potential to foreign investors as a base for labour-intensive manufacturing, with the average hourly labour cost in apparel manufacturing a mere $0.43 -- competitive even by regional standards. The guide also notes that the country has significant natural resources, with proven reserves of natural gas in excess of 10 trillion cubic feet (tcf) and private estimates of it as high as 50 tcf. On the other hand, the guide also points to difficulties facing investors. These include the quality of the transport and communication infrastructure, unreliable energy supply, administrative complexity and non-transparency, political strikes called hartals, and a serious shortage of skilled people at various levels. On balance, the guide concludes, the recognition by the government that the private sector is the engine of growth is very encouraging and offers much hope for the future. [English only]
