The net inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Bangladesh declined modestly in the first half (H1) of the current calendar year.
The latest statistics, released by Bangladesh Bank, showed that the net inflow of FDI stood at US$1.13 billion in the January-June period of the current year which was $1.18 billion in the same period of 2020.
Thus FDI declined by around 4.74 per cent in the first half of 2021.
The gross inflow of the FDI also declined by 1.94 per cent during the period under review.
Central bank statistics showed that amount of gross inflow of the FDI came down to $1.51 billion in the first half of the current year from $1.55 billion in the same period of 2020.
The decline is against the global trend of rising FDI in the first half of the current year.
Global FDI flows in the first half of 2021 reached an estimated $852 billion, showing stronger than expected rebound momentum, according to UNCTAD’s Investment Trends Monitor released in the last week.
It also showed that the rise in the first two quarters recovered more than 70 per cent of the loss induced by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The global inflow of FDI came down to $957 billion in the last year, a decline of 35 per cent from the annual inflow of $1481 billion in 2019.
FDI in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) including Bangladesh declined by 9 per cent in the first half of the year against a 30 per cent jump in middle-income economies and a 117 per cent increase in high-income economies.
Bangladesh Bank statistics, however, showed that the net inflow of FDI in the past fiscal year (FY21) increased by 5.77 per cent over the FY20.
It showed that the net inflow of FDI in the last fiscal year stood at $2.50 billion which was $2.37 billion in FY20.
