The country's Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) offering similar fiscal and non-fiscal benefits should be merged under a single platform.
A Senior Research Fellow of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Dr Mohammad Yunus came up with the observation on Thursday during a two-day Research Alamnac 2017 held at a city hotel.
He said, "For all practical purposes, EPZs and SEZs look complimentary and mutually-reinforcing rather than competing."
Mr Yunus was presenting his keynote paper during a technical session on 'Economics of EPZs in Bangladesh'.
Both types of zones are in apparent competition to woo investors, he pointed out and opined that the investors might be utterly confused as the same set of policymakers advise them to go to different agencies.
Although there are differences between EPZs and SEZs in relation to industrial orientation, backward and forward linkages, subcontracting, double taxation and workers’ insurance, he suggested merger of the two separate types of zones with renewed mandate for linking the rest of the economy.
He also talked about the impacts of the country’s EPZs including foreign currency earnings, employment generation, imparting worker skills and technology transfers.