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BB sees poor FDI show

Rejaul Karim Byron
Bangladesh Bank (BB) surveys buck the rising trend the Board of Investment (Bol) claims in the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI).
According to BB surveys, the FDI clocked a negative growth in two of the last three financial years and the foreign investment flow made a posi Live growth in the last fiscal year.
The FDI saw a 31.28 percent and 1.05 percent negative growth in FY02 and FY 03 before it grew by 2.39 percent in FY04, according to the BB.
The Bol survey says the FDI grew by 34 percent in 2003 calendar year. The Bol started conducting surveys on foreign investment flow in 2002 and it is yet to come up with the figure for the ongoing year.
The central bank bases its surveys on financial year, while the Bol figures are based on calendar year.
Although Bangladesh continues to be an under-performer in attracting foreign direct investment, the survey data show that actual flows of FDI are remarkably higher than earlier reported data collected through the banking channel, says quarterly economic update of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for September this year.
Last year, the Bol started publishing data of FDI inflows and said Bangladesh Bank figures are less than the actual inflow. It suggested that the central bank publish FDI data only after carrying out a survey.
The central bank sources said to accurately measure the FDI flows, the Statistics Department of Bangladesh Bank started conducting a semi-annual survey on FDI flow for a number of years on a test basis.
Over the years, it has become apparent that these data did not fully capture the FDI inflows, missing out on elements such as intracompanyloans, re-investments and in some cases, non-cash equity flows in the form of imports.
The method for measuring the inflow is in conformity with the International Monetary Fund's Balance of Payments (BoP) Manual and the methodology adopted is in line with standard international practice.
In line with international practice, the central bank incorporated the FDI survey data in preparing its BoP statistics. The BB published the FDI inflow data for the first time under the new system in its quarterly update for April-June this year.
It shows actual FDI flows are substantially higher than data reported in earlier BoP statistics, but the survey data show a declining trend in FDI during FY03 before it slightly improved in FY04.
The Bol's second half-yearly survey shows a staggering 71 percent increase in the FDI inflow between January and June last year compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. Its third survey put the increase at 34 percent for the whole year. The FDI flow from FY01 to FY04 stood at $553 million, $380 million, $ 376 million and $385 million, according to the BB survey data. The banking data put the figures at $174 million, $65 million, $92 million and $89 million.
The Bol surveys said the FDI inflow in 2002 calendar year stood at $328 million and in 2003 it was $441 million.