Last year, Bangladesh received its second highest amount of greenfield foreign investment in 15 years, earning $4.9bn through 28 projects, according to investment monitor fDi Markets. The country has already seen $2.3bn of FDI in the first five months of this year.

Meanwhile, eight export processing zones (EPZs) received $333.38m in FDI in the last fiscal year, according to data from the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza). Bangladesh has seen an upward trend in foreign investment to its EPZs in recent years. Dhaka EPZ received the greatest proportion of the last fiscal year’s FDI flow, followed by Chattogram EPZ and Karnaphuli EPZ.

The country’s EPZs won $7.52bn in exports in the last fiscal year, representing 4.38% growth year-on-year, a lower figure than Bangladesh’s overall export growth of 10.55% during the same period, says Bepza. However, the total number of Bangladeshi nationals employed in the eight EPZs has increased to 21,561.

Under the leadership of prime minister Hasina Wazed, Bangladesh has made foreign investment attraction a priority, and the country is keen to improve its position in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking.

The Bangladeshi government recently agreed on regulations that could help new investors in the EPZs receive their visa security clearance for a work permit within 21 days, and the country opened its one-stop service for investors in June 2019.