UK Deputy High Commissioner to Bangladesh saysBangladesh needs more FDIs to be middle-income nation

British Deputy High Commissioner and Development Director to Bangladesh Matt Cannell said Bangladesh needs to focus on attracting more foreign direct investment (FDI) through business transformation to attain upper middle-income country status by 2031.

He emphasised building strong government institutions, ensuring real data, developing the private sector, and focusing on skills and technology development.

Matt Cannell was addressing the launching of Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for Bangladesh at the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) office in Dhaka on Monday.

PMI is a leading economic indicator which helps understand the economic health of the country.

MCCI launched the index in partnership with the Policy Exchange Bangladesh (PEB) and with support from the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO).

“The UK (United Kingdom) is a development partner of Bangladesh. A good number of investors from the UK invested in Bangladesh. We expect Bangladesh's success in future. The country should attract more FDI, and transform business to attain an upper middle income country by 2031,” Matt Cannell said.

According to the Bangladesh Bank data, Bangladesh received $3.25 billion net FDI inflows in 2023. Of this, the investment from the UK was the highest, $564.98 million.

Matt Cannell said, “Bangladesh is graduating from the least developed countries (LDCs) in 2026. The country has to overcome the upcoming challenges.”

He hoped for a strong connection between the UK and Bangladesh to enhance business ties.

In his speech, PEB chairman Dr M Masrur Reaz said that MCCI, PEB, and FCDO had come together to make robust data available regularly throughout the year.

“As the PMI provided actionable and quantifiable insights about the economy, it was very useful for the stakeholders.” He believed it would help make business and policy decisions.

“We have already completed the third round analysis as pilot basis. We hope that we can unveil our final round from April or May this year. At first, we will publish data quarterly collecting from private sector enterprises. Later, PMI will be published monthly,” he added.

PEB Senior Manager of Market and Policy Advisory Hasnat Alam presented a keynote paper.

He said the PMI will provide insights into key economic sectors and capture early trends. “PMI is an economic indicator which helps understand the economic health of a country.”

Hasnat said they will cover major economic sectors particularly agriculture, construction, manufacturing and services.

“PMI data will help in getting early indication of economic conditions, understand market dynamics and sectoral trends, making key business and investment decisions, and informed and timely policy-making,” he added.

MCCI President Kamran T Rahman said that the PMI could play a key role in sustaining Bangladesh’s development trajectory.

He said, “Our collaboration signifies a commitment to enhance understanding and analysis of our economic environment.”