The New Nation - Internet Edition

Talha Bin Habib

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has taken initiatives to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) by appointing international agents for assessing the country's credit ratings and ability in repaying the international loans.

The initiative also aims at excluding the country's name from the lists of risky nations, which are considered to be unable in repaying the international loans.

BB has initially selected three foreign companies to submit their proposals for Sovereign Credit Ratings (SCR) of the country with a view to attaining international standard ability of the country to repay the international loans.

Sources in the BB said if SCR is done Bangladesh will be able to attract more Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and reduce greater default risk in international bond markets.

Besides, it will also help the country in getting international loan with low interest rate and remove confusions among foreign entrepreneurs for investment.

The term SCR means to certify the country's ability to repayment of the loans borrowed from the international lending agencies or countries. SCR is usually determined by assessing the indicators of the country's socio-economic and other aspects.

Foreign investors usually give preference to invest in those countries, which have good ratings. Among the SAARC countries, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have already done that rating.

Bangladesh has so far no credit ratings and it is still compared with the other countries,

which are usually considered to be unable to repay the internationals loans. But Bangladesh has good track records of repaying the international loans.

The BB has initially selected three international agencies for submitting their financial and technical proposals. Japan International Credit Agency, Standard and Pore and Maris Singapore have been asked to submit their financial and technical proposals by June 30 of this year.

After scrutinising of their proposals, BB would finally appoint one of the international agents to prepare SCR's for Bangladesh.