The New Nation - Internet Edition

Pulack Ghatack

Export earnings from the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are not increasing enough to keep pace with robust investment growth in the specially facilitated investment areas for the foreigners.

Estimates of the 2006-07 and 2007-08 fiscal years show that investment doubled in eight EPZs of the country in a single financial year but export earnings grew less than a quarter by this time.

Experienced sources blamed poor local value addition in the EPZ's export items for the marginal income growth.

According to the statistics of Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) eight EPZs received foreign investment in 2007-08 fiscal year amounting to US$302million, showing almost 100 per cent growth during the period.

In 2006-07, the volume of foreign investment in the country's EPZs was US$152 million.

Meanwhile, BEPZA attained only 17.73 per cent growth in export earnings and earned US $2.43 billion in 2007-08. The export earnings were US$2.06 billion in 2006-07, the BEPZA statistics said.

The EPZs employed some 1,700 new workers during the last fiscal year, raising the total number of workers to 2,18,000, the officials said.

BEPZA officials said that weaker dollar, low labour costs and easy access to Asian markets had contributed to the high growth of foreign investment in the country.

They said the foreign entrepreneurs were encouraged to invest in export processing zones of Bangladesh due to availability of labour, security of investments and utility services for a considerable period.

The investors are mostly from countries like Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Korea, where they face high labour and other manufacturing costs.

The EPZs received investment in diversified sectors like furniture, agro-products and electrical and electronic goods during the 2007-08 fiscal year.