Bangladeshi Highlights
Bangladesh average GDP growth since 1990 has been higher than the world’s average, since 2010 it's higher than all South Asian countries, over 6% growth each year since 2009. Between 2011 and 2019, Bangladesh’s exports grew at 8.6% every year, compared to the world average of 0.4% to become one of the world’s top 5 growing economy.
With a GDP of USD 461 billion in 2022, and USD 700 billion for 2030 (HSBC) when it will be the world's 9th largest consumer market, Bangladesh is moving towards a trillion-dollar economy (Bloomberg) and becoming a developed nation by 2041.
With rising labor costs in China, Bangladesh’s current demographic dividend will prove to be vital in drawing in investors. With a population of 170 million, 65% of which are in the working age category, Bangladesh can legitimately aim to be the next manufacturing and digital economy hub.
The rise of Bangladesh’s economy requires a steady increase (USD 9 billion per annum) in new infrastructures and electricity generation, the USD 13 billion Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant or the USD 4 billion Padma Bridge are good examples of the country’s efforts taken to sustain the growth.
Growth fueled by new sectors like pharmaceutical or light engineering ones, or the traditional Ready Made Garment aiming to get 10% of USD 1,130 billion world's market share by 2030, thanks to product diversification, technical textiles...
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/The-Big-Story/The-rise-and-rise-of-Bangladesh
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/10/bangladesh-is-booming/
https://www.dw.com/en/bangladesh-economy-50-years-on/a-57015896
https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/why-is-bangladesh-booming/
Under each picture, there is one report, click to download it.
Ready Made Garment
The world's second largest garment industry accounts for 11% of the GDP, is THE key economic sector of Bangladesh, exporting USD 34 billion in 2019... USD 52 billion in 2022.
Manufacturing for global brands like H&M, Inditex (Zara, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius, Oysho, Bershka…), PVH Corp (Calvin Klein, Tommy Hillfiger…), Benetton, Puma, Gap, Marks & Spencer, Decathlon, C&A… Bangladesh RMG industry is at the top of the list when looking for a supplier.
A skilled work force, advantageous pricing, adaptability with customers dynamic work orders, are the main reasons of this success.
But it's also due to continuous changes, going green, anticipating trends.
Today Bangladesh is the global leader of green factories, with 178 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) factories, and 2nd in ethical manufacturing.
On the manpower side, some countries (Jordan for example) not willing to outsource their production and keep their factories at home, are still hiring Bangladeshis RMG workers (ten of thousands) to operate their factories.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1779466/world
https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2021/07/26/study-bangladeshi-rmg-ranks-high-with-us-buyers
Pharmaceutical Industry
Pharmaceutical market in Bangladesh is expected to surpass USD 6 billion by 2025, with a growth rate of over 12% per year, essentially fueled by local companies.
Exporting today to over 100 countries, Bangladesh is steadily building an internationally recognized pharmaceutical industry of more than 150 firms and 100,000 white-collar professionals, and creating 500,000 jobs by 2032.
All large countries are today reviewing their medical supply outsourcing, from producing more locally to diversifying their suppliers. In this market shift, Bangladesh has already over 15 “international-grade” factories owned by local companies, possessing major approvals (US’s FDA, EU’s GMP, UK’s MHRA, Australia’s TGA, Brazil’s ANVISA…).
Companies like Sanofi, Novartis, GSK, Novo Nordisk are already present to benefit this trend.
Sinopharm and Incepta Vaccine Ltd (leading Bangladeshi vaccine manufacturer) signed on August 17th, 2021, a MoU to locally produce 5 million doses per month of Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine, displaying confidence in the local expertise.
Bangladesh's Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd was the first company in the world to sell a generic version of Merck & Co's antiviral pill known as Molnupiravir marketed as Emorivir in the country, in middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, demonstrating the confidence in Bangladesh parmaceutical sector.
https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/bangladesh-track-becoming-6b-pharma-market-2025-1995741
http://www.bapi-bd.com/bangladesh-pharma-industry/overview.html
https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2019/08/22/bangladesh-pharmaceutical-industry-blooms-bigger
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-08/17/c_1310132683.htm
IT Sector
With 16% of the world’s online freelancers (750,000 IT specialists), Bangladesh is world's 2nd.
Strong English language and tech skills are the reasons of this success, especially in the sales and marketing support, software development & technology, clerical, and data entry where Bangladesh is world’s number 1.
Kearney’s GSLI (Global Services Location Index) tracks the top 60 countries in 4 major categories: financial attractiveness, people skills and availability, business environment, and digital resonance. The GSLI assesses countries’ capacity to deliver services based on 47 different metrics, and Bangladesh takes the 21st position, ahead of Czech Republic, Hungary, Singapore, South Korea, Ukraine, Canada, Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Israel, Finland, Australia, or Denmark.
Exporting for USD 1 billion of IT services in 2018, the target is to reach USD 5 billion in 2025.
Currently 400 IT companies exports their products and services to over 60 countries, USA and UK being the majors destinations.
https://ilabour.oii.ox.ac.uk/onlinelabourindex2020/
https://www.kearney.com/digital/article/?/a/the-2021-kearney-global-services-location-index
https://www.dw.com/en/bangladesh-emerging-as-a-new-it-hub-in-south-asia/a-48728439
https://techobserver.in/2021/06/05/bangladesh-it-sector-to-create-one-million-jobs-in-fy-2021-22/
https://theprint.in/world/a-freelancing-boom-is-reshaping-bangladesh-and-its-economy/252971/
Attractiveness
Bangladesh’s special economic zones are becoming an engine of the future GDP’s growth, taking advantages of Government incentives and dedicated infrastructures...
2020 and 2021, even impacted with Covid-19, brought USD 21.2 billion investments to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), the apex investment promotion agency, attracted itself almost USD 15 billion with more than half from local investors.
Bangladesh middle class is expected to reach 25 percent
of the population by 2025 and 33 percent by 2030, expand- ing the affluent consumers of the country to 62 million by then. All those people will consume more, and foreign companies willing to gain them as new customers, are establishing themselves in Bangladesh.
One of BIDA’s key achievement is the integration in a “single-window facility” of 18 government agencies, making it very easy for investors to get and do almost everything in a single place: getting government approvals, land ac- quisition, power, and utility connection, paying fees and bills to 56 different entities...
Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA), created in 2010, are establishing economic zones in underdeveloped regions to diversify and increase employment, services, industries, and exports.
The Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN), the newer of the nine zones, have a total land area of 136 km2 on which 539 industrial plots are planned. 140 plots are already prepared as 78 companies applied for 250 plots. Japan has already reserved 50 plots.
Those planned investments represent USD 1.35 billion, and this March, the first factory opened, “Asia Paints” an Indian-Bangladesh joint venture have invested USD 40 mil- lion and employed 200 workers. They were joined late March by “Hikvision”, one of world’s largest surveillance equip- ment, opening its factory.
Some dedicated zones are planned inside BSMSN, like the newly agreed Indian Economic Zone (IEZ) of 347 hectares and costing USD 115 million.
Another such dedicated zone is the Japanese Special Eco- nomic Zone (SEZ) at Araihazar in Narayanganj, slated to begin by 2025. This USD 300 million financed 80 percent by Japan and 20% Bangladesh, started in 2019 and shall at- tract the majority of new Japanese investments.
Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) are export oriented zones and being developed in many regions of the country.
Some existing brands being manufactured in BEPZA are Adi- das, Nike, Reebok, H & M, Gap, Walmart, Kmart, J.C. Pen- ney, Lee, Dockers, Tommy Hilfiger, Nikon, Fuji, Konica Minolta, Fuji, Sony, Nissan, Mitsubishi...
With already 320 Japanese companies present in Bangladesh, a new 4km2 “Japanese Economic Zone” operational in 2023 will host about 100,000 employees in 100 factories. 2 other zones for a total of 121km2 are being developed. This is one of the abundant examples of the Bangladeshi attractiveness:
1. Foreign industrial companies establishing factories to benefit skilled and competitive workforce, to sell those products internationally, and more and more selling them locally as well: Japan Tobacco buying Akij for USD 1.5 billion, the biggest acquisition of a Bangladeshi company by a foreign group is the perfect example.
2. Foreign companies targeting the new Bangladeshi middle class, from L’Oréal Paris to Walmart and Netflix establishing themselves in the country.
3. Foreign governments signing FTAs (Free Trade Agreements) and developing ties with Bangladesh, encouraging their national companies to increase their presence.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-akij-m-a-japan-tobacco-idUSKBN1KR0O1
https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2018/11/27/l-or-al-paris-now-in-bangladesh
https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2021/05/31/amazon-coming-to-bangladesh
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/turkey-to-substantially-increase-trade-with-bangladesh/2137051
https://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/news/bd-finance-eyes-2b-us-investment-2075701
https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2021/08/21/saudi-arabia-looking-to-sign-fta-with-bangladesh
https://unb.com.bd/categorBangladesh/bangladesh-hungary-sign-mou-over-scholarships/74839
https://menafn.com/1102663928/Saudi-investors-looking-to-invest-USD-5b-in-BD-tourism-sector
Industrial Strength
Bangladesh has more than 100 large conglomerates, with at least 15 of them valued above USD 1 billion.
One of the axes to grow and upgrade the economy is Value-added manufacturing. One example is leather: exporting raw leather in the past, Bangladeshi Government encouraged companies to expand leather products export, from US 80 million in 2002 to USD 1 billion in 2017.
From locally producing Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine, displaying Chinese confidence in local expertise, to launching its own satellite to space in 2018 (Bangabandhu-1), with a second one planned in 2023, Bangladesh is so much more than “a t-shirt maker”.
Key to the country’s development, Bangladesh infrastructures projects saw a tremendous growth, and are on track to an impressive annual investment rhythm of USD 10 billion until 2041. This includes motorways, bridges, ports (Payra port project is USD 1.6 billion, and USD 15 billion in total when including the supporting infrastructure), railways, river dredging, the USD 12.6 billion Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, or the Cox’s Bazar airport new runway build on water (by reclaiming coastal land), improving access for tourists to Cox’s Bazar beach (one of the longest in the world with 150km of natural sand).
https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2021/07/31/66-exporters-to-get-national-export-trophy
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-08/17/c_1310132683.htm
https://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/news/bd-finance-eyes-2b-us-investment-2075701
https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/space/news/bangabandhu-satellite-1-pride-bangladesh
https://www.thedailystar.net/country/news/bangladesh-launch-bangabandhu-satellite-2-2023-2030673
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2021/08/22/bangladesh-to-get-first-maritime-runway-in-2024
Tourism
A Mastercard report in 2016 forecasted 2.6 million Bangladeshis to travel abroad in 2021 from 1.5 million in 2013.
The Covid-19 pandemic naturally affected the trend for middle class Bangladeshis to travel more and more, but since late 2022, the growth is back.
Only 4.5% of Bangladeshis households were travelling abroad in 2013, and 8% are expected by 2024.
28.5% of those international travels are made by households earning more than USD 30,000/year, and 48% are made by middle class households earning between USD 10,000 and USD 30,000/year (some of them travelling several times in one year)
With around 37.55 million households (average of 4.5 family members per household), an increase of 1% travelling means: 1.7 million of new tourists (375,500 households) looking for new destinations.
A totally new demand can be met by countries looking to expand their offer, and meet the requests of Bangladeshis tourists.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/726873/number-of-outbound-travelers-bangladesh/
https://www.daily-sun.com/post/325763/Outbound-Tourism-in-Bangladesh:-Emerging-Trends
