By IANS
Dhaka : Foreign direct investments (FDIs), largely confined to the telecom, banking and oil and gas exploration sectors, are not contributing much to Bangladesh's fledgling economy, says a UN report.
FDIs to Bangladesh, like in other least developed countries (LDCs), neither contribute to any major technology transfer, nor generate significant employment. Such FDIs only create separate enclaves in the host country, says the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) report for 2007 on LDCs.
The report, titled "UNCTAD LDC Report 2007: Knowledge, Technological Learning and Innovation for Development", suggested that Bangladesh and others should adopt new policies to narrow the technology gap between LDCs and the rest of the world to escape the current trap of poverty, underdevelopment and marginalisation.
"The limited contribution is due to the type of integration of trade negotiation capacity into host countries' economies, the sectoral composition of FDI, the priorities of policies enacted by LDCs and the low absorptive capacity of those countries," it said.
Bangladesh ranked fifth in attracting FDI among 50 LDCs in value terms but 34th in terms of per capita income, The Daily Star said.
The report said rapid technological advances in developed countries and the relatively slow advancement in most of the LDCs had caused a huge gap.