What holds us back from joining the global march?
The prime minister has called upon the Bangladeshi expatriates of Europe to invest at home to accelerate country's economic development. The expatriate community's contribution to the economy cannot be overemphasised, especially for the remittance they send home regularly. Reassuringly though, the volume of foreign remittance is gradually on the increase despite the impact of the all-engulfing global recession on the developed economies where our expatriates live and work. Considering their unflinching support matched by robust contribution to the national economy under all circumstances, it is hardly surprising that the government would expect more from the Bangladeshi diaspora, especially who have also the capital, to come in a still bigger way and invest in the country. The prime minister's call in this connection is therefore only reflective of the nation's rising level of expectation from them.
While talking of the expectations from the expatriates, who are also known as Non-Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs), it would be worthwhile to distinguish between remittance as usual and investment. For unlike remittance, which is the foreign currency that comes mostly from the wage earners working overseas, investment is something quite different as it has to fulfil a number of preconditions before a prospective investor goes for such a decision. For an investment decision, coming either from foreign or Bangladeshi nationals, is not dictated solely by the amount of capital they possess or that of the patriotism they nurture at heart, as it involves risking one's hard-earned money in a business venture. This truism is equally applicable to the case of our own NRBs having the capital as well as the necessary dose of patriotism.
If one looks at the behaviour of the emigrants from China, India and many other countries staying in the highly advanced Western world, one would find a big change in their recent outlook towards their original homeland. In the beginning, though, they would hardly show any interest in investing their incomes earned from their new home in the West in their native countries. On the contrary, they were then more interested in staying put and preserving their well-earned affluence and the sense of personal freedom.
And if they were at all willing to share their sense of well-being with their own people back at home, they would rather prefer their close relatives to join them abroad and enjoy the privileges. That was the general attitude of the earlier emigrants in the developed countries, regardless of their ethnicity. But that outlook has undergone a sea change in the last few decades, in the case of the emigrants from the fast emerging Asian economies like China and India. They are now more willing to take their money earned abroad to their countries of origin. Why is this change of heart and this sudden resurgence of deep nostalgia and patriotism for their ancestral home? As everyone is aware of, it is due to the success of those economies in the recent times.
In other words, history has turned full circle in the case of those emigrants. In sum, it is the assurance of a better life and opportunity for further prosperity, more than just loyalty to or nostalgia for home that becomes the determining factor when it comes to one's taking decision particularly on economic matters.
In this context, what can Bangladesh expect from its more successful expatriates in the overseas? No doubt they love their root, the land of their birth or of their ancestors. Moreover, in these days of advanced communication, they keep themselves abreast of the day-today happenings at home and even express instant concern for any turn of event that appears harmful for the country's economy and politics. In that case, excepting the wage earners, can we then expect that the other NRBs, especially the very enterprising ones, who have got permanent residence status in their host countries, too, are equally prepared to remit all their savings to Bangladesh, for the purpose of investment, for example? Small wonder as it concerns a decision of the economic kind, they, like any other entrepreneur, would hardly jump at the prospect without taking all the risk factors involved into due consideration. As it has happened in the case of the emigrants from China and India in the West, our own NRBs are also very likely to take the same course of action and demonstrate a similar pattern of behaviour. Understandably, they will also be looking for the stories of success, before they would be rushing home with their money earned through hard work in abroad.
So, it is nothing but the success of a country in the economic field that acts as a powerful magnet to pull not only strangers, but also its own people towards it when it is a question of taking economic risk.
Bangladesh has opened up to foreign investment since long. But so far the response from the international investors has remained lukewarm, despite the fact that labour here is one of the cheapest in the world. Why are the foreign investors so slow to take hold of this opportunity in Bangladesh, which unlike many other Muslim majority societies is not conservative, but more or less a liberal one with a democratic system of government in place for at least the last one decade and a half? Another plus point for the people of this country is that they are known for their hospitality towards the foreigners in particular. The question of being liberal, democratic and hospitable comes here because, it is often said that such conditions in a society influence outsiders to make their investment decisions in a particular country. So, one can safely assume that the conditions prevailing here should tempt any foreigner, not to speak of NRBs, to risk their money to be put in. But in spite of these positive factors, one is yet see any significant improvement in the country's record so far as wooing of foreign investment is concerned. And until now, even the NRBs with the ability have hardly joined in any big way in the industrialisation of the country.
The government needs to take due note of this seemingly strange attitude on the part of the investors whether local or foreign. And if we go for an honest soul searching, it will become evident that there is also nothing strange either in the behaviour of those entrepreneurs, who are yet not ready to invest in the country the way they have been doing in some neighbouring countries.
To get out this situation, the government, first of all, will have to overhaul the bureaucracy as well as the outlook of dominant political culture of the country towards business in general. That would go a long way in reducing the hassles and the roadblocks that many potential investors are fearful of. Even the lack of adequate infrastructures is not so much of a problem, for there are entrepreneurs who are ready to invest in this sector. But what an entrepreneur cannot do anything about is the prevailing administrative culture of considering itself as the patron and treating trade and investment at its mercy as clients.
As the present government has assumed office with a promise of change, it is hoped that it would effect it in earnest within its own politico-administrative domain. The politics, too, should come out of its earlier obsession with the sheer bid for power and stopping there as soon as it is achieved. The successes of the newly emerging economies have much to do with their political and administrative culture and attitude towards all kinds of investment. On this score, we have lessons to learn from them, too.
Syed Fattahul Alim is a senior journalist.
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