Investment up 26.0 %, export 16 % in EPZs
Published: 24 January 2014
Bangladesh Export Pro-cessing Zones Authority (BEPZA) made a remarkable growth both in investment and export in the first half of the current fiscal (2013-14) despite political unrest.
According to data released by the BEPZA, investment in the country’s eight Export Processing Zones (EPZs) posted a 26.50 per cent growth in the first half of current fiscal compared to those during the same period in the previous fiscal. Exports from the eight EPZs also moved up by 15.96 per cent during the July-December period of current fiscal as against that of the same period in last year.
The BEPZA received a total of US$ 190.23 million investment in the first half of 2013-14 fiscal as against $ 150.37 million in the same time in last fiscal, registering a growth of 26.50 per cent.
The investment was made by the enterprises, both operational and under implementation, in eight EPZs.
Of the total $ 190.23 million investment, the Chittagong EPZ received $ 44.90 million investment, Dhaka EPZ $ 63.92 million, Karnaphuli EPZ $ 19.05 million, Adamjee EPZ $ 40.93 million, Comilla EPZ $ 6.59 million, Uttara EPZ $ 8.68 million, Ishwardi EPZ $ 1.99 million and Mongla EPZ $ 4.17 million.
However, among the investment of $ 150.37 million in July-December of 2012-13, $ 73.39 million investment was made in Chittagong EPZ, $ 25.36 million in Dhaka EPZ, $ 19.16 million in Karnaphuli EPZ, $ 15.19 million in Adamjee EPZ, $ 6.39 million in Comilla EPZ, $ 7.43 million in Uttara EPZ, $ 2.41 million in Ishwardi EPZ, and $ 1.04 million in Mongla EPZ.
With this the total (cumulative) investment in the country’s EPZs stood at $ 2975.71 million till December 2013.
Meanwhile, the entrepreneurs of eight EPZs exported $ 2598.56 million worth goods during July-December of 2013-14 against of $ 2240.87 million exports during the same period in last fiscal, recording a15.96 per cent growth.
Among 2598.56 export earnings in the first half of the current fiscal, the enterprises of Chittagong EPZ registered export earnings worth about $ 1126.48 million, Dhaka EPZ $ 884.77 million, Karnaphuli $ 232.03 million, Adamjee EPZ $ 186.58 million, Comilla EPZ $ 102.58 million, Mongla EPZ $ 13.24 million, Ishwardi EPZ $ 39.10 million and Uttara EPZ $ 13.76 million.
According to sources, at present some 425 industrial units are operating in the EPZs and some 136 remain under different stages of implementation.
The enterprises of eight EPZs employed some 8018 people during July-December of 2013-14. With this, a total of 381,262 Bangladeshis, of them 64 per cent are female, are working in the EPZs.
Source: http://www.theindependentbd.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=201824:investment-up-2650pc-export-16pc-in-epzs&catid=109:business-stockmarket&Itemid=155