Bangladesh received net foreign direct investment (FDI) amounting to 3.61 billion dollars in 2018, which is its highest ever. The surge of about 68 per cent over last year came as Japan Tobacco Inc invested 1.47 billion dollars in purchasing the business from a Bangladeshi company. Power sector attracted the highest FDI worth over 1 billion dollars.

Releasing the figures compiled by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) said yesterday that China was the biggest source for FDI inflows last year at 1.03 billion dollars, followed by the Netherlands and the UK. The increase in the FDI inflows into Bangladesh comes even when FDI is declining in most of the world except Asia.

Government of Bangladesh is working to improve its ranking in the ease of doing business index from the current level of 176 out of 190 to below 100 in the near future.