- Dhaka air unhealthy for sensitive groups Saturday morning |
- North Korea conducts a test on 'super-large warhead': KCNA |
- 'Bombing' hits Iraq military base: security sources |
- G7 countries for promoting Free, Open Indo-Pacific |
- Create conditions for Rohingya Repatriation: G7 countries |
Dhaka permits 4 Bangladeshi cos to invest $13.5 mn abroad
Foreign currency
Dhaka, Feb 3 -The government has granted permission to four local companies to invest USD $13.5 million in five foreign countries.
The Bangladesh Bank committee for allowing investment abroad in its last sitting on Wednesday approved the investment.
The four companies are BSRM, Square Pharmaceuticals, Renata Limited and Columbia Garments.
The companies have received new permission to invest USD $13.5 million overseas. At the current exchange rate (Tk 86 per dollar), this amount in Bangladeshi currency is around Tk 116 crore.
Md. Serajul Islam, Bangladesh Bank (BB) spokesperson, on Thursday said the permission was given at a meeting of the review committee on investment of Bangladeshi companies abroad.
BD Venture's application was rejected at the meeting.
The application of Sonargaon Seed Crushing of Meghna Group will undergo a further review.
Although many Bangladeshi companies are interested in investing abroad, there has been no policy so far.
The government last week issued new rules on foreign investment. However, Bangladesh Bank has been giving permission to a few exporting companies on a case-by-case basis for a long time.
A committee comprising of various government agencies headed by Bangladesh Bank has so far allowed a total of 17 companies to invest abroad.
Mobile Jamuna returned the investment of Myanmar in 2019.
Wednesday's meeting was the last meeting of that committee. Now anyone who wants to invest abroad has to apply under the light of the new rules.
Sources said that Square Pharmaceuticals has received permission to invest $ 1 million in the Philippines. Columbia Garments has been allowed to invest $ 1.5 million in Hong Kong.
Steel company BSRM has been allowed to invest $ 5 million in Hong Kong. Renata has been allowed to invest $ 5 million in the UK and $ 1 million in Ireland.
Renata currently has an investment of 7,100 euro in Ireland and UK.
BSRM and Square Pharmaceuticals also have investments in Kenya. BSRM was allowed to invest over $4.6 million in Kenya in 2016. In the same year, Square Pharma was allowed to invest $12 million in Kenya. - UNB