Investment in Bangladesh is likely to slow down in the coming year as prospective investors would prefer to see how political situation develop ahead of the next general election which supposed to take place between October 2006 to January 2007, private news agency UNB reported Saturday.

"Businessmen feel reluctant to go for new investment before any general election," Board of Investment Executive Chairman Mahmudur Rahman was quoted by UNB as saying.

"The present upward trend of investment might slow down in the coming days as the country is heading for a general election," Rahman said.

Normally businessmen prefer to wait for the next government and then take decision on investment, he added.

Rahman also suggested that the trend in investment would continue to go up if there is no major political turmoil before the election.

He claimed that the country has attained 228 percent investment growth in last six months of the previous fiscal year (January to June, 2005).

This is the highest growth in the investment history of Bangladesh, he added.

Source: Xinhua