Bangladesh Economic & Infrastructure Development - Updates & Discussions

[SBUS-CXK]

Well good luck I guess.

Look, we're dragged into these topics again.

 

[Mage]

Look, we're dragged into these topics again.

which topic?

 

[SBUS-CXK]

which topic?

Vietnam, Myanmar, Iran, Turkey, Korea, Russia, US...

 

[Mage]

Vietnam, Myanmar, Iran, Turkey, Korea, Russia...

Only Vietnam I guess.....and Indonesia.

 

[SBUS-CXK]

Only Vietnam I guess.....and Indonesia.

I hope so, too.

 

[bluesky]

Vietnam probably exports 250 billion USD this year.

"The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Vietnam was worth 223.86 billion US dollars in 2017. The GDP value of Vietnam represents 0.36 percent of the world economy. GDP in Vietnam averaged 68.78 USD Billion from 1985 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 223.86 USD Billion in 2017 and a record low of 6.29 USD Billion in 1989".

If the GDP is US$223.86 billion, how it is possible that Vietnam exported US$250 billion worth of goods and services? There must be something wrong with the figures.

 

[Nike]

"The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Vietnam was worth 223.86 billion US dollars in 2017. The GDP value of Vietnam represents 0.36 percent of the world economy. GDP in Vietnam averaged 68.78 USD Billion from 1985 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 223.86 USD Billion in 2017 and a record low of 6.29 USD Billion in 1989".

If the GDP is US$223.86 billion, how it is possible that Vietnam exported US$250 billion worth of goods and services? There must be something wrong with the figures.

They are retrader nation, repack items and goods from China to be shipped to other country. Well it is useful to avoid unnecessary tax, and permits in some countries against China.

 

[Mage]

"The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Vietnam was worth 223.86 billion US dollars in 2017. The GDP value of Vietnam represents 0.36 percent of the world economy. GDP in Vietnam averaged 68.78 USD Billion from 1985 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 223.86 USD Billion in 2017 and a record low of 6.29 USD Billion in 1989".

If the GDP is US$223.86 billion, how it is possible that Vietnam exported US$250 billion worth of goods and services? There must be something wrong with the figures.

There are some counties where exports are higher than GDP. Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland and some other are like that. I don't think Vietnam is there yet. their total exports are probably more than 90% of their GDP.

To

 

[Viet]

"The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Vietnam was worth 223.86 billion US dollars in 2017. The GDP value of Vietnam represents 0.36 percent of the world economy. GDP in Vietnam averaged 68.78 USD Billion from 1985 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 223.86 USD Billion in 2017 and a record low of 6.29 USD Billion in 1989".

If the GDP is US$223.86 billion, how it is possible that Vietnam exported US$250 billion worth of goods and services? There must be something wrong with the figures.

Very easy to understand: Vietnam’s manufacturing and industrial base is greater than the domestic consumption. In some cases even multiple times.Let’s say rice production: with a bit more investment Vietnam rice surplus is enough to feed the entire Japan’s population.

Our problem is not production but how to find markets for our products that we make en masse?

 

[Bilal9]

Well, new for me. I don't keep track of what he says.

We can open a separate thread to discuss this if you are interested. IMHO this is not discussed enough but should. It is crucial in Bangladesh' development stage and Pakistan's as well.

 

[trishna_amṛta]

Lot of reviews are out there for TVS in Indonesia:

Here's the factory inside Indonesia:

I'm not familiar with TVS brand and has never notice it before . But than again I'm more of a 4x4 guy thus doesn't follow 2 wheelers market

Now (I recently posted a video about this), the quality (precision) and quantity of value-addition-labor has gone up with manufacture of complicated higher price-tag items like branded Suits, jackets, medium-priced ladies' couture etc. To make these higher priced items and the many complicated critical operations involved, you need an entirely different type of precision skill set compared to sewing underwear.

At the same time, local backward integration (such as manufacture of specialized high-priced higher thread count shirting, denim and precision fabric locally) has increased many fold. Alongside this, specialized technical fabric manufacture for jackets and outerwear (production of which is increasing in volume every year) has also started locally. All this has lowered the cost of input and the time-to-market just-in-time factors substantially for local production, and made sourcing from Bangladesh much more attractive than in prior times. Which in turn increased the value-addition argument for Bangladesh many fold.

Under what brands are those specialized technical fabrics ? Don't get wrong I'm not bashing or similar here, however I happen to be heavy user of technical fabrics clothings (TACLITE®, HEATGEAR®, COOLMAX®, FlashDry™, GORE-TEX®, PrimaLoft® ThermoBall™, etc) and so far I've never recall seeing "Made in Bangladesh" in the labeling.

 

[Indos]

It looks very good. What's the price?

Around 1700 USD

 

[Nilgiri]

probably one of those repeat spam accounts making yet another one.

Called it! Bengal Subaaaaaaah went bye bye.

 

[Nilgiri]

I actually think Bangladesh makes great progress recently. Vietnam is a bit ahead though.


Vietnam probably exports 250 billion USD this year. Some people think that is huge but is in reality a disappointment. But luckily we are on the move. With the recent accords TPP and Europe, Japan and Germany led trade pacts, Vietnam exports would reach $500 billion in 5 years and $1 trillion within a decade.

FDI = BAD! @Viet bro, to make truly great progress, one needs to be filing more than 1's and 2's yearly at USPTO when you are 170 million ppl dont you think?

But instead all the "progress" is from BD internal claims about itself.....and they are very different to what they are able to project outside their borders (trade, investment, energy, market cap etc). It is going to be a persistent problem for a while.

It may interest you to know that even though Vietnam has half the population of BD, it puts out 33% more science volume in 2017.

But even with all this said....BD could easily be industrialising to 10 more sectors (simple assembly + manufacturing)...but they instead just want to stick to RMG only (so politicians can easily take their cut of it, instead of competing with different labour pools) and pass on just a few scraps to their SEZ's for a few optics....and it (RMG) ends up making up like 90% of their exports and it is not projected to change much. Thats why now their biggest (non RMG) company pushed its 1 billion export target by another 10 years....when it claimed ( 3 years ago) it would getting that amount right now.

Yet they still say FDI = bad because they don't want to be "export reliant".....but then in other threads, they point to South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan etc etc as growth models they want to replicate. Truly a strange people.

Being export reliant is only a potential problem if the investment volatility (and thus potential exit velocity) is high and you take huge foreign loans etc based on it (like say the root problem of Asian Financial Crisis).....but strong capital (rather than portfolio) investment flow and prudent economic policy of a govt like in Vietnam counters that well. Yet these BD ostriches with head stuck in mud still refuse to see that....and think BD will miraculously invest up the economic chain totally on its own....that too with like 8 times less the internal market pull of India (which is just plodding along right now w.r.t this model till more deepset reforms take effect).

 

[Nilgiri]

This is quite a thought provoking post Bilal, Bhai. I didn't know about these concepts.

Maybe @Nilgiri can give some insights on what effects these can have in countries like Bangladesh, India etc.

My summary:

It needs higher level in both quantity and quality investment and training in vocational colleges and schools etc....than what is currently found in region. More key is that private companies are fully invested and integrated into this process so they can shape the talent to their needs...so that over time they can develop critical specialisation in a process/technology that goes into something bigger.

Germany had a key help through the Marshall program (post war) and its own heritage of industry + craft + specialized (esp materials) research...the Mittelstand did not come out of thin air. But there are basic concepts from it that can be applied anywhere with the right leadership and bureaucratic reform.

It does not even really enter into the equation for BD tbh right now (even compared to say what India has achieved in some sectors), unless BD govt gets its grubby hands out of all the excise duties and required bribes etc for any kind of SME trying to take shape.....and instead focuses on rule of law and standards (i.e the principal things a govt is there for rather than intervening excessively in the free market).

Simply saying SEZ this and SEZ that (like some members here seem to love doing) is really stupid as SMEs need to take shape outside the SEZs to feed them the supply of components....and start earning profits so they can long term re-invest and improve at a base level. India too had its SEZ = be all, end all phase (trying to carbon copy Chinese experience) till they stagnated big time and better reforms (which are still ongoing) had to happen for the SME base to really shape up (and thats where competition between states and political parties is a positive).

The reforms for the supply chains have to be comprehensive and thorough...but that necessarily requires the loss of (at least unitary) political ownership and control over industry at a micro-level (macro level can still be done as politically feelz needed through holding companies/SOE ownership).....but I don't see BAL being ready to let go of this....they prefer to put party over the country. @Atlas @Tanveer666