Why invest: Another market to benefit from the manufacturing shift in Asia is Bangladesh, which has a thriving textile industry. When the South Asian country’s export earnings hit a record high in December 2015, its burgeoning apparel industry accounted for more than 83% of those earnings – according to its Export Promotion Bureau.
“Bangladesh is a small country, but it has a lot of potential – its low income base means low wages in manufacturing, its 6.5% GDP growth is promising, and there is a lot of potential for developing infrastructure,” says Thomas Hugger, chief executive officer of fund management company Asia Frontier Capital.
Apart from that, a recent market research report by Boston Consulting Group estimates that about 40 million Bangladeshis “will make the leap from poverty to the entry rungs of the middle class by 2025”. This will set it on the path to great growth in discretionary consumption, which also bodes well for its economy.
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