DHAKA, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first 11 months of the immediate past 2018-19 fiscal year (July 2018-June 2019) increased 32.91 percent, or 248 million U.S. dollars, compared with the same period of the 2017-2018 fiscal year, central bank data showed Sunday.

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) data showed that gross FDI inflows were recorded at 3,837 million U.S. dollars in the 11 months from last July to this May, as against 3,589 million U.S. dollars in the same period a year earlier.

Net FDI inflow in the country from last July to this May stood at 2,067 million U.S. dollars against 1,925 million U.S. dollars in the same period a year earlier.

FDI inflow into Bangladesh totaled 3.6 billion U.S. dollars in whole 2018, up 68 percent year-on-year on the back of sizable Chinese investments in capital market and mobile financial service, a UN body report revealed last month.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) world investment Report 2019, this was driven by significant Chinese investments in Dhaka Stock Exchange and in a leading mobile financial service company.