Hopes for better business climate
Bangladesh's business environment looks set to improve in the next five years, according to a global ranking report released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) yesterday.
The EIU in its Business Environment Rankings graded Bangladesh as the 69th investor-friendly location among 82 nations for 2014-18 as the country advanced by two notches from the previous ranking for 2009-13.
Singapore has retained its title as the world's most investor-friendly location for the period, owing to its open economy and status as a regional commercial hub.
In the South Asian region, Bangladesh is the third best scorer after India and Sri Lanka, according to the ranking report, which measures the quality of business environment.
Asia is a diverse region, and there are large differences between the overall scores and the global rankings of its top four countries, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, and its poorest performers, Bangladesh and Pakistan, the report said.
“The gap reflects the widely varying levels of economic development and political stability between these countries, alongside sharp differences in the underlying structure shaping laws and regulations of foreign investment.”
Infrastructure remains a relative weak point for Asia. While some of the region's infrastructure is excellent, particularly in telecoms and air transport, other areas require investment to improve distribution networks and utilities provision, it added.
The EIU's country forecast report is designed to reflect the main criteria used by companies to formulate their global business strategies, and is based not only on historical conditions but also on expectations about conditions prevailing over the next five years.
The business rankings model examines ten separate criteria or categories, covering the political environment, the macroeconomic environment, market opportunities, policy towards free enterprise and competition, policy towards foreign investment, foreign trade and exchange controls, taxes, financing, the labour market and infrastructure.
Each category contains a number of indicators that are assessed by the EIU for the last five years and the next five years.
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