Prepare for fallout from trade war
Experts voiced concerns over the souring of relations between China and the US as the trade war between these two global economic powerhouses heats up. From a roundtable titled "From globalisation to protectionism: implications for the developing world", we learn that in a global economy, the fallout from increasing protectionism is going to impact economies across the region. As tariffs are raised by as much as 30 to 35 percent, it will directly affect trade volume. Our policymakers need to boost competitiveness, production capacity and service quality to pick up the slack.
Bangladesh has not been performing well in the global ease of doing business index for some years now. We have our work cut out if we wish to take advantage of the opportunities that are going to present themselves in the near future (as the US piles up pressure on China with more tariffs). The country needs to be more proactive in introducing a "one-stop" service for foreign investors and our turnaround time when it comes to shipping products overseas is due for a major overhaul.
We should remember that Bangladesh is not the only country in the Asian region that is following developments in the trade war that is brewing between the US and China. And the opportunities will be clinched by those economies that have the most to offer. And sadly, we have not been doing our part with reforms to ease the bottlenecks that are hurting our image abroad as a country where setting up a business is easily done.
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