Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue, speaks at the launch of the Global Competitiveness Report 2009-10 in Dhaka yesterday.Photo: STAR

Infrastructure in Bangladesh ranks among the worst in the world, securing only the 126th position in 133 nations, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2009-10 released yesterday.
Bangladesh ranked 122nd out of the 134 countries surveyed last year.
However, the country moved up 5 notches in the overall index, moving from last year's 111th position.
Bangladesh lags behind its South Asian neighbours: India ranked 49, a step better than last year, Pakistan remained unchanged at 101 and Sri Lanka stood at 79, down from last year's 77th position.
"The Global Competitiveness Report" (GCR) is an annual publication of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a partner organisation of the WEF, released the report at a press conference at its office in Dhaka yesterday.
Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of CPD, briefed reporters on the Bangladesh part of the report presented by Khondaker Golam Moazzem, senior research fellow at CPD.
The private think-tank also released the 'Bangladesh Business Environment Study 2009' that it conducted simultaneously. Infrastructure is one of the 12 parameters taken into account for the report.
“The poor supply of electricity was the major concern for almost all respondents (98 percent),” the report says.
More importantly, a significant deterioration in the level of perception occurred in 2008.
“The caretaker government failed to narrow the yawning demand-supply gap in electricity, although a number of electricity generation projects, with a total capacity of 1,200 megawatts, were initiated in 2007 and 2008,” the report says.
The GCR shows more than 80 percent businessmen said infrastructure remained largely underdeveloped in 2008. They also said railroads and air transport facilities remain poor in the country.
Some 89 respondents (companies) with assets worth no less than Tk 10 crore were surveyed in the report, based on 2008 information.
“Bangladesh performs well in the worst group," said Bhattacharya.
“Infrastructure is the number one threat, even a more serious problem than corruption," he said.
Bangladesh can attribute advancements in the overall ranking to progress made in macroeconomic stability, government and other public institutions and improvements in the financial market, despite global meltdown.
Most respondents said foreign direct investment (FDI) related rules were favourable to attract investment. Two-thirds of the respondents also said an access to bank finance with a good business plan is not enough.
On the business operation and sophistication index, over 60 percent of the companies found there was fierce competition in the local market.
Bangladesh did not demonstrate improvements in education, human capital and corruption indicators.
“Two-thirds of the respondents perceived government efforts to combat corruption and bribery as somewhat unsuccessful in 2008,” the report shows.
Switzerland tops the overall ranking in 'The Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010', replacing the United States that slipped to the 2nd position this year. Only two Asian nations -- Singapore and Japan -- are in the top 10 positions while the remaining are all European nations.
The GCR is one of the world's most comprehensive and respected assessments of country competitiveness, offering insight into policies, institutions and factors driving productivity and then, enabling sustained economic growth and long term prosperity.
The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the WEF together with its network of partner institutes in the countries covered by the report.