Bangladesh declines in ease of business
Bangladesh fell six steps to the 110th position among 181 countries in "ease of doing business", said a global survey report jointly prepared by the World Bank (WB) and International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The country ranked 104th in 2007 and 88th in 2006 in similar surveys.
However, Bangladesh has shown a substantial improvement in as many as three indicators for the first time.
The survey titled 'Doing Business-2009' however reveals that Bangladesh improved in three indicators among 10.
“The government could not go aggressively with its reform programmes in the past one year,” Syed Akhtar Mahmood, the IFC's senior programme manager, told reporters at the launch of the survey report at the WB's Dhaka office yesterday.
Mahmood said: “Typical bureaucratic inertia in terms of carrying out reforms is another major reason for Bangladesh's falling behind from the last year's position.”
“Having established the Regulatory Reforms Commission and the Bangladesh Better Business Forum, now the country must focus on swift implementation of the reforms in the pipeline in both individual regulatory areas as well as at the overall institutional level to improve the climate for doing business,” said Zahid Hussain, acting country director of WB at Dhaka.
According to the RRC officials, the commission has so far recommended 50 reform proposals, of which most remain unimplemented.
Mahmood however said inclusion of three new countries Bahrain, Bahamas and Qatar has pushed Bangladesh three steps down from the previous year's position.
According to the study, Bangladesh is the fourth easiest country in South Asia for doing business. The Maldives ranks 69th followed by Pakistan 77, Sri Lanka 102, Nepal 121, India 122, Bhutan 124 and Afghanistan 162. Singapore tops the ranking for the consecutive three years.
Doing Business ranks economies based on 10 indicators to ascertain a country's business competitiveness. These are: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across border, enforcing contracts and closing a business.
The survey shows that Bangladesh cut the time to 245 days from 425 days, needed to register property by almost half through reforms. Bangladesh is the only country in South Asia that recorded two reforms between June 2007 and June 2008, it said. Three other South Asian nations recorded only one reform each.
However, the cost to register property remains high, 10.4 percent of the property values, among the South Asians.
Bangladesh has also improved significantly in time to pay taxes to 302 hours from 400 hours in the previous report.
The cost of export in Bangladesh is $970 per container, much lower than Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Afghanistan, but higher than Pakistan ($611), Sri Lanka ($865) and India ($945).
While in the case of import, the cost is $1,375 per container for Bangladesh, lower than Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan, but higher than the other South Asian countries.
In terms of the standing in ease of starting a business, Bangladesh has improved two steps to 90th this year from 92nd a year ago. But the country ranked the 75th in 2007 Doing Business. Bangladesh requires going through seven different procedures for starting a business from eight in the previous year. The average procedures for South Asians are 7.37.
The number of days needed to start a business in Bangladesh is 73, while the regional average is only 32 days. Afghanistan and the Maldives need only nine days to start a business.
The cost of starting a business in Bangladesh, as a percentage of the per capita income, is 25.7 from 46.2 percent in the previous year, while the regional average is 31.8 percent.
Bangladesh ranked 114th in the category of dealing with construction permits from previous year's 116th. Here one has to go through 14 procedures and 231 days to obtain a license, the survey says.
Licensing cost, as a percentage of the per capita income, is 739.8 percent from previous year's 751 percent, while the regional average is over 2,500 percent of the per capita income.
In terms of how easily properties can be registered, Bangladesh ranked 175th from 171st a year ago. Property registration cost in Bangladesh, as a percentage of property value, is 10 percent from 10.3 percent a year ago. The regional average is 6 percent.
The survey says in terms of getting credit for doing business, Bangladesh ranked 59th from 48th in the previous year. The ranking of which in the category had been 45th in 2006.
Comments