Experts say at CPD launching of WEF global competitiveness report
No adequate measure has been taken to reduce the adverse impact of poor infrastructure, corruption and inefficient bureaucracy on the country’s business environment although the World Economic Forum has been mentioning the problems since 2006, said experts on Thursday.
Twenty one per cent businesses in the country identified inadequate supply of infrastructure as the top barrier to doing business, according to the annual survey carried out as part of the Global Competitiveness Report 2014–2015, which was released globally on Wednesday and in Bangladesh on Thursday.
Corruption was identified as the second problem by 20.7 per cent businessmen, which was in the top of the list last year, while 15.3 per cent businessmen found inefficient government bureaucracy was affecting business environment.
Bangladesh, however, moved up to the 109th place from last year’s 110th in the Global Competitiveness Report with a score of 3.72 in the scale of 1 to 7.
‘The most important factors for doing business are turned out to be the most problematic areas in Bangladesh but no adequate measures have been taken so far to remove the problems,’ said Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of Centre for Policy Dialogue, while presenting the ranking and the survey report at BRAC Centre Inn in Dhaka.
‘The business-government relation is not cooperative and this has seen some regress. Rebuilding the relationship with businesses should be a major task confronting the government,’ he said.
He, however, said entrepreneurs had foreseen better economic prospect in 2014. ‘This could have positive implications in overall businesses.’
Apex Adelchi Footwear’s managing director Syed Nasim Manzur said that there was prolonged negligence by the government to remove the bottlenecks mentioned in the Global Competitiveness Report.
‘The government is yet to start the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway project but we have been hearing about it for long. Such infrastructure projects will reduce the cost of doing business but nothing is happening,’ he said.
Former commerce minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said that as long the government was not legitimate the country would not move forward.
‘We have potential to do more but as the government is not in power with people’s mandate so we fail,’ he said.
Industries minister Amir Hossain Amu said that government was taking
many projects under the commerce ministry which would improve the situation.
‘We are doing better continuously. We have taken many projects to facilitate the business environment,’ he said.
In Bangladesh, the CPD carried out the Executive Opinion Summary survey based on the questionnaire developed by the WEF. Seventy six businesses took part in the survey conducted between February and April this year.
Government instability, access to financing, policy instability, inadequately educated workforce and crime and theft were identified by the survey among top problems facing the business community.
The CPD said over the last six years, perception about general infrastructure had experienced little change, it was stuck in ‘worse’ category although supply of electricity improved significantly.
Over 90 percent respondents said the government’s efforts to combat corruption and bribery were ineffective.
-With New Age input
