Kazi Zahidul Hasan and Badrul Ahsan :Bangladesh is ranked 174th out of 189 countries in a global index on ease of doing business, slipping down two places from last year.”In fact, the country’s global ranking has dropped on ease of doing business, as the country’s performance deteriorated on some key indicators, particularly on benchmarks of getting an electricity connection, access to finance and availability of lands for setting industries,” according to the report. In the previous year, Bangladesh had ranked 172 among 189 countries.The Doing Business Report-2016, the flagship report of the World Bank and International Finance Corporation released on Tuesday from Washington, said that out of 10 indicators, Bangladesh slipped on five and remained unchanged in five.The report said that despite deterioration in five major parameters, Bangladesh made ‘paying taxes’ less costly for companies by reducing the corporate income tax rate. It made starting a business easier by automating the registration process and reducing the time required to obtain a trading license and to complete the tax and value added tax registration.Apart from these, Bangladesh made trading across borders easier by introducing a fully automated, computerized customs data management system, ASYCUDA (Automated System for Customs Data). This reform applies to both Chittagong and Dhaka, the report said.However, economists expressed grave concern over the future impact of the report in country’s investment.They said the report may leave an adverse impact on both the local and foreign investment in the country.”Foreign investors at first check such reports before making any investment abroad. This report may influence their decision of making investing in Bangladesh,” Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur, Executive Director Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh told the New Nation Wednesday.”It is possible to restore investor’s confidence only if the government can implement its decision to establish more special economic zones (SEZ) across the country. Such as the government speaks about 100 SEZs,” he added.Dr Akbr Ali Khan, former advisor to the caretaker government also said the report may overshadow the government’s effort to increase foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country.”Shortage of electricity and scarcity of land are the main hindrance to investment which the country has long been facing. We should take immediate initiative to overcome the problems rather than making blame game,” he said. Meanwhile, according to the report, Singapore tops the rankings on ease of doing business followed by New Zealand, Denmark, South Korea, Hong Kong, Britain, America, Sweden, Norway and Finland.India, the next door neighbour of Bangladesh, is ranked 130th on the ease of doing business report, moving up 12 places from last year. Pakistan ranked 138th place slipping 10 spots from 128 last year while China ranked 84 moving up six spots in a year from 90 since the last report.The report also said that most developing economies last year continued to implement a broad range of reforms aimed at improving the regulatory environment to make easier for local entrepreneurs to open and operate their businesses.It finds that 85 developing economies implemented 169 business reforms during the past year, compared with 154 reforms the previous year. Besides, high-income economies carried out an additional 62 reforms, bringing the total for the past year to 231 reforms in 122 economies around the world.In South Asia, six of the region’s eight economies implemented a total of nine reforms – the second largest share of any region after Europe and Central Asia. Economies that implemented several reforms included India, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. The region’s highest ranked economy is Bhutan, which has a global ranking of 71.Experts say that international investors make investment decisions after reviewing a country’s position on the doing business index. The deterioration in key indicators highlights the challenges that Bangladesh will face in attracting foreign investment.They said, getting electricity connection remains a business concern and the applicants had to follow half a dozen procedures, required months and had to bear heavy cost.Earlier, the business community complains about bureaucratic tangles for getting utility connections in addition to problems even in getting bank finance to open and operate their enterprises.
