and Launching of Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015, held on 4 September 2014 at BRAC Centre Inn.
View more press reports on the event.
Published in Dhaka Tribune
WEF: Corruption remains a major factor in business
Tribune Report
Bangladesh, however, progressed one notch forward in Global Competitiveness Index to 109th from 110th
Inadequate infrastructures, corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency remained the most problematic factors in doing business in Bangladesh, said Global Competitiveness Report.
World Economic Forum prepared the report which was published in Bangladesh yesterday by the Forum’s local partner Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
Bangladesh, however, progressed one notch forward in Global Competitiveness Index to 109th from 110th.
As per the report, Bangladesh has made positive changes in seven pillars including infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, higher education, goods market efficiency, financial markets sophistication, market size and innovation.
Major deterioration was observed in institutions, health and primary education, labour market efficiency and technological readiness.
Ethical standards of politicians are very low, which came down to 94% from 87%, while politicians ability is poor to govern effectively, the report said.
Parliament is ineffective to some extent as a law-making institutions and the ranking became bad to worse.
During launching of the report, CPD also held a dialogue on a recent update on business environment in Bangladesh.
Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu and former Commerce Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, among others, attended the dialogue.
On corruption, Amir Hossain Amu said: “Anti Corruption Commission is now working independently, which was proved in recent moves against some politicians.”
Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said there is no sign of accountability in the country’s present administration.
To attain higher GCR ranking in near term future, the report suggested some reforms including strong political commitment for reduction of corruption and strengthening ACC.
Ensuring transparency and accountability in the operation of private and public sector financial institutions, finalising the financial reporting act, establishing strong monitoring and enforcement of laws in the capital market, implementing environmental rules, resource development, better industrial relations, maintaining workplace safety and security.
Slow progress in global competitiveness could hardly generate momentum for developing an enabling business environment in the country, said Khnodaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of CPD.
The World Economic Forum made the report on 144 countries after evaluating 12 different issues known as “twelve pillars” under the three sub-indices.
The pillars include institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency and labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation.
Switzerland topped the index for the sixth consecutive years followed by Singapore, United States, Finland, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Sweden.
Among the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, India was ranked 71, Sri Lanka 73, Nepal 102, Bhutan 103 and Pakistan 129.
Syed Manzur Elahi, treasurer of Board of Trustee of CPD and former FBCCI President A K Azad were also present at the dialogue.
Published in The Financial Express
BD one step up in global competitiveness index
Skilled workforce, low bank interest, adequate gas for industries suggested
FE Report
Experts suggested the authorities to pay attention to critical infrastructure development, lowering high bank interest, proper utilization of land, political stability and policy continuity to enhance Bangladesh’s competitiveness in the global arena.
Political stability and an effective parliament are also among factors imperative for smooth run of trade and business that contributes to raising competitiveness on the global plane, they said at a dialogue Thursday.
The speakers also underlined necessary measures from both public and private sectors to create skilled workforce, strong political commitment for reduction of corruption, ensuring uninterrupted supply of gas to industries and quality of healthcare and transparency and accountability in the operations of financial institutions.
The dialogue was organised by Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a partner institution of the World Economic Forum that revealed the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 2014-2015 globally on the day.
Held at the Brac Centre Inn in Dhaka on the occasion of releasing the GCR report, the dialogue was titled ‘A Recent Update on Business Environment in Bangladesh and Launching Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 2014-2015’.
Member of CPD’s Board of Trustee Syed Manzur Elahi moderated the discussion at the function attended, among others, by Industry Minister Amir Hossain Amu, former Finance Minister M Sayeduzzaman, former commerce minister Amir Khasru Mahmood Chowdhury, BCI (Bangladesh Chamber of Industry) President AK Azad and Apex Footwear Managing Director Nasim Manzur.
They also pinpointed ineffective parliament, burdensome government procedure and improper order of government-business relationship as other key factors hampering country’s business competitiveness.
CPD Executive Director Professor Mustafizur Rahman said the GCR is the most referred global report assessing global business environment and it covered about 150 economies comprising 99 per cent of world GDP (gross domestic product).
Over 13,000 business executives participated in the worldwide executive opinion survey and Bangladesh chapter was made based on opinions from 77 local respondents, he said.
In his speech M Syeduzzaman termed the country’s exiting tariff structure “anti-business” and suggested the government to look into the matter with serious attention.
He also mentioned that trade volume within the South Asian countries still remained much lower, less then 5.0 per cent, compared to 30-35 per cent of the ASEAN countries.
M Syeduzzaman, a former commerce minister, also stressed the importance of political governance, saying that the ACC (Anti-Corruption Commission) should be allowed to function properly to reduce corruption, which is one of the key hindrances that hampered the country’s business competitiveness.
Speaking on the occasion, Nasim Manzur laid topmost priority on development of infrastructure and ensuring higher productivity with flexible labour market for enhancing the country’s business competitiveness.
Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu said despite having some political disturbances, the country made certain progress in the perception index.
“Bangladesh’s ranking in the GCR could have been better had there been no political volatility,” he told the meet.
BCI President AK Azad focused on ethical standards of the politicians, saying that if the politicians were accountable to the people, things would change automatically in accordance with the expectation.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh ranked 109th in the Global Competitiveness Index 2014-2015, up by one step from that of the previous year as it made positive changes in seven out of 12 pillars on the basic of scores.
In the perception index, Switzerland secured the top position for six consecutive years followed by Singapore, the United States, Finland, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Sweden.
The Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015 assesses the competitiveness landscape of 144 economies, providing insights into the drivers of their productivity and prosperity.
The different aspects of competitiveness are captured in 12 pillars, which compose the Global Competitiveness Index. This 35th edition emphasizes innovation and skills as the key drivers of economic growth.
The rankings are based on 12 categories that include institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation.
In South Asia, India slipped 11 places to 71st and Sri Lanka lost eight positions to end at the 73rd. Pakistan advanced four steps to the 129th, Bhutan gained six to end at 103rd, and Nepal jumped up 15 points to 102nd.
The scale and frequency of weather shocks, combined with long-term economic forecasts of climate change effects and fossil fuel costs, are having a political as well as an economic impact.
Many developing country governments are changing their approach to infrastructure and industrial planning, choosing to design more sustainable, resilient pathways to economic growth.
They are developing comprehensive national investment programmes in clean energy, energy efficiency, water management, climate-resilient agriculture, smart grids and low-carbon transport systems.
This strategic shift has been termed “greening the economy” or making a “green growth” transition.
Currently, significant private investment is not being attracted to these plans due to a range of perceived risks and the relative novelty of the market.
Published in The Daily Star
Infrastructure deficit, corruption are top barriers to business
Survey finds adversities; Bangladesh moves up one place to 109th in Global Competitiveness Index
Star Business Report
Inadequate infrastructure, corruption and inefficient bureaucracy continue to haunt entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, as the three factors top the list of bottlenecks hampering business, according to a survey by the World Economic Forum.
Twenty-one percent of businesses, surveyed in Bangladesh as part of the Global Competitiveness Report 2014–2015, identified inadequate supply of infrastructure as the top barrier to doing business. The report was released globally on Wednesday, and yesterday in Bangladesh.
Corruption was the second worst barrier, dropping from the first position last year, with 20.7 percent of businesses pointing at it. It was followed by inefficient government bureaucracy at 15.3 percent.
“The top factors are considered to be the most important problematic factors for doing businesses for over a long period,” said Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), while presenting the survey report at Brac Centre Inn in Dhaka.
He said there is a lack of adequate effort to reduce the extent of adversities caused by these factors, which have topped the list since 2006.
The economist, however, said entrepreneurs foresee better economic prospects in 2014. “This would have positive implications in overall businesses.”
In Bangladesh, CPD carried out the Executive Opinion Summary survey based on the questionnaire developed by WEF; 76 businesses took part in the survey conducted between February and April.
The survey covers entrepreneurs and businessmen involved in manufacturing and services, and medium and large enterprises; 93 percent of these companies are located in Dhaka, with head offices in Bangladesh.
Government instability or coups, access to financing, policy instability, an inadequately educated workforce and crime and theft were identified by the survey among the top problems facing the business community.
Tax regulations, inflation, foreign currency regulations, tax rates, poor work ethics in the national labour force and insufficient capacity to innovate, poor public health and restrictive labour regulations also pose as problems for the businesses.
In the last six years, perceptions on general infrastructure experienced little change; it was stuck in the ‘worst’ category due to limited road transport, although supply of electricity improved significantly, said CPD.
“Infrastructure conducive for efficient operation of the business supply chain is largely absent in the country,” said the think-tank analysis, adding that infrastructure development should be more ‘focused’ towards ‘development of supply chain’.
About 40 percent of respondents perceived that the business-government relationship is not in proper order and more importantly, perception about it has deteriorated from ‘good’ to ‘bad’.
“The government should take note of the view that business-government relation is not cooperative and this has seen some regress,” said CPD in the analysis.
“Rebuilding the relationship with businesses should be a major task confronting the government,” said Moazzem.
To improve the country’s position in competitiveness ranking, CPD called for urgent reforms in areas such as public services, public sector, financial sector, corporate governance sector and environment and social issues.
The CPD analysis said a significant deterioration in the perception was observed in key indicators related to government and public institutions particularly in the last two years.
“The government should seriously think about growing dissatisfaction regarding the performance of public institutions as service-providers.”
Over 90 percent respondents said the government’s efforts to combat corruption and bribery are ineffective.
Most respondents believe that diversion of public funds to companies, individuals or groups due to corruption is very common, while bribes in connection with imports and exports, in getting connection of public utilities, tax payments and awarding of public contracts and licences are common as well.
“Strong political will of the ruling party is necessary in order to withstand corruption,” said the CPD analysis.
The analysis said the financial sector is yet to regain its earlier position because of a lack of much-needed progress. It called for an effective regulatory and monitoring role of the securities regulator and access to credit at an affordable rate of interest.
In the Global Competitiveness Index, Bangladesh scored 3.72 out of 7 to move up one place to 109th from last year’s 110th.
CPD said slow progress in global competitiveness could hardly generate momentum to develop an enabling business environment in the country.
The rankings, conducted among 144 economies this year, are based on 12 categories — institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation.
On the basis of scores, positive changes were observed in seven pillars — infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, higher education, goods market efficiency, financial market sophistication, market size, and innovation.
Deceleration took place in five pillars — institutions, health and primary education, labour market efficiency, technological readiness and business sophistication.
Bangladesh scored 3.84 in basic requirements to rank 113th, the same as last year, which constrained making progress in overall ranking.
In case of institutions, the country ranked 131st as it scored 2.96. The ranking was the same as in last year.
In case of infrastructure, it was ranked 127th, the same as in last year.
Bangladesh has improved in the case of macroeconomic management as it moved up seven places to 72nd. Last year, the country ranked 79th.
The country also fared better in health and primary education, as it gained 2 places to 102nd position from last year’s 104th.
In case of efficiency enhancers, the country moved up five places to 103rd.
It was placed at 125th position in higher education and training from last year’s 127th, 84th in goods market efficiency from 89th last year, and 124th in labour market efficiency.
It made a major leap in financial market development as it ranked 88th this year, which was 102nd last year. The country moved one place up to 126th in technological readiness and to 44th in market size.
“Bangladesh could not take advantage of progress made in some indicators related to efficiency enhancers and innovation,” said the CPD analysis.
The country slipped five places to 118th in business sophistication and slipped two places to 129th in innovation. Bangladesh ranked 118th out of 144 countries in 2012–13 and 108th out of 142 economies in 2011–12.
CPD said Bangladesh’s rank could be upgraded and be at par with economies having a similar income category if it could be ranked higher in terms of institution and infrastructure.
Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu said the government is working to ensure a business-friendly environment.
Since 2001, CPD has been working as a partner institute from Bangladesh in preparing the most referred global report assessing global business environment prepared by WEF, said Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of the think-tank.
Syed Nasim Manzur, an entrepreneur, said the government has to build the key infrastructure immediately to improve the business environment.
“How long will it take to complete the four-lane work of the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway? Our cost of doing business has gone up due to the prolonged negligence in completing the project,” he said.
Syed Manzur Elahi, a trustee board member of CPD, chaired the discussion.
Published in New Age
No efforts made to reduce adverse factors for business
Experts say at CPD launching of WEF global competitiveness report
Staff Correspondent
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.
Published in The Independent
‘Low competitiveness result of bad governance’
Speakers at CPD dialogue
Staff Correspondent
Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, adviser to Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia, yesterday blamed the government for the country’s low rank in the Global Business Competitiveness Index.
He cited the low score as a sign of lack of accountability and governance. “How could this government, which has not been elected with public mandate, be accountable to the people of the country?” he asked when he encountered industries minister Amir Hossen Amu at a dialogue before the launch of ‘A Recent Update on Business Environment in Bangladesh and Global Competitiveness Report 2014–15’.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue, a civil society think-tank, launched the report at BRAC Centre yesterday. Chaired by Syed Manzur Elahi, a former adviser to the caretaker government and a member of the CPD’s board of trustees, the dialogue was addressed by former Bangladesh Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) president AK Azad, former finance minister M Syeduzzaman, Prof. Shamsul Alam, CPD executive director Prof. Mustafizur Rahman and Apex Footwear director Nasim Manzur.
Additional research director, CPD, Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem made a keynote presentation. Amu stressed the need for constructive criticism in politics and warned politicians against the dangers of excessive and unnecessary criticism. He said continuous and unhindered industrial growth is a symbol of political dynamism arising out of the efficiency of the present government. “I think domestic industries need to improve their competitiveness to perform better in the domestic as well as in the global markets. I encourage the private sector to invest in linked industries as part of the diversification of their respective investment portfolios,” he added.
He said he was hopeful that the entrepreneurs and businessmen will operate their industries and businesses and invest in developing the industries in such a way that would promote safe workplaces, ensure better practice of labour rights and provide better living wages to workers.
Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury alleged that the government has released the accused persons involved in the Padma Bridge scam. The Padma bridge scam was “government-approved corruption”, he alleged, adding, “They don’t have the people’s mandate. For that reason, they don’t need to be accountable to the people.”
About the banking sector scam, he claimed that people have plundered Tk. 6,000 crore to Tk. 7,000 crore from public banks. “But the government is yet to punish them,” he said.
AK Azad emphasised the need for ethics and healthy politics to improve the country’s position vis-à-vis global business competition. Political negligence was the reason why the country is scoring low in the global business competitiveness index, he said.
The CPD said though Bangladesh’s position has improved by one rank in the Global Competitiveness Index, it is not satisfactory in the context of its global ranking.
The CPD believes there is a dearth of necessary infrastructure and government initiatives. Bangladesh’s business competitiveness has been stuck at a lower level over the past several years, and could not break into the upper levels, it observed.