Doing Business Index: Bangladesh improves, yet lags in South Asia
The position of Bangladesh was 176th in the report published the previous year
Even though Bangladesh's position on a global business regulation index by the World Bank improved, it still lags far behind other South Asian nations.
On the index based on the global lender's Doing Business 2020 study, Bangladesh jumped eight positions while India advanced 14 positions.
Pakistan is the highest improver in South Asia, jumping 28 steps, followed by Nepal which leapt 16 positions.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Sri Lanka made negligible improvement, advancing by a single rank.
Even though Bhutan and the Maldives saw their rankings go down eight positions on the latest index, they are still far ahead of Bangladesh. With an overall score of 66, Bhutan ranks 89th while the Maldives scored 53.3 and is in the 147th position.
With a loss of six positions, Afghanistan ranks 173rd.
Among 190 countries measured in the study, Bangladesh ranks 168th. Last year, the country was in the 176th position.
Mercy Miyang Tembon, World Bank country director for Bangladesh, said improving the business environment is essential for Bangladesh to support private sector development.
"This will create more jobs and foster sustainable economic growth," she said in a press release issued by the World Bank's Dhaka office.
"It would be important for Bangladesh to build on the recent achievement and further accelerate regulatory reform efforts to continue to improve the business climate," added Tembon.
Bangladesh secured 45 points out of 100 on this year's index, which was 41.8 last year.
Where did Bangladesh improve?
Slashing some start-up expenses and improving access to credit information has helped Bangladesh improve its position on the index.
Bangladesh made progress in five of the 10 performance indicators used in the study.
Starting a business has become less expensive in Bangladesh because of a reduction in name clearance and registration fees. Bangladesh has also abolished the fee for certifying digital certificates.
This reform is in effect both in the capital, Dhaka, and the port city of Chattogram.
Secondly, investing in digitisation by the government has expedited the process of obtaining commercial electricity connections. The country has also invested in human capital in utilities.
The amount of security deposit for a new electricity connection has gone down as well, helping entrepreneurs get power connections at a lower cost.
The reform in the electricity sector only applies to Dhaka.
Getting credit is the third performance indicator where Bangladesh has made strides. The country improved access to credit information by expanding the coverage of the credit information bureau.
Bangladesh also made progress in construction permits and minority investors.
Where did Bangladesh decline?
Bangladesh's performance went downhill in two indicators – resolving insolvency and registering property. In both indicators, Bangladesh's position went down by a single step.
Bangladesh ranked 184th out of 190th in the registering property indicator.
Transferring a property title in Bangladesh takes on average 271 days, almost six times longer than the global average of 47 days, said the World Bank press release.
It said resolving a commercial dispute through a local first-instance court takes on average 1,442 days, almost three times more than the 590 days average among OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) high-income economies.
Both India and Pakistan improved in the registering property indicator.
India showed improvements in resolving insolvency, but Pakistan did not.
Bangladesh's position remained static in three indicators – paying taxes, enforcing contracts and trading across borders.
