DHAKA, Oct 24, 2019 (BSS) – Top leading business leaders of the country today hailed Bangladesh’s advancement in the doing business index of the World Bank by eight slots.
They said this progress would help branding of Bangladesh in the global flora in a more effective way side by side with wooing more investment in the coming days.
Bangladesh has moved eight notches up in the ‘Ease of Doing Business Index 2020’ of the World Bank (WB) released today as the country has ranked 168th among 190 economies across the world. Bangladesh’s rank was 176 in the last year’s index.
Talking to BSS, former President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) Abul Kashem Khan said, “It’s definitely good news for us. There was political commitment from the Awami League government on the ease of doing business and it has been working for long to this end. Now we’re witnessing reflection of this”.
Kashem, who acted as the President of DCCI for three terms, also opined that this progress would help branding of Bangladesh in the global arena alongside attracting more investment in different fields in the coming days.
He said once upon a time, Bangladesh was at the last of the list in ease of doing business index. But, with the passage of time, he said the country made a marked improvement in this regard since the government responded to the various issues raised by the business community.
Kashem also hoped that the ongoing initiatives by the government would continue to make further improvement in this regard.
Citing that Bangladesh is still lagging behind compared with the neighboring countries in ease of doing business, the former DCCI President said that room is there for Bangladesh in making further improvement while the country could advance 10 to 20 slots in the next year if the priorities are addressed.
FBCCI Vice President Siddikur Rahman said, “Political vision was there from the government for making improvement in the ease of doing business and the Awami League government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has been working tirelessly over the last 10 years for the development of all sectors including ICT and energy. Now we’re getting results of those,”
He also mentioned that the country’s business community has gladly accepted the progress of Bangladesh in the ease of doing business index revealed by the World Bank.
Noting that power and energy are the prerequisites for development in any country, Siddikur, also the former president of BGMEA, said that once there was power crunch in the country. “But, the situation has now changed as there is now no power crisis and the availability of power and energy has helped a lot for the improvement of ease of doing business index,” he said.
The FBCCI Vice President said the role of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is the most towards ease of doing business index underscoring the need for bringing all the land ports and sea ports of the country under automation system as well as ensuring sufficient scanners in those ports.
“This will reduce time and cost of the businesses alongside curbing corruption and minimizing harassment,” he added.