In ease of doing business rankings released by the World Bank On Tuesday, Oct. 31, Bangladesh’s position in Doing Business 2018 ranking slipped one step back from previously 176th to 177th among 190 countries. Afghanistan ranked 183, is the only country among eight South Asian countries that came below Bangladesh in the report. On the other hand, our neighboring country India, which was positioned 130th last year, has moved 30 steps ahead to 100. New Zealand appears on top of the list, followed by Singapore, Denmark, South Korea, Hong Kong, United States of America, United Kingdom, Norway, Georgia, and Sweden.
Bangladesh performance in the ranking has been a persistent display of disappointment over the past years. Here is from our last year’s report:
This comes at a time when Bangladesh is working hard to present itself as one of the most potential investment destinations in South Asia and when the country is showing a steep GDP growth and sharp decline in extreme poverty for which it has been praised by the World Bank and many other international stakeholders.
Bangladesh has been investing heavily in digitization and infrastructure in the recent years but the country’s business environment remains frustrating one with rampant irregularities, bureaucratic red tape, lack of transparency and infrastructure, and costly, time-consuming, and sluggish procedures and more.
Started in 2002 by the World Bank, Doing Business report reviews business regulations and their implementation across 190 countries. In the 2016 report, Bangladesh ranked 178 among 190 countries that attracted sharp criticism from the industry insiders and a call for effective actions to make things better.
