In ease of doing business rankings released by the World Bank On Tuesday, Oct. 25, Bangladesh’s position in Doing Business 2017 list moved up by only two positions to 176 among 190 countries. Afghanistan ranked 183, is the only country among eight South Asian countries that came below Bangladesh in the report. Bhutan topped the ranking (73) in South Asia, followed by Nepal (107), Sri Lanka (110), India (130), Maldives (135), and Pakistan (144).
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.
