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BD moves up eight spots in ease of doing business index

| Updated: October 31, 2019 18:09:22


Picture used for illustrative purpose only Picture used for illustrative purpose only

Bangladesh has moved up eight spots to 168 in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business index 2020.

The country's ranking was 176 in the last year, according to a report by the World Bank Group.

A total of 190 countries have been ranked in the global lender's latest index.

According to the World Bank Group, Bangladesh is among the 20 economies that have seen progress in at least three out of ten areas of the ease of doing business for the last year.

The country made it bringing about three reforms during the past year, the most in a decade, the World Bank Group said in its Doing Business 2020 study released in Washington on Thursday.

The highlights of the reforms include making the setting up of a new business less expensive with the reduction of registration and name clearance fees and removal of the certifying fee for digital certificates.

The Doing Business 2020 study stressed the need for Bangladesh to accelerate the reform pace to further improve its regional and global competitiveness.

In Dhaka, obtaining an electrical connection has become more efficient as the city invested in digitisation and human capital. At the same time, the country reduced the amount of the security deposit required for a new connection.

Access to credit information was also improved by expanding coverage by the credit information bureau. This reform delivered Bangladesh’s most significant improvement in the ease of doing business.

“Improving the business environment is essential for Bangladesh to support private sector development, which will create more jobs and foster sustainable economic growth,” said Mercy Miyang Tembon, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh.

“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.”

Bangladesh has so far made 15 reforms since the inception of the Doing Business study in 2003/04, but still lags behind other economies in South Asia.

Pakistan, and India have been named among the ten economies where business climates improved the most, the report showed.

China and Togo appear among the top ten for the second consecutive year, while India makes the list for the third consecutive year, indicating that business regulatory reform is a multi-year process.

New Zealand topped the Ease of Doing Business Index.

The World Bank's latest edition of the Ease of Doing Business study documents reforms implemented in 10 areas of business activity in 190 economies over a 12-month period ending May 1, 2019.

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