ED: Bringing the business home

One of the most persistent obstacles to Bangladesh meeting all its goals and reaching new heights has been our notoriously difficult business climate. We have every other ingredient we need, in volumes. RMG and other industries have driven the economy forward at a breakneck pace. We have the talent, the initiative, the entrepreneurial energy. The people of Bangladesh exhibit a rare kind of resilience, which enables us to soldier through any number of crises, be they floods or natural disasters, a refugee influx, or the pandemic we are currently going through.

That is why it is all the more tragic that time and again, our business initiatives, whether in the form of home-grown ideas, or an attempt to bring foreign investment to our shores, run into obstacles. There is red tape, there are delays, there are difficulties and nuisances that make investors shy away from looking to Bangladesh as an option.

This is terribly disheartening, and it is a reality we must work to change. In short, we must work to bring foreign businesses to Bangladesh, encourage entrepreneurs at home, and give our overall business environment a much-needed facelift.

In a recent interview with the Dhaka Tribune, outgoing EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Rensje Teerink said if Bangladesh wished to attract more investment, the top-most priority should be to the improve Bangladesh’s Ease of Doing Business ranking.

In a list of 190 countries in the World Bank ranking, Bangladesh last year place an abysmal 168. Surely, a better showing can be expected from a country with so many ambitious projects in the pipeline, and with visions of becoming a middle-income nation soon.

The task ahead for us should involve knocking down all the unnecessary barriers to doing business, cutting out red-tape and unnecessary hurdles, and making the system smoother and free of corruption. If we can do that, there is a chance will we reach our full potential in the years ahead.