DHAKA, Jan 26, 2023 (BSS) - Bangladesh last year made progress in its homegrown business climate index compared to 2021 as per the report titled 'Bangladesh Business Climate Index (BBX) 2022-2023'.
In 2022, the country scored 61.95 out of 100, up from 61.01 in 2021, under the index prepared by the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) in the city and the Policy Exchange, Bangladesh (PEB), a private think tank.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi today unveiled the index at a seminar at the MCCI in the city.
Foreign Secretary (Senior Secretary) Masud Bin Momen, and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Executive Chairman (Senior Secretary) Lokman Hossain Miah were present as special guests.
The MCCI and the Policy Exchange Bangladesh jointly prepared the BBX after the World Bank stopped publishing its Ease of Doing Business Index in 2021.
The BBX is based on 10 pillars - starting a business, access to land, availability of regulatory information, infrastructure, labour regulation, dispute resolution, trade facilitation, paying taxes, technology adoption, and access to finance.
Each of these contains sub-indicators and a total of 35 sub-indicators have been used to calculate the index.
According to the BBX, the country's performance dipped in pillars - access to finance, paying tax and access to land to do business while the others registered a slight bump.
Addressing the event, MCCI President Md Saiful Islam said, "There are many things going on simultaneously around us, like the dollar crisis, globally soaring energy prices, the overall inflation, a pandemic, and the Russia-Ukraine war. This makes the prevailing situation quite tricky."
"However, we know for certain that the government will leave no stone unturned to reverse this and set the country back on its growth and development path. We are also committed to the development and growth of our economy," he added.
He said it is my absolute pleasure and honour to welcome you all to this launching event of the Bangladesh Business Climate (BBX) 2022-2023 report.
"We are thrilled to return with the BBX, a project that MCCI family members hold very dear to their hearts. By laying out a detailed picture of the current business landscape, MCCI would, as always, pursue the enabling environment businesses that Bangladesh needs," he added.
"Bangladesh has LDC graduation to face in 2026. With a loss of preferential treatment in export markets, the country might face a difficult time during the transition period. Delving deep into such indices earlier, locating the system's weaknesses, and working on those would be the right approach to face the future. In that regard, BBX 2022-2023 can lead us towards the right development targets," Md Saiful Islam furthered.
