To raise the ranking of Bangladesh in the Ease of Doing Business, different ministries, departments and agencies of the government are carrying out several reforms. In there, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) is working as the coordinator. Now, how are they doing this? What benefits could come out from these reforms?
BIDA is closely working with the World Bank to advance the Ease of Doing Business ranking of the country. Would you tell us a little more about the way it actually works?
Well, one needs to follow some structured rules while working with the Ease of Doing Business issue. For this, the World Bank has created a table with 10 different indicators. Now the point is, if we collect data from sources all across the country, the workload becomes too heavy. So they have minimized it to the local jurisdiction, like, choosing one or more than one economically bustling cities. In Bangladesh they have chosen Dhaka, for it’s the capital as well as the economically most vibrant city in country, and Chattogram, as it’s the trade capital and because here lies the principal sea port of the country.
Each directory also needs to be approved by the World Bank on the basis of a few assumptions which are actually much smaller. Generally, we try to convince our respondents that, this is your perimeter and your answer must contain within this perimeter. But they often tend to answer on a broader scale. However, those who are at the top in the ranking list, they have formed a target group and actually procure the answers right through them.
As the central coordinator of these reform works, what are the roles BIDA is playing and in what different ways?
The issue of Ease of Doing Business lies with the entire government involving with it the different ministries, departments and agencies of the government. This is not a one-man-show. And since, we must follow certain hierarchy to carry out an operation, BIDA has been assigned with the responsibility. BIDA acts as the focal point of Ease of Doing Business. In 2019, Bangladesh was one of the 20 best countries in the World Bank’s Doing Business Index for its business reforms. The country ranked at 168, toppling 8 steps from its previous position, among 190 countries in the world.
I think this is a plausible achievement for BIDA. We made visible progress on three indicators in the 2019 report although we submitted for five. Last year we did a lot of work and submitted for seven indicators by the 30th of April. We then hoped we would be able to improve our rankings from the 168th position, the idea was to get below 150. Unfortunately, due to some internal issues, the World Bank did not publish the report in 2020. That is why, we cannot say at what position we are standing at the moment. In any case, the Honorable Prime Minister has instructed us to reach a double digit ranking by 2021 and we are moving forward to reach that goal. And I believe, as a result of these BIDA initiatives, our investors have already begun to taste the fruits.
The only sectors that could not achieve the expected reforms are the on the loan-grant, contract implementation and bankruptcy resolution index. This time we have put great emphasis on them and greatly hoping to reach the double digit ranking next year.
Bandarbarta: BIDA is working to bring down all the different services under one roof. The One Stop Service aims to connect more than 150 services of various government agencies and institutions. Would you tell us about the progress it has made so far?
This is the age of the Digital Technology and BIDA is quite on par with it. The One Stop Service Act was passed in 2018 and BIDA commenced its own one stop service in February of 2019. Till the end of the year, we could only provide 18 services through online and that was e-payment enabled as well. In 2020, we added 23 additional services to this platform which eventually increased to 41 by now. We plan to provide 150 services by January, to clinch another great achievement on our part.
It was initially calculated that, 150 services from 35 companies would be offered from this single platform. But the situation is changing as the number of companies are increasing since the non-governmental organizations in increasing number are also being associated with it. For example, we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry for providing two services, their membership and Country of Origin. Chattogram Chamber and the Metropolitan Chamber have also shown keen interest in joining us.
When once, we are able to provide all these digital services in the digital age, I think the speed of work for reaching the BIDA goal, to increase investment, will greatly augment.
Bangladesh has reached the 68th position in the ranking of 2020, toppling 8 steps since its last; how did you make it possible?
The World Bank has a big role to play in this; Such as, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) is working with us. And we have come up with a comprehensive plan of what needs to be done following the assumptions of each indicator, what the opportunities lie there to improve; which needs to be done immediately, and which in the medium term and which in the long run. We are moving forward according to that plan. Like, take the strategy we adopted last year; As we see, some of the reforms can be done with very little effort and at low cost. With that in mind, we submitted reforms for seven indices. In a word, we did it according to a specific plan and strategy and we will continue to do so in the coming future.
Frankly, here I must mention the contributions of the two committees who did us a great help. I will also mention the great support made by Mr. Salman Fazlur Rahman MP, Adviser to the Honorable Prime Minister on Private Industry and Investment. He is playing an important role here as he has a great deal of personal experience in global trade and business which enriched us to a great extent.
One of the two committees working on Ease of Doing Business is the National Committee for Monitoring Implementation of Ease of Doing Business Reforms (NCMID), headed by the Cabinet Secretary with all the concerned Secretaries as its members. BIDA is in charge of the Secretariat. Even in the midst of this pandemic, we continue to hold regular meetings at least once every two months.
The other is the National Steering Committee headed by the Finance Minister. Under the current pandemic scenario, we did have one virtual meeting of this committee. As the Executive Chairman of BIDA, I am the Member Secretary of this committee, from where we get all our instructions. The Finance Minister also gave us some excellent guidelines which is a wonderful job. As a result of these strategic actions, I definitely believe we will be able to go a long way by the next year.
The target is set to be in the double digit ranking by 2021 and that actually requires extensive reforms. Targets for the concerned organizations have also been fixed. As we know, Chattogram Port Authority has already reached their target. How about the other ones?
The growth of the other bodies is also promising. Since the beginning, there has been a lot of progress in the area of launching a new business. It usually takes a lot of certifications to start a business and a great lot of time is actually wasted there. We are trying to reduce this time by engaging various organizations although most of these organizations, especially the City Corporation, are not affiliated with us. Nonetheless, they readily process the applications for registration within two days that are sent from us.
We have also asked to provide the clearance required by the Department of Environment within the stipulated time. And they’ve already joined us via the online platform.
There’s been progress in building indicators too. Since these are mainly warehouses, many of them have been exempted from the certification process, resulting in saving time and money.
Some landmark measures have also been taken in the land registration sector. This will greatly reduce the time usually being spent for land registration and declaration of names. Apart from this, separate Balam books have also been issued for the transfer of land from company to company that applies not only to Dhaka or Chattogram, but everywhere across the country.
The three indicators that we could not work on last year have been undertaken this year and will continue until 30 April. A District Joint Judge or Senior Assistant Judge will be assigned to settle the commercial disputes. It will be further strengthened by bringing the procedure under digitization through dedicated courts.
One of them will be in Dhaka and the other in Chattogram. However, the law ministry has long term plans to set up separate courts to resolve commercial disputes. As we know, in case of an IFC, it takes an average of more than 1400 days to complete. But when it takes more than 1300 days, you add no number to your credit. For this, we have set the goal to complete this within 600 days.
We have taken effective initiatives to amend the bankruptcy law to resolve the sickening bankruptcy. The Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance is doing it. BIDA along with IFC is providing technical assistance in this regard. We have taken initiative to enact another law called the Secured Transactions Act which is being done through the Financial Institutions Department and Bangladesh Bank so that small entrepreneurs can take loans by pledging movable property.
I believe we can move forward by working on all the indicators in a planned manner, and other agencies are helping us a lot. I would say that government agencies are now fully prepared for Ease of Doing Business but there is still a lot of works to be done. Although we began this, we could not do it effectively primarily due to the dreadful pandemic situation. We must however not forget, the main task lies here is to inform the beneficiaries for whom these reforms are being made. That’s why we are going to run a series of workshops with them, if not physically, then virtually.
What about the data procuring system of the World Bank?
I do not want to raise any question about the World Bank’s data collection method. Because, their method, applies the same for all countries across the world.
Thank you so much for your valuable time.
Thank you and the wonderful readers of Bandarbarta.
