Graft barrier to BD\\\'s pvt sector dev: UK

The United Kingdom has said corruption affects many aspects of daily life in Bangladesh and is often cited as a barrier to private sector development. "One of the biggest challenges facing UK companies in Bangladesh is how to avoid paying speed money," it says in a guideline report published on Thursday highlighting the challenges in doing business in Bangladesh. "Speed money' is unofficial, under the counter payments to minor officials to expedite business. Politicians, bureaucrats and law enforcement officials often wield significant discretionary power and there have been some abuses," according to the guideline titled 'Doing business in Bangladesh: Bangladesh trade and export guide'. Bangladesh which aims to become a middle-income country by 2021, is 173rd in the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking. The Bangladesh government’s strategic vision for 2021 is a plan for growth through massive investment in infrastructure, skills development and trade. Cooperation with the private sector and international donor agencies is expected. Almost 100 UK businesses operate in Bangladesh, including well-known companies like HSBC, Unilever and GSK. Benefits for UK businesses exporting to Bangladesh include English widely spoken in business British made goods regarded as reliable among end users strong consumer demand for products, equipment and services concessionary duty on imported capital machinery. Strengths of the Bangladesh market include annual growth rate of at least 5.3pc over the last 16 years, stable credit rating, close to issuing first Sovereign Bond,poverty levels cut by half in the last decade and competitive labour force, it said. The guideline mentioned that Bangladesh often lack transparency and have significant bureaucratic burden in terms of procurement practices in the South Asian country. The Bangladesh market is extremely price sensitive with low price goods from India and China dominating many sectors. UK companies should sell into the market on the basis of quality, life cycle cost and training after sales service, it said, according to UNB.

-mbz