IFC-BICF to evaluate services of state-owned entities
Friday, 19 December 2008
FE Report
The International Finance Corporation Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (IFC-BICF) is going to launch a 'scorecard assessment programme' to evaluate the services provided by state-owned entities to the country's trade and businesses.
"We have already signed agreements with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC), Export Promotion Bureau and Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) to evaluate their performances as far as public interest on national economy is concerned," senior programme manager of IFC BICF Syed Akhtar Mahmood said Thursday in a discussion titled 'stakeholders opinion survey highlights 2008: concerns on the economy and consents for business reforms' in the city.
He said the initiative on introducing new tools for monitoring the client service delivery of government agencies will definitely help improve the services of the state-owned public service providers in promoting the country's economy, trade and businesses.
He further said the Indian economy has greatly benefited from a similar 'scorecard assessment programme' launched by the 'Public Affairs Commission' in Bangalore.
"We are also planning to include Board of Investment, National Board of Revenue (NBR), Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakhya (RAJUK) and the utility service providers in our list," the IFC BICF executive added.
IFC BICF is a technical assistance programme aimed to facilitate a better operating environment for businesses, funded by UK's Department For International Development and the European Union.
Sharing the research findings of the latest IFC BICF survey, investment policy officer Aminur Rahman said majority of the stakeholders opined that the country's economic situation deteriorated in September 2008 but saw improvements in October 2008.
The surveys include three segments namely stakeholders perception survey (SPS), business confidence survey (BCS) and public perception survey (PPS).
The SPS revealed that high prices of commodities and essentials were a concern in September 2008 but the PPS saw some improvements in October 2008.
There was a complete reversal in investment situation between July-September of 2008 against the corresponding period of 2007 due to declining profit margin and shortage of raw materials.
Sixty two per cent respondents of BCS said they did not invest during July-September of 2008 while only 38 per cent replied in the affirmative.
The BCS also revealed that majority of the SMEs (small and medium enterprises) faced a worsening situation but larger firms remained relatively better off during October-November period.
It said that the service sector seems to have enjoyed better conditions than the manufacturing sector.
Agriculture bagged the top position as the most important reforms while corruption was the second top choice among the respondents in the SPS.
The SPS said that fear of failure and lack of knowledge were the top two biggest obstacles to start SME business. The other obstacles include lack of access to loans, government registration process and corruption in government offices.
"We would like to conduct similar surveys on quarterly basis to facilitate the businesses of the country," Syed Akhtar Mahmood said.
The IFC BICF began operations in 2007 and supports the Bangladesh government's regulatory reform agenda for increased investment, innovation and economic growth through the reduction of regulatory costs and risks of doing business in the country.
The International Finance Corporation Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (IFC-BICF) is going to launch a 'scorecard assessment programme' to evaluate the services provided by state-owned entities to the country's trade and businesses.
"We have already signed agreements with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC), Export Promotion Bureau and Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) to evaluate their performances as far as public interest on national economy is concerned," senior programme manager of IFC BICF Syed Akhtar Mahmood said Thursday in a discussion titled 'stakeholders opinion survey highlights 2008: concerns on the economy and consents for business reforms' in the city.
He said the initiative on introducing new tools for monitoring the client service delivery of government agencies will definitely help improve the services of the state-owned public service providers in promoting the country's economy, trade and businesses.
He further said the Indian economy has greatly benefited from a similar 'scorecard assessment programme' launched by the 'Public Affairs Commission' in Bangalore.
"We are also planning to include Board of Investment, National Board of Revenue (NBR), Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakhya (RAJUK) and the utility service providers in our list," the IFC BICF executive added.
IFC BICF is a technical assistance programme aimed to facilitate a better operating environment for businesses, funded by UK's Department For International Development and the European Union.
Sharing the research findings of the latest IFC BICF survey, investment policy officer Aminur Rahman said majority of the stakeholders opined that the country's economic situation deteriorated in September 2008 but saw improvements in October 2008.
The surveys include three segments namely stakeholders perception survey (SPS), business confidence survey (BCS) and public perception survey (PPS).
The SPS revealed that high prices of commodities and essentials were a concern in September 2008 but the PPS saw some improvements in October 2008.
There was a complete reversal in investment situation between July-September of 2008 against the corresponding period of 2007 due to declining profit margin and shortage of raw materials.
Sixty two per cent respondents of BCS said they did not invest during July-September of 2008 while only 38 per cent replied in the affirmative.
The BCS also revealed that majority of the SMEs (small and medium enterprises) faced a worsening situation but larger firms remained relatively better off during October-November period.
It said that the service sector seems to have enjoyed better conditions than the manufacturing sector.
Agriculture bagged the top position as the most important reforms while corruption was the second top choice among the respondents in the SPS.
The SPS said that fear of failure and lack of knowledge were the top two biggest obstacles to start SME business. The other obstacles include lack of access to loans, government registration process and corruption in government offices.
"We would like to conduct similar surveys on quarterly basis to facilitate the businesses of the country," Syed Akhtar Mahmood said.
The IFC BICF began operations in 2007 and supports the Bangladesh government's regulatory reform agenda for increased investment, innovation and economic growth through the reduction of regulatory costs and risks of doing business in the country.