RRC to hold consultations with SMEs outside capital
Sunday, 12 October 2008
Naim-Ul-Karim
The Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC) has decided to hold series of consultations with entrepreneurs of small and medium enterprises to know the hurdles they are facing in doing business in the country, an official said Saturday.
The RRC, created by the caretaker government to recommend reforms in the country's administrative and regulatory bodies, would hold the talks at the divisional cities and strategically important towns starting from next week.
"As part of our plan, we will hold our first three consultations at Khulna, Bagerhat and Chitalmari, which is home to some top shrimp farms, in mid October," chief executive officer of the RRC Apurba Kumar Biswas told the FE.
"We have decided to talk to the SME entrepreneurs so that we can get a first hand knowledge on the hassles they frequently face while doing businesses here," he said.
Officials of the RRC said the World Bank's private sector arm International Finance Corporation (IFC), which has a tie-up with the commission, would be engaged to arrange the consultations outside the capital.
They said the idea of field-level consultation was mooted following complaints from the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) based outside the capital that they are neglected by the government's regulators and policy makers.
Most of the country's million plus SMEs are based outside the capital and they are the biggest creators of jobs.
"They have alleged that the government, its regulators and administrative agencies have been busy meeting the demands of the businesses based in the capital," another RRC official said.
"That's why we want to hear their suggestions and grievances. We want to boost their businesses and growth through designing policies that suit their needs," he said.
He said many of the existing rules and regulations create hassles for the SMEs based outside the capital, as they regularly face red-tapism and regulatory hurdles to get bank loan, licenses or permits and open letter of credit for import.
In a report, the IFC has said the country's SMEs, particularly the ones based outside Dhaka, have been burdened with regulatory hassles. "The burden is more in case of small entrepreneurs," senior programme manager of Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (BICF) of IFC Syed Akhtar Mahmood said.
The Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC) has decided to hold series of consultations with entrepreneurs of small and medium enterprises to know the hurdles they are facing in doing business in the country, an official said Saturday.
The RRC, created by the caretaker government to recommend reforms in the country's administrative and regulatory bodies, would hold the talks at the divisional cities and strategically important towns starting from next week.
"As part of our plan, we will hold our first three consultations at Khulna, Bagerhat and Chitalmari, which is home to some top shrimp farms, in mid October," chief executive officer of the RRC Apurba Kumar Biswas told the FE.
"We have decided to talk to the SME entrepreneurs so that we can get a first hand knowledge on the hassles they frequently face while doing businesses here," he said.
Officials of the RRC said the World Bank's private sector arm International Finance Corporation (IFC), which has a tie-up with the commission, would be engaged to arrange the consultations outside the capital.
They said the idea of field-level consultation was mooted following complaints from the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) based outside the capital that they are neglected by the government's regulators and policy makers.
Most of the country's million plus SMEs are based outside the capital and they are the biggest creators of jobs.
"They have alleged that the government, its regulators and administrative agencies have been busy meeting the demands of the businesses based in the capital," another RRC official said.
"That's why we want to hear their suggestions and grievances. We want to boost their businesses and growth through designing policies that suit their needs," he said.
He said many of the existing rules and regulations create hassles for the SMEs based outside the capital, as they regularly face red-tapism and regulatory hurdles to get bank loan, licenses or permits and open letter of credit for import.
In a report, the IFC has said the country's SMEs, particularly the ones based outside Dhaka, have been burdened with regulatory hassles. "The burden is more in case of small entrepreneurs," senior programme manager of Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (BICF) of IFC Syed Akhtar Mahmood said.