As a nation on the verge of middle-income status and looking to create avenues for further sustainable development, it is indeed disheartening to see that so much of our bureaucracy and red tape actively try to hinder our progress. What is worse is -- there is no good justification for these costly hindrances.
According to Hideaki Kojima, managing director and chief representative of Mitsubishi UFG Bank, Japan’s largest lender, “Bangladesh has the most complicated LC opening conditions,” with there being “terms and conditions unique only to this country.”
Bangladesh has repeatedly ranked woefully low on the Ease of Doing Business Index -- our bureaucratic red tape and overall corruption and inefficiencies adding to our low score, stagnating the nation’s economic growth in the process, as more and more people from across the world see it as a hassle not worth ploughing through in order to set up shop in this country.
When a prominent figure from one of the biggest lenders in the developed world mentions it, we should take note, and work towards ensuring that we simplify the line of credit opening conditions for business growth, and create more opportunities for foreign direct investment to flow into the country.
As Hideaki Kojima has said, Japanese companies are eager to invest in Bangladesh, but the complicated procedures are proving to be a hassle. So far, 315 Japanese companies are operating in Bangladesh, with around 70% willing to increase their investment.
This figure is representative of billions of dollars in lost revenue for Bangladesh, and the sooner we address these issues and create a more efficient and friendly business climate for investors, the better our chances of reaching our economic targets.
