Cross-border trade made easier by Bangladesh: WB:Daily Sun

  Bangladesh has made trading across borders easier by introducing a fully automated, computerised customs data management system namely the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) that reduced the time to export and import, the World Bank (WB) said in a report. Bangladesh is among the three out of eight economies in South Asia that have implemented at least one regulatory reform, which made i
t easier for local entrepreneurs to do business in 2013-14, according to the Doing Business 2015 report of the WB. Three countries—Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan—focused on their efforts on adopting modern electronic systems to facilitate business activity, said the report released on Wednesday in Washington. The report styled ‘Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency’ found that since 2005, all economies in the region have taken steps to improve the business environment in areas measured by the report. India implemented the region’s largest number of regulatory reforms in the period, numbering 20, followed by Sri Lanka with 16. “Doing business is easier in economies with administrative efficiency and strong regulatory protections,” said Rita Ramalho, the lead author of the Doing Business report. Bangladesh and Pakistan made trading across borders easier by implementing computerized systems that allow web-based submission of documents, reducing the time to export and import, said the report. The report finds that India set the pace for regulatory reforms in the region in 2013-14. It made starting a business easier by reducing registration fees and strengthened minority investor protections. And the electricity utility in Mumbai made getting a new connection less costly by reducing the security deposit. This year, for the first time, Doing Business collected data for a second city in economies with a population of more than 100 million. In Bangladesh, it now analyzes business regulations in Chittagong and Dhaka; in India, in Delhi and Mumbai; and in Pakistan, in Lahore and Karachi. The report found that differences between cities are common in indicators measuring the steps, time, and cost to complete regulatory transactions where local agencies play a larger role. The report stated that Singapore tops the global ranking on the ease of doing business. Joining it on the list of the top 10 economies with the most business-friendly regulatory environments are New Zealand; Hong Kong SAR, China; Denmark; the Republic of Korea; Norway; the United States; the United Kingdom; Finland; and Australia. Doing Business report is broadly treated as the annual World Bank Group flagship programme that analyzes regulations that apply to an economy’s businesses during their life cycle, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes, and resolving insolvency. The aggregate ease of doing business rankings are based on the distance to frontier scores for 10 topics and cover 189 economies. Doing Business does not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to firms and investors. For example, it does not measure the quality of fiscal management, other aspects of macroeconomic stability, the level of skills in the labor force, or the resilience of financial systems. Its findings have stimulated policy debates worldwide and enabled a growing body of research on how firm-level regulation relates to economic outcomes across economies, said the WB. This year’s report marks the 12th edition of the global Doing Business report series.