Harnessing Competitiveness for Stronger Inclusive Growth : Bangladesh Second Investment Climate Assessment

World Bank

Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO FINANCE;    ACCESS TO FINANCING;    ACCESS TO FORMAL FINANCE;    ACCESS TO INVESTMENT;    ACCESS TO LOANS;   

RP-ID  :  56635

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Bangladesh has recorded impressiveeconomic and social gains since the 1990s. Recent growth hasbeen at levels close to six percent. The country has doubledper capita growth and taken large strides toward reachingmany Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), ahead of manycomparable countries. Attaining the MDGs calls foraccelerating economic growth to six-seven percent a year.Accordingly, Bangladesh's Poverty Reduction StrategyPaper (PRSP), ?unlocking the potential, puts into sharpfocus the need for investment climate improvements, as wellas inclusive growth and empowering the poor. Acceleratinggrowth will require greater investment - to aiddiversification into areas of comparative advantage and tofinance infrastructure - and higher productivity. This inturn calls for a substantial improvement in the investmentclimate. The strategy as laid out in the PRSP promotes anenabling business environment as a key to Bangladesh'sdevelopment - by improving trade policies, enhancing thelegal and regulatory environment for the private sector,developing an effective competition policy, establishingpolicies friendly to foreign direct investment, anddeepening financial sector reforms. Addressing labor skillsand education is critical to improving productivity.Improvements in the policy environment for energydevelopment are central to this effort, by strengthening theinstitutional framework, addressing distorted pricing, andencouraging accountable and transparent processes forinvestment decisions. Equitable growth and empowerment ofthe poor further call for strengthening of high-growth ruraland peri-urban areas with natural potential, via servicesand infrastructure provision to such promising growth poles.With sustained growth, the scarcity of certain resources(energy, finance, land, labor skills) has started to strainthe economy's growth and productivity gains. Alongthose lines, authors hope that this report will highlightsuccessful strategies to unblock bottlenecks in basicresource markets and the investment environment, informingthe policy dialogue and allowing for the economy anddevelopment of Bangladesh to forge ahead in a rapid, robust,and socially equitable manner.