Infrastructure in Bangladesh ranks among worst

       Infrastructure in Bangladesh ranks among the worst in the world, ranking 126th among 133 nations, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2009-10.
       Bangladesh ranked 122nd out of the 134 countries surveyed last year.
       However, the country moved up 5 notches in the overall index, from last year's 111th position.
       Bangladesh lags behind its South Asian neighbours: India ranked 49, a step better than last year, Pakistan remained unchanged at 101 and Sri Lanka stood at 79, down from last year's 77th position.
       "The Global Competitiveness Report" (GCR) is an annual publication of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a partner organisation of the WEF, also released the "Bangladesh Business Environment Study 2009" that it conducted simultaneously. Infrastructure is one of the 12 parameters taken into account for the report.
       "The poor supply of electricity was the major concern for almost all respondents [98 per cent]," the report says.
       More importantly, a significant deterioration in the level of perception occured in 2008.
       "The caretaker government failed to narrow the yawning demand-supply gap in electricity, although a number of electricity generation projects, with a total capacity of 1,200 megawatts, were initiated in 2007 and 2008," the report says.
       The GCR shows more than 80 per cent businessmen said infrastructure remained largely underdeveloped in 2008. They also said railroads and air transport facilities remain poor in the country.
       "Bangladesh performs well in the worst group," said Bhattacharya.
       "Infrastructure is the number one threat, even a more serious problem than corruption," he said.
       Bangladesh can attribute advancements in the overall ranking to progress made in macroeconomic stability, government and other public institutions and improvements in the financial market, despite global meltdown.
       Most respondents said foreign direct investment-related rules were favourable to attract investment.
       Two-thirds of the respondents also said an access to bank finance with a good business plan is not enough.
       On the business operation and sophistication index, over 60 percent of the companies found there was fierce competition in the local market.
       Bangladesh did not demonstrate improvements in education, human capital and corruption indicators.