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Experts identified five long-standing structural challenges faced by Bangladesh’s economy and cautioned that the post-LDC graduation pressure, lack of diversification, inefficient trade facilitation, low investment, and weak global value chain participation could undermine the country’s growth prospects.

They revealed this while speaking at a roundtable titled ‘Path to Economic Turnaround: How Business Environment Fares and Priorities’ organised by The Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Policy Exchange of Bangladesh.

Addressing as chief guest, commerce secretary Md Mahbur Rahman said, ‘Tax-to-GDP ratio, financing programmes — these were at stake. We have limited capacities, but we tried. ‘

‘We are working to simplify business procedures and reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers.’

‘We have tried to support businesses and strengthen the private sector,’ he added.

Addressing as a special guest, Shah Mohammad Mahboob, executive member of BIDA, said, ‘There are challenges in the investment ecosystem. We are also learning, gathering information from everyone, collecting details to overcome that,… somehow, it didn’t work as expected.’

‘If there had been more participation from the private sector, things would have changed, we believed—but how much that really helped, remains uncertain.’

During the keynote presentation, the Policy Exchange chairman, Mashrur Reaz, said that after the political transition of August 2024, the government took reform initiatives in various sectors, including banking, revenue, anti-corruption, and democratic transition.

However, the economist said frequent protests, disorganised decision-making, and a slow economic reform process remained challenging.

He added that he urged the government to enhance the investment establishment process, diversify exports and domestic investment, and address other issues to address critical business bottlenecks.

Kazuiki Kataoka, country representative of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), said The number of Japanese companies coming to Bangladesh is increasing. However, we face several challenges. For B2B, one of the main difficulties is finding appropriate partners.

According to the JETRO survey, 55 per cent of Japanese companies expressed interest in continuing or expanding their operations in Bangladesh.

‘I also request the government to systematise the process and improve procedures for profit remittance.’

Regarding B2G, he added that many Japanese companies here are engaged in ODA (Official Development Assistance) projects run by JICA, but they often raise questions about policy

consistency.

Mahtab Uddin Khan, president of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh, said Bangladesh’s growth story is something people are convinced about. But if we look closely at the numbers, do they justify the opportunity?

‘The opportunities are there, but the figures do not fully reflect them. Our growth story is good, but not fully realised’, he added.

The country needs the rule of law and justice. If we continue to incentivise corrupt people, that will create many business tycoons but real progress will not happen, he said adding, ‘the true intention behind political motives also needs to change.’

Regarding a cashless economy benefits, Mahtab said it could drastically reduce corruption. We all know this, but the question remains — why are we not implementing it?

Robi’s former CEO, Mahtab also humbly requests the chamber to urge the government to delay LDC graduation.

Snehasish Barua, a partner of Snehasish Mahmud and Co, said, ‘Considering the Food and other inflation, we see the interim government has taken the right steps to reduce syndication.’

‘We also have a low tax-to-GDP ratio. Due to all wealthy people are not showing their wealth value properly in their tax returns. Why not making those records paperless and digitised? Trade facilitation measures should support the NBR, and we appreciate the progress being made.’

‘Another issue is the price of electricity. A key component of its cost is taxation. Why are we taxing electricity? Isn’t it a necessary item,’ he questioned.

We are not generating enough employment due to a lack of investment, he added.

Shams Mahmud, managing director at Shasha Denim Ltd, said, ‘We have already lost significant revenue, and by the end of the year, due to the NBR officials’ strike. As a result, our business is facing mounting pressure to increases their revenue collection.’

‘On energy security, we have not seen enough urgency or pressure from the authorities’, he added.

‘Regarding LDC graduation, the reforms we expected have not materialised. While many countries are moving towards Africa for opportunities, why aren’t we? The government urgently needs to come up with a well-defined plan,’ he added.

Farid Uddin, a member of the NBR Reform Committee pointed out the priorities of the current times: ‘We have sent our report to 70 organisations, ministries, and relevant stakeholders. But we received only 12 responses. About the issues like a cashless economy, regulatory community, and related matters — no one paid attention.’

Asif Ibrahim, vice-chairman of ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· Group said that some factory closures, job losses, and their economic impacts have become major concerns, though conditions have improved somewhat with exports rebounding.

‘However, we still face significant challenges in securing energy for industries, availability of land for setting up industrial units remains limited.’

The number of licenses required to open a small business and ultimately the overall ease of doing business are still difficult issues, he added.

‘Financing long-term loans is also a challenge. At present, industries depend heavily on commercial banks, which is a paradox. Long-term financing should ideally come from the capital market.’

‘Extortion continues to be a major challenge, discouraging investment,’ said Asif.

Mohammad Iqbal Chowdhury, director and chief executive officer of LafargeHolcim Bangladesh PLC, said that NBR services should be simplified.

‘People are willing to pay taxes, but the interpretation of the law is very complex, which created a state of fear among the potential taxpayers.’

‘There is an unexpected thing — the NBR is always driven by an individual, the chairman, not by the policy - it depends on his thoughts and wishes’.

NBR is struggling to collect revenue, but they also know there is a huge leakage in their policies, he added.

Doulat Akter Mala, president at the Economic Reporters Forum, said, ‘We have very good laws, but there is a big problem in service delivery, because of the government officials’ bureaucratic mindset of power exercise.

Another problem is that government offices and agencies have no coordination among them to provide any services, she added.

Due to these problems, foreign investors have got negative signals to invest here, said ERF president.