Energy crisis, inflation major challenges for business: CPD survey

In a CPD run survey a majority of businesses executives have identified energy supply crisis and inflation as two major challenges that the countrys business are facing with major backlash on economic growth.

The Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) carried out the survey among 71 business executives between May-July of 2023 covering senior officials of small, medium and large companies in different sectors.

The CPD shared the findings at a press briefing at its office in Dhaka on Wednesday The survey said some 66.2 percent of the businesses executives who participated in the survey termed energy supply shortage as the main challenge.

CPD further says corruption is the other top factor causing problems for businesses. Nearly 51 percent says inflation is the second biggest challenge for doing business in the country.
 
The CPD in partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF) concluded the survey on "The state of the business environment in Bangladesh".

Some 35.2 percent of executives said economic downturn is another major concern for them. The executives further termed energy supply as a major concern at a time when industries are suffering from shortage of gas supply, affecting production.

Suspension of production is more challenging for businesses than inflation and they are facing troubles for gas shortages, CPD Research Director Khondaker Golam Moazzem said while presenting the findings of the survey.

Corruption was a major problematic factor in 2022 too, the CPD survey said severely impacting business environment in Bangladesh.

A staggering 67.6 percent of the respondents complained high level of corruption impacting business.
 
The survey said "Limited effective measures to curb corruption as well as lack of transparency and accountability in business process carried out by the public agencies such as licensing, logistics and service-providing activities weaken the business environment."

Over 54.9 percent of the respondents also blamed inefficient government bureaucracy and foreign currency instability (46.5 percent) topped the list of most problematic factors.

Before 2022, foreign currency instability ranked in the bottom three, but it jumped to the top five in the last two years.

Over39.4 percent blamed inflation as the fifth most important factor for the last two years, whereas it was in the bottom three in the previous years.