It has moved up seven places to rank 99 among 137 nations in the 2017-18 Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) released on Wednesday.

Last year’s index ranked Bangladesh 106 out of 138 countries.

The latest ranking is the biggest improvement since 2013-14 when Bangladesh moved up eight notches on the index, data shows.

The WEF, known as the Davos Forum, has been publishing the Global Competitiveness Report since 2011.

With over 7 percent GDP growth in the last two fiscal years, the Bangladesh government has set a target for 7.4 percent for fiscal 2017-18.

The WEF index is based on 12 basic factors — institutions, infrastructure, the macroeconomic environment, health, education, market efficiency, the labour market, financial market development, technological capacity, market size, innovation and business sophistication.

Bangladesh has scored 3.9 out of 7 in the latest ratings with improved scores across all the 12 factors.

It identified corruption as the top problematic factor in doing business in Bangladesh, followed by inadequate infrastructure, inefficient bureaucracy, inadequately educated workforce, poor work ethics and access to finance, instable policies and tax rates.Switzerland topped the index for the ninth consecutive year followed by the US, Singapore, Netherlands, Germany.

On the South Asian front, Indian remains the most competitive nation. It ranked 40th.

Bhutan and Nepal both have improved their positions — by 15 notches to 82nd and 10 notches at 88th respectively. The two Himalayan countries are among the most improved countries globally.

Sri Lanka, the third most competitive country in the region, ranked 85th.

Pakistan has moved up, but trails the group of South Asian economies, ranking 115 against last year’s 122.

Improving ICT infrastructure and use remain among the biggest challenges for the region: in the past decade, technological readiness stagnated the most in South Asia, says the WEF.

Source: bdnews24