Bangladesh according 2005 Index of Economic Freedom

TRADE POLICY
Score: 5–Stable (very high level of protectionism)

The U.S. Department of Commerce reports that “business people consider Customs to be…a thoroughly corrupt organization in which officials routinely exert their power to influence the tariff value of imports and to expedite or delay import and export processing at the ports.”

FISCAL BURDEN OF GOVERNMENT
Score—Income Taxation: 2.5–Stable (moderate tax rates)
Score—Corporate Taxation: 4–Better (high tax rates)
Score—Change in Government Expenditures: 3.5–Stable (low increase)
Final Score: 3.5–Better (high cost of government)

Bangladesh’s top income tax rate is 25 percent. The top corporate tax rate is 30 percent, down from the 40 percent reported in the 2004 Index.

GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IN THE ECONOMY
Score: 3.5–Stable (high level)

According to the World Bank, the government consumed 5 percent of GDP in 2002, up from the 4.5 percent reported in the 2004 Index

MONETARY POLICY
Score: 2–Worse (low level of inflation)

CAPITAL FLOWS AND FOREIGN INVESTMENT
Score: 4–Worse (high barriers)

Foreign investors receive national treatment and are allowed full ownership in most sectors. The International Monetary Fund reports that foreign investments, with the exception of investments in the industrial sector, require approval. Most of the barriers that remain are informal or involve inadequate implementation of existing laws.

BANKING AND FINANCE
Score: 5–Worse (very high level of restrictions)

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, “State-owned banks—known as nationalised commercial banks, or NCBs—dominate the financial sector. Given that the government is the owner, regulator and major customer of the NCBs, there has been ample opportunity for mismanagement and political interference…. [T]he banking sector remains hampered by poor credit discipline, an archaic loan recovery system, corruption, inefficiency, overstaffing and unionisation.”

WAGES AND PRICES
Score: 3–Stable (moderate level of intervention)

The government affects prices through its many state-owned monopolies.

PROPERTY RIGHTS
Score: 4–Stable (low level of protection)

The constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, reports the Economist Intelligence Unit, “The legal framework is archaic and court procedures are often cumbersome.

REGULATION
Score: 5–Stable (very high level)

Corruption is the largest burden on business. Other problems include a bureaucracy characterized by vested interests, lack of transparency, and outdated business laws that do not protect private contracts.

INFORMAL MARKET
Score: 4.5–Stable (very high level of activity)


Bless you, Bill Gates

He is still the richest man in the world he is working to remain the most influential. His Microsoft Windows software runs 90 per cent of the world’s PCs. Now that he indisputably ahead, Gates devotes more time to his vision for the next decade.

“We have come a long way to achieving that. We don’t have six billion PCs, but we have more than a billion. They’re not quite as powerful or as easy to use as I dreamed at that time, but we’re getting close.”

His next challenge is to exploit ubiquitous wireless, super-fast internet connections, and integrate computing into the fabric of our lives. Much of his vision sounds, however, very similar to that being expounded by other leading technologists these days - the digital home, converged media, and so on, are now all part of the popular lexicon - and it seems unlikely that Bill Gates is going to come up with anything as revolutionary as Windows again.

His parallel interest is philanthropy and he has pledged to spend 95 per cent of his wealth on philanthropy before he dies.
Causes include college scholarships for under-represented minorities, AIDS prevention, and funds to tackle other diseases prevalent in the developing world. Bill Gates is scheduled to visit Bangladesh this month.