"Not only the ADB, other donors also want to see that the government forms the selection committee of the anti-corruption commission within this month," announced Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director Toru Shibuichi yesterday while releasing the bank's quarterly economic update on Bangladesh for January to March 2004.

The report maintains that the wide prevalence of corruption has its roots in "Weaknesses in public financial management, low salaries and lack of incentive structures in the civil services, complex regulatory rules and procedures." It also criticised the government's "closed-door practices in policy development, legislative drafting and public decision-making and a culture of secrecy in public administration."

Presenting the report to newsmen at the ADB Bangladesh Resident Mission, Shibuichi said, "Law and order is another of our main concerns. Certainly, it has not improved yet."

On this issue, the report observes, "The government has adopted several measures to improve the law-and-order situation, but progress and effects to date are limited. An increasing level of criminal activities including killings was reported across the country."

The quarterly update says corruption, lack of good governance, poor infrastructure and other negative factors are hindering Bangladesh from achieving a much higher economic growth in keeping with its potentials.

"We have concerns over governance issues and poor infrastructure of this country… We suggest that not only the government, but all people concerned should concentrate on these issues," Shibuichi said.

The report maintains that the political situation in Bangladesh is too volatile for a sound economic health. "The formation of a new political party by the immediate past president was marked by tensions. Meanwhile, two members of parliament belonging to the BNP-led alliance resigned and joined the new political party. Frequency of hartals and violence has increased in recent months. Frequent hartals inhibit the country in realising its true economic potentials."

The update also incorporates the principal findings of the Country Governance Assessment for Bangladesh conducted by the bank. According to the study, the main governance issues needing immediate attention are corruption, impunity [of the corrupt], bureaucratic resistance to reform, excessive centralisation of decision-making authority, lack of judicial autonomy and inadequate transparency and public awareness on governance standards. Rigid administrative orientation of the public services, declining public confidence in the integrity of public institutions and lack of opportunity for ordinary citizens to participate in public decision-making processes are also included in the list.

"The negative consequences of weak core governance affect the entire population, but have a particularly severe impact on the poor, women and other marginalised groups," the report notes.

The ADB classifies the key governance constraints into five groups. They are "(i) The law-and-order situation and limitation of the justice sector and law enforcement agencies in checking crime and corruption; (ii) weak public administration; (iii) regulatory environment; (iv) inadequate national policy and resource commitments to local government reform; and (v) the impact of intensifying partisan tension in many areas. These five constraints in the sphere of core governance limit sectoral governance initiatives," the report maintains.

Commenting on the resistance to governance reform efforts, the report says, "While vested quarters including some public officials who feel threatened by changes raise formidable resistance to governance reform, many governance initiatives are impeded by more basic and benign constraints."

The ADB prescribes undertaking programmes to achieve some specific governance objectives including creating a competitive environment for all aided by free flow of information, establishing and enforcing clear-cut rules and regulations for public sector administration and promoting civil society voice and participation.