Bangladesh climbs up two notches, still lowest in South Asia

Despite climbing up two notches, Bangladesh ranked 35th out of 50 countries in the Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index 2023, the lowest among the South Asian countries.

Bangladesh scored 4.53, out of 10, in terms of the most promising emerging logistics markets in the world this year.

Agility, a Kuwait-based global logistics company, unveiled the 14th annual snapshot of the index on Tuesday, where it ranked the world’s 50 leading emerging markets based on overall competitiveness in logistics strengths, business climates and digital readiness.

China and India topped the list consecutively for domestic and international logistics while Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively ranked 26th and 30th among the countries.

Bangladesh has been at the lowest position among the South Asian economies since 2019.

The index examined four metrics: domestic logistics opportunities, international logistics opportunities, business fundamentals, and digital readiness to assess and understand trends that make them attractive to logistics providers, freight forwarders, air and ocean carriers, distributors and investors.

The report said that the evidence suggests that production of electronic consumer durables is shifting away from China. There has also been a remarkable shift of the production of apparel and furniture from China to Vietnam over the past two years.

These developments might change the balance of demand on certain routes. For instance, routes out of China could change in terms of composition and destination; and Southeast Asia and South Asia (notably Bangladesh) are likely to see an increase in their proportion of the global market, it added.

Bangladesh recently formed a National Logistics Development & Coordination Committee chaired by the principal secretary to the prime minister, aiming to focus on the development of the logistics sector of Bangladesh and also to prepare the first National Logistics Plan.