Economic Governance Indices

Second edition of MBEI tool shows progress in governance for private sector development Today, The Asia Foundation released the Myanmar Business Environment Index 2020 (MBEI). The MBEI 2020, funded by UK Aid through the DaNa Facility, is Myanmar’s second installment of the Index, which was first launched in 2019. The MBEI is a survey of primarily b… Read more

The Asia Foundation initiated the first ever Myanmar Business Environment Index (MBEI) in 2018, surveying 4,874 Myanmar businesses in the service and manufacturing industries across the country and gathering a multitude of other hard data to map a more comprehensive, in-depth picture of the challenges they face and where government can target refor… Read more

New tool measures economic governance for private sector development Today, The Asia Foundation released the Myanmar Business Environment Index 2019 (MBEI) as a diagnostic tool to better understand the local business environment. The government of Myanmar has recognized the importance of private sector development, yet many Myanmar enterprises cont… Read more

Measuring Economic Governance for Private Sector Development The Economic Governance Index (EGI) is a tool that has become widely accepted by governments to understand economic growth, attract investors, and engage in public-private sector dialogue. The Myanmar Business Environment Index (MBEI) follows in this tradition by adapting the EGI model to… Read more

A dynamic and healthy private sector is widely regarded as the engine of long-term economic development. Countries compete to attract investment and those that succeed in creating business environments that support competitive entrepreneurs have reaped significant economic growth. Sound national policies are not sufficient to achieve balanced and e… Read more

Real GDP growth in Malaysia has slowed considerably over the past decade and domestic investment, measured as a percentage of GDP, has also decreased. These trends raise doubts about whether Malaysia can attain its goal of reaching developed nation status by the year 2020…

In January, I took a break from research for the just-released Malaysia Business Environment Index (BEI), which measures perceptions of district-level firms on their business environments, to get a broader perspective…

On May 8, The Asia Foundation launched the first-ever Business Environment Index (BEI) that measures local business managers and owners’ perceptions about the business environment at the district level. The findings reveal issues and challenges that are relevant to local economic growth in Malaysia, such as transparency, regulatory costs, crime and… Read more

Since the 1980s, microfinance institutions in Bangladesh, such as the Grameen Bank, have touted the success of women microentrepreneurs in starting and operating thousands of microenterprises throughout the country. While this is certainly an achievement, Bangladeshi women have not achieved…

In a recently released report on Asia in 2050, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) predicted that seven Asian economies – China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia – would be the drivers of Asia’s rise over the coming decades and that the region…

In Bangladesh, where the 2010 Economic Governance Index – which measures and ranks business environments across 19 districts – was just released, the capital city of Dhaka did not perform among the top districts. Of course, in terms of business performance and investment, Dhaka remains Bangladesh’s single most important city. Bangladesh's capit… Read more

Any casual observer walking through the heart of a district capital like Bangladesh’s northeastern city of Sylhet or Rangpur, further north, would be impressed by the bustling economic activity. In the early morning, streets are filled with colorful trucks honking their way toward the market place. Their paths are crossed by overloaded rickshaws de… Read more

Vietnam has garnered international attention over the past two decades with its remarkable economic growth and strong poverty alleviation record. The adoption of the doi moi (renovation) policy in late 1986, marked by a shift to market-oriented development and international integration, has transformed this country of 86 million. Crucial legal refo… Read more

After a global economic slump in 2009, Cambodia welcomed World Bank forecasts that projected its economy would grow in 2010. However, despite an auspicious start to the New Year, the imbalanced growth between Phnom Penh and the provincial areas are major concerns for improved and sustainable economic development. The private sector in Cambodia, par… Read more

The recent release of two reports – one from the World Bank/IFC and the other from the IFC/Asia Foundation – compelled more than 200 Cambodians to gather on May 25th in a conference room overseeing the Tonle Sap river. They were business owners, public officials, and development organizations, all keen to discuss ways to make the life of business o… Read more