Africa-Press – Gambia. Trade cost in Bangladesh has remained the highest in South Asia on the back of higher transport expenses, according to a research focused on shift to paperless trading.
Trade cost of Bangladesh was over 80 per cent of trade revenues in the year 2020, showed the study titled ‘Quantitative Analysis of the Move to Paperless Trade’ conducted by the Commonwealth SecretariatIt was just 80 per cent in Pakistan and over 60 per cent in India and Sri Lanka.
On other hand, this was below 20 per cent in the United Kingdom and over 20 per cent in Singapore, Canada and New Zealand.
For the total transport cost for $25,000 worth of shipments, Bangladesh required in 2020 less than $20,000.
This was the same for Pakistan. But in India transport cost was less than $15,000 for $25000 shipment.
However, the average total transport cost in 54 Commonwealth economies was over $16,000.
‘The cost will come down below $5,000 after overall automation for Bangladesh,’ the report mentioned.
The documentary-compliance cost in Bangladesh also remained over $200 for $25,000 shipment.
It may be reduced to less $100 for $25,000 export.
The survey was conducted on the 54 Commonwealth economies having more than $5.0-trillion trade, including imports and exports.
This exorbitant cost may be reduced to less than 20 per cent once the overall digitisation is adopted by 2026, the report said.
But the report said, ‘Public sentiment across emerging Asia, particularly Bangladesh and Malaysia, was seen as a potential obstacle to rapid adoption or reforms in reducing the trade costs.’
The report also sought solution to the current challenges facing Commonwealth nations in implementing paperless trade by means of qualitative desk research, discourse analysis and semi-structured in-depth interviews.
The report, however, said that the transport costs were higher as the Covid-19 had created supply disruptions, pushing up import and transportation costs.
It also mentioned that costs were made ‘worse by the potential for border fraud and corruption, making the costs of transporting goods between countries extremely high’.
However, there are some Commonwealth economies like Tonga and Gambia counting more than 100-per cent trade cost as a share of trade revenues.
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