Bribe incidence less here than in India, Pakistan

The incidence of bribe requests in Bangladesh is less than in India and Pakistan, according to a recent report from the Asian Development Bank.

In Bangladesh, 23 percent of the firms said they have been solicited for gifts or informal payments (i.e., bribes) when meeting with tax officials, according to the ADB's 'Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2023' released yesterday.

In Pakistan, the proportion of firms reported getting such requests is 30.8 percent, which is the highest in South Asia. In India, it is 27.2 percent, which is the second-highest in the region.

"Paying taxes is required of formal forms in most economies, and the rationale for this indicator is to measure the incidence of corruption during this routine interaction.

Both Bangladesh and India's figures are based on 2022 data, while Pakistan's figure is from 2013.

This year's report, which is the 54th edition of the publication, highlights the importance of better and more timely data for policymaking as many of the comparisons were made on dated information.

For instance, the cross-country comparison of aid received was based on data from 2021.

In 2021, Bangladesh saw the second-highest aid commitment among the 49 countries in the Asia and the Pacific region, behind only India.

Bangladesh got $3.05 billion in aid commitments and India got $3.67 billion, which is the highest in the Asia and the Pacific region.

In terms of aid disbursements too, Bangladesh came in second behind India in the region.

Some $2.43 billion was disbursed in 2021, behind India's $3.68 billion.

The comparison on financial inclusion was also based on 2021 data.

In 2021, 52.8 percent of the population above the age of 15 was under the formal financial umbrella in Bangladesh, which is the second-lowest in South Asia.

In South Asia, Pakistan had the lowest percentage of people with a formal account: 21 percent.

Sri Lanka came on top in South Asia, with 89.3 percent of its adults above the age of 15 who report having an account of their own or held with someone else at a bank or another type of financial institution or have personally used a mobile money service.

In terms of ATMs per 100,000 adult population, Bangladesh is lagging in South Asia, coming in second to last.

In 2021, Bangladesh had 11.4 ATMs for every 100,000 adults and Pakistan had 11.1 ATMs.

Bhutan came on top in South Asia, with 45.2 ATMs for every 100,000 adults.