- 1 A fl~r'01:llllti AIJ. ~111~: U. SVAS EVAL1IATIOIi SCIIEDULED 111 C. EVALUATIOti TIhlINQ USALD/Uan&ladcsl~ lnlsrlm llnal ax porl olhar 0 (Mission or A1Df.Y Ollicc) a I (ESn 1 Evnl. Plnn Subrnlcslon Dala: FY D- Q _1_ D. ACTIVIIY Url AC11711IES EVALUATED (LIBI1110 followlnn Inlorn~nllonlor prtrjacl(r) or progrnrn(a) mvmlumted; 11 1101 nppllcnblo, 1111 Illlo and dnla or Ule avaluntlon report) Projccl d . Projocl/Pro~rnnilillo Rrsl PROAG Mosl Plnnnad Amount (or lillc L dnlo 01 or eq~~vnlenl recent LOP Obllgaled avnlunlion roporl]. IM PAC0 Cost lo Dale 388-0074 Export I)evclopmc~~tl'ro j cc t (a comporcnt of Technical Kcsourccs *Start and ct~ddates of contract activities under this componen:t of TRP-I1 **Total costs of this coa~ponentof TRP-I1 - G. APPIIOVALS- OF EVALUATIOti SUMhlAnY Ati.UACCIIOLCDECISLOIISt -5'- \ 2 Prolccl/Progrnrn noprossnlnliva of Evnluatlon Mlnnlon or AD/W OtficfJ Ollicor &rrrowcr/Granlab Ollicar Rirsclor n. un. Signalure Emily ~c~hie: f3Lt.;- Typed Name J.Rockliffe-Ki Richard M. ~r= s Dalo: NIA* - Dala: - --LC---- - ----- - *See Section L: "Mission Comments" I I'AGE 2 II. EVALUATIOI~ADSTIIACT (do no1 arceed Ule rprce provided) The ~I~I..I~OSF!of the Project was to facilitate non-traditional exporters' - 1 ilcc7eS.r, t forpig11 c!l~l-r-ency f 01- i1111)ortecl inp11t.s ancl to enhance the BDG's cn~~nl?i1i t.lP to p~-o\.icle .c;el.vi ces to espo~-ters. A three person teat11 conducted t-.l~c I I or.in Alrc~~rst 1,993. Tlie ten111 reviewed documelitat ion and ill terviewecl USATD pel-so~tnel, the T.A. co~lt~actor'steam, officials of tfle implenieli t ing ag~ncies, islorld Bank staff , ban1:ers , private sector exporters, and r;cprese11 ta t ives of busilless groups (711~1 espor-tel-s ' associations. The 111ajol- filtcli IICJS ;1r1(1 co1ic111si011~are: , * Project 'I1.A. nieclia tecl dif f eret~cesbetweell tlie Ezngladesh Batik (BB) atld - ~JorlclBnlil: wlii.cl~ C1ireal:enecl cnt~c:cl.l.atio~lof $22 millio~lof the $25 millioll IDA credit . Once tlie Export Development Fund's regulations were agreed, and eight sami~~arr;were 11cld to esplnili the Fulid to potential users, use accel- eratecl. 1'n two years $19 niillio~i113s been opened to letters of credit to fi~ia~~cc!i.rl~r~ot-Led i~~pttt:s. 1'11e ~.-nl;eof~r~se is IIOW aho~tt$1 n~illiotlpel* n~o~~tll. * PI3 S ~:I-;I .i 11 i IICJ ;)lid c*o1n1)11tel-/soEtr~al-c proc~ir-antc~it for the Duty Esamption and 1-11Ci c? 1 a 1 Lower1 easy calct~lctl:.ic~rrof itlyu t coefticie~~ts.This - u nssist:a~lcc has atitibl.ec1 DUD0 to 1-eirnb111-sesolne $37 rnillio11 to exporters Erote c111l:i.cs ~il.i.tlo~t jrnl)o~'t;ecl inp11t:s s.i lice the I>L-ojcc t began. IZ t- V) * ':Wliile 'FA pl-ovided to the Export Credit: Guarantee Department (ECGD) in- $ c. i sive.1~i(lcn ti f i ed operating aricl str~~ctl.lral problems, and helped stabilize tl~eprogt-a111, 119 act ion lias been take11 to rnalie the needed structural changes. 1:o (EPD) - * Ass is ti~ritze ,;lie Esport Pt-on~otio~tDureail in conlputer hardware, software r711d t I-n irii~ighelped tlle~nbetter track quotas for garment exporters. klcrt~eve~-,1:llc 6PU did riot follow up uli efforts tu assist: it to transfer some of its full(: ti011s to private .charr~lsersarid export associations. = l'lta evn.ll.lat ior~riol:ed the Collowilig "lessotis": - A* TIIF! UDG policy of ~noving~>er-so~illel fro111 one agelicy to another, and co~~secl~tc-?rlt' I- 1 :i~~.-tive-of ltigI1 level n~aliages~elil:in key 01-ganiza t io11s, - 111a1;es i t c1.i.fCic11.lt to a~ni~ltainorga~iiz;~ tional cor~tilluity. T11us , progranis sl~o~~.Lcl1101: 11c b~~i.LI: aroulid an esceptioltal letltler as liis successor may well - have clif fer-ell t ageilcla . I level. r~~ci~~age~ne~itarp Eirst to take arlvnlitage of tr;~ini~igabroad, b~~ttheir' 1 it11 i t~dte~~ur*e 11ial:es tl~e11 tili tp of s~aclttraining questionable. A?: Ftrrlrl IIS~i s dc)l~~.i.~ic?tecl by the al.t:eady s trot~ggarnlerit sector (85%). Now that: n~acrocco~ioni~iref ornis ntake foreign eschange is more readily available, - grea te~: ~OI-1:~; ilr? ~iceclecl to c1.i.i-ec t Eu~icls to c)l:ller exporters. ?:* Strategies are ~ieeclecl t:o retain trained co~nputerspecialists as tlieir t.rai.ri.i~~g~~~nke.ci 1.11~111 IIIO~~ill c1en1;tncl .in t:lle lijgli paying private sector. - - -. ---- - I. EVALUATIOti COSTS 1, Evslualion Team Nan1P Allillallon Contrnet Number Conlrncl Coil Sourer of TDY Person Days TDY Colt (USS) Fund8 Ronald Bobel DN LS_39,Il&------------Projec t -- V) 5- M. Shamsul Uaque DAI 24 0 u A.K.M. K.R. Khan DAI 18 I --- - - -- --.-- - -- - _ ___ _ _ --- - -- - - -- -- 2. Mission/Otficc ~rolcssionnl - 3. Borrowar/Grantce Proferslonal Slall Psrson.Days (csllnialo) 15 Stall Pef#on.Dayr (e~llmrle) 15 I EXPORT DEVELOE'MENT PROJECT (EDP) USAID/B has found the evaluation recommendations useful in designing a concept paper on Private Sector Development. It believes the following recommendations will continue to be important considerations as it evolves a new Private Sector Development Strategy: 1. Donor supported technical assistance would be useful in offering alternatives for goveirnmentconsideration, and in promoting a continuing prog:ramlofresearch and analysis dealing with major policy and administrative issues affecting external trade matters. 2. Future involvement of donor agencies should concentrate in providing a greater role for the private sector in export functions. 3. Continuing dialogue on Bangladesh export development among the government, the private sector organizations, and the donors will be necessary to build consensus as to how existing agencies could be made more autonomous and/or be privatized as follows: --the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) promotional and information/contact functions divested to the private sector -- transferring garment quota allocations to the proposed Bangladesh National Exporters Association (BNEA), or to the Garment Manufactures and Exporters Association --transferring the trade research and promotion functicns to the new BXEA --restructure the Export credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) as an autonomous body, partially privatized, ~ith~shareholdingsby the banks,' insurance companies and exporter clients. 4. The role of the Duty ~xemptionand Drawback Office (DEDO) -- -needs-to-be-reexamined-:----- -- move to a system of exempting duties under the Bonded Warehouse system on imported inputs used for producing exports , -- or privatize the DEDO function by awarding it to an accounting firm with oversight by the National Board of Revenue -- --or completely eliminate the functions of DEDO if policy reforms result in necessary exchange rate adjustments and generation of sufficient revenue through effective value-added tax and income tax PAGE 3 I A.I.D. EVALUATION SUMMARY PART II J. SUMMARY OF EVALUATION FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS (Try no1 to exceed the 3 prgsr provided) Addrera the following Items: I Purpose of activityfies) avalualcd Principal rscornrnendations Purpose of avalualion and Methodology used Lessons learned Findings and conclusions (relalc to queslions) Mission or Ollice: Wesh Dale this summary prepared: August 1993 -... .-. .-..-. -----Final Evaluation of thc -port Development Project lrlle ana ualo or PUII tvaluallon nspon:- I I I Pirrposs of project: The project ' s purpose was to assist non-traditional exporters by faci..litating their access to foreign currency financing for imported il113ut.s and by enhancing tlie BDG institutionnl capability to support tl~enon- trad it iolia 1 exporters. Assistance was f ocusecl 011 four gover11111e11t institutions : (a1 the Duty Esen~ptio~land Drawback Off ice of the National Boarcl of Revenue (NBR); (b) the Esport Promotion Bureau and its Esport Elorlitori~~gU11i t (EPIU) ; (c) The Bangladesh Ba!lk, as administrator of the Export Deve.lopn~ent: Fllnd; a~cl(dl tile Espoi-t Creclit Guarantee Department of the Sadharan Uinla COL-poration (SBC) , the national insurance organization. A fifth, and minor colnponent, was to provide research and assistance to esport associations and the esport interests of the Chambers of Commerce. 1)ur~oseof Eva1 trn t ion ar~tl Mett~odoloqv Used: This final evaluation Was co~~clucLed d11rillg August 1993. The evaluation team reviewed project clocuri~e~~t:at:iol~, ~~elatecl~'epoi- ts and docun~ent:~,arid conducted a wide range of interviews witli IJSAID staff, tile T.A. contl-actor's teani, officials of the irnplemc~il:ilicj ayc~lcies,Worlc: Dil111i 1-esiclel~l:staff, local ba~~kersserving as conduit of ft~ncls, private sector espc~rter-s and business group re~~~eseritat: ives -cl~as~bers of con~rner-cear~d exporters ' associations. Pindincrs and Conclusions: 1. DEDO -'Significant progress was made in streani- 1i11i11gtile c111i:y drawback scl~e~~iesfor individual and flat rates and i11 speeding tlie rebate process, which now has a tur~laroulldtime of five days for flat rates. Flat rates have been calculated fo; some 700 items. Project T.A. devised a successful computer program to facilitate flat rate calculc?tions, tl-ailled DEDO staff, and lield rl 111r1nber of seminars to iacrease understa~ldirigof the program on part of bankers and exporters. The Project also purcl~asedoffice ecluipme~lti~~cluding computers and software. Prior to -EIxc1L_1992,1~o-cl1~-~y-clsa wbac k--]lad--beell-ph-id-ou ti--hut-s ince--ti~'~t-f;inie-T3~fuKd~ to balling sollle taka 1.5 billicn (about $37 million) have been made.