In the early 1990s, Bangladesh and Vietnam stood at much the same place. Both were farming economies scarred by war, running an administration built for control rather than service.
Today the IMF puts Vietnam's income per person at about $5,100 against our $2,900, and in nine months this year it drew more than $50 billion of foreign investment. The difference was not luck, nor the ability of our people, but how quickly the state learned to clear a path and keep time.
We have done harder things.
We live longer than Indians and Pakistanis do, more of our girls reach secondary school, and in this year's IMF projections our income per person has passed Pakistan's and edged ahead of India's.
Cyclones that once killed in the hundreds of thousands now take a small fraction of that toll, because we built shelters, a warning chain and a volunteer force that turns up when called. When the need is clear and someone is answerable, we move fast.
So the question is whether our state is built for the coming decade or the last century. Shaped to collect revenue and keep order, it is now asked to deliver health, education, digital services, climate safety and competitiveness.
Modernisation usually costs less than the waste it replaces.
Stalled projects, incompatible systems, posts sitting where the work no longer is, and journeys citizens make because a file cannot travel all cost us money.
Release funds in stages against results verified independently, and let ministries keep a share of what they save. Digitise a broken process and you get a faster broken process. Approve no new system until the process behind it is simplified and the staff trained.
Investor trust does not work the way incentives do.
An investor asks how long an approval takes, and whether today's answer will still hold eighteen months from now, when the factory is half built.
Unexplained delay is priced as risk, and risk is paid for in a higher required return, so fewer projects clear the bar. The strongest signal is reinvestment: a company already here that expands with its own profit rather than sending it home tells every board studying the region more than a roadshow can.
In Estonia a citizen gives the state a piece of information once.
When he applies for anything later, the office pulls his address, income and family records from other registers through a shared exchange called X-Road, and that one rule is credited with saving about 2% of GDP a year.
Singapore built excellence in layers, with merit at entry, integrity enforced by an independent body, and leaders judged by how citizens fare. Malaysia showed the value of a delivery unit close to the top, and the risk of resting reform on one personality. Vietnam cut 63 provinces to 34 last year and removed a whole tier of administration, which tells us structure is not sacred.
We should also remember that growth did not always start in the private sector.
Sometimes the government went ahead and built what no company would risk building. Korea put a planning board above the line ministries and held export meetings chaired by the head of government, where obstacles were settled on the spot.
Taiwan's state research institute built chip capability with public money and spun out what became the world's largest foundry. India treated identity and payments as public infrastructure, and that rail now carries more than 24 billion transactions a month at no cost to the small trader. In none of these did the state replace the market. It built the road and let others drive.
We should also remember that growth did not always start in the private sector.Sometimes the government went ahead and built what no company would risk building. Korea put a planning board above the line ministries and held export meetings chaired by the head of government, where obstacles were settled on the spot. Taiwan's state research institute built chip capability with public money and spun out what became the world's largest foundry.
What else can be done?
Publish a standard for the most used services, covering steps, fees, time limits, and a public scoreboard. Let an application count as approved when the office misses its own deadline, so delay costs the office.
Tie part of senior pay to outcomes citizens can feel. And let no policy reach the cabinet without an owner, a budget line and a timetable.
A state that serves on time and with respect earns trust. Trust makes citizens readier to pay tax and follow rules, and better revenue buys better service for them. Let us begin this year with one change that needs neither new money nor a new law.
Mamun Rashid is an economic analyst and former CEO, Citibank N.A. Bangladesh, and founding managing partner of PwC Bangladesh.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.