Efficient logistics, seamless digital public services and fewer layers of corruption allow manufacturing plants in Vietnam to pay workers twice as much as their Bangladeshi counterparts while earning higher profits, said Lutfey Siddiqi.

In a Facebook post on Friday, economist Lutfey Siddiqi, also the former special envoy for international affairs to the chief adviser of Bangladesh's interim government, highlighted the contrast between the two countries through a simple example: the same factory owner, producing identical goods in both countries, can achieve significantly better financial and social outcomes in Vietnam.

"The root cause lies in logistics and governance," Siddiqi wrote, pointing to Vietnam's faster container handling at ports and shorter customs clearance times.

He said, "Bangladesh's businesses, by contrast, face delays caused by informal corruption, bureaucratic hurdles, malfunctioning scanners and frequent server failures and internet outages, which often force digital processes back into manual procedures."

Explaining his advocacy for "retail reforms", Siddiqi said practical, everyday administrative improvements must complement major constitutional and institutional changes.

He stressed the need for better coordination among ministries, a single digital window for business permits and licences, and modernised port operations to improve Bangladesh's total factor productivity (TFP).

"Vietnam may have other governance shortcomings, but its relentless focus on measurable outputs and numerical accountability drives economic results," he wrote.

Criticising Bangladesh's political and institutional culture for often substituting rhetoric and policy debates for measurable accountability,

Siddiqi said broader economic goals must be matched by practical improvements in public administration and service delivery to raise industrial productivity, increase business earnings and improve workers' wages.