Doing Business 2008 report is out now
At 00:01 GMT, the World Bank released its annual ranking of the ease of doing business in 178 economies.
Ordered by the time and cost required to set, run and close a business, Eastern Europe and Central Asia were the fastest reforming region this year. Latin America and East Asia were the slowest, with the exception of China, who implemented new private property rights and a new bankruptcy law.
Business climate rankings matter to women. Higher scores correspond to a higher number of women entrepreneurs and employees in an economy. Forty-one percent of women in Rwanda run a small business but only 18 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where women need their husbands' consent to start a business.
Interestingly, though Brunei, Liberia and Luxemburg joined the list, nothing has changed on the very top or the bottom. As in the year before, Singapore ranks the first and the Democratic Republic of Congo as the last of the list. Egypt became the top reformer but Georgia, with its provocative media campaign, still holds a high spot. And while almost all countries, including Belarus, registered some positive reforms, Venezuela and Zimbabwe bucked the trend.
For complete listings and to create your own rankings visit the Doing Business site.
Comments (2)
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my comment is mostly related to the doing business methodology, as i understand DB is a tool used by the WB in order to reduce poverty by increasing economical and business growth, i have read DB2007 report and i saw DB2008 report, for my country which i am involved very much in different procedures and different ways of work i found out that there is a wide gap between DB reports and the actual situation, this gap is created not due to the methodology of the report but to the way the were gathered, i believe the source for the data that the local partner have provided for the WB, IFC is not accurate that is they only based on negative feedback, also on not relaying on scientific methods on data collection, not only this is the problem another major issue is that the DB people on charge did nor put a check mechanism on feedback they have from partner but only trust, i bleive that we can depend on trust only when we have a mechanism to test that trust from time to time and to align it with the DB goals and objectives.
it is important to keep DB a trustful data source to serve a great objective for humanity.
yours
Posted by: Anas khasawneh | Oct 5, 2007 3:59:48 PM
Sirs
Many of us have come to rely on the contents of the Report, especially certain sections.
The section entitled Protecting Investors is vital.
However, having reviewed the contents relating to Antigua & Barbuda they undermine the credibility of the entire Report.
The well-documented fact remains that "new" Government of Antigua & Barbuda, which when in Opposition strongly opposed the dangerous use of emminent domain to expropriate and nationalise Half Moon Bay Resort, a substantial private property, in order to hand it another private third party, itself completed the process in 2007.
Fundamentally, it has also made no attempt to provide the fair & proper compensation to the owners ordered by the Privy Council and it as urged other countries in the region to follow its investment model.
For the country to receive an unchanged rish-averse ranking is outrageous, whether this be classed as a flaw of methodology or not.
Ian Moncrief-Scott
Information Management Solutions
Isle of Man
Posted by: Ian Moncrief-Scott | Nov 8, 2007 6:36:04 AM