The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation has published the annual update to the “Doing Business.” This is a report that has been tracking regulatory reforms world wide since 2004.
“Despite the challenges presented by the financial crisis, the number of reforms hit a record level this year. Between June 2008 and May 2009, 287 reforms were recorded in 131 economies, 20% more than the year before. Reformers focused on making it easier to start and operate a business, strengthening property rights and improving the efficiency of commercial dispute resolution and bankruptcy procedures.”
The full report is available here.
Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1 to 183, with first place being the best. A high ranking on the ease of doing business index means the regulatory environment is conducive to the operation of business. Singapore was ranked 1 and Central African Republic 183. This index averages the country’s percentile rankings on 10 topics, made up of a variety of indicators, giving equal weight to each topic. The rankings from the Doing Business 2010 report, covering the period June 2008 through May 2009, are available here.
An interesting report worth a review.