World Bank suspends publication of Doing Business ranking – statement

REUTERS

The World Bank is suspending the publication of the Doing Business ranking due to a number of irregularities found in certain reports.

Read alsoZelensky enacts law to facilitate investment in Ukraine"A number of irregularities have been reported regarding changes to the data in the Doing Business 2018 and Doing Business 2020 reports, published in October 2017 and 2019. The changes in the data were inconsistent with the Doing Business methodology," the World Bank said in a statement on August 27.

In this regard, the bank will conduct an independent internal audit of the processes for data collection.

The data of countries that were most affected by the irregularities will be retrospectively corrected based on the findings.

"The publication of the Doing Business report will be paused as we conduct our assessment," reads the statement.

Doing Business ranking

• Doing Business analyzes the investment climate in 190 countries. This is the result of an annual study evaluating the ease of doing business. The World Bank has been calculating this index since 2003. Doing Business covers 12 areas of business regulation. Ten of these areas – starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency – are included in the ease of doing business score and ease of doing business ranking. Doing Business also measures regulation on employing workers and contracting with the government, which are not included in the ease of doing business score and ranking.
• Ukraine climbed by seven points in the World Bank's Doing Business 2020 ranking and ranked 64th among 190 countries.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky set a task for the government to develop an action plan to improve Ukraine's position in the Doing Business ranking by the end of 2019.
• In May 2020, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the Cabinet of Ministers had set tasks to improve the country's position in the World Bank's Doing Business ranking so that it could enter the Top 30 of the 190 countries on the list.
• In July, the Economy Ministry said Ukraine could improve its position and climb by 10-20 positions in the Doing Business 2021 ranking.