Source: World Bank
Context: The World Bank Group has launched its Business Ready project, which will assess the business and investment climate in up to 180 economies annually.
- It replaces the World Bank Group’s earlier Doing Business project, reflecting a more balanced and transparent approach to evaluating a country’s business and investment climate
Comparison between the Business Ready project and the previous Doing Business project:
| Business Ready Project | Doing Business Project | |
| Objective | To assess the business and investment climate in up to 180 economies in a transparent and fair way | To evaluate the standpoint of private sector development as a whole |
| Criteria | Business Entry, Business Location, Utility Services, Labor, Financial Services, International Trade, Taxation, Dispute Resolution, Market Competition, and Business Insolvency | 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 |
| Scope | Covers 54 economies in the first year, expected to scale up to 180 economies by 2025-26 | — |
| Approach | Reflects a more balanced and transparent approach towards evaluating a country’s business and investment climate. | Overall approach and methodology were not as transparent or well-documented as in the Business Ready project |
| Publication | The first report is to be published in Spring 2024, with subsequent reports expected annually | Reports were published annually, with the last report released in 2020. It was scrapped in 2021 after a probe revealed that rankings for China, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Azerbaijan had been altered |
