Online Event: Should We Preserve the Doing Business Report?

Please join CSIS for a virtual conversation on whether the World Bank should resume publication of the Doing Business report, and if so, what steps it should take to ensure that it continues to serve as a trusted resource for the international development community. Jennifer D. "DJ" Nordquist, United States Executive Director at the World Bank Group, will provide opening remarks to kick-off the event. The webinar will be moderated by Romina Bandura, Senior Fellow of the Project on Prosperity and Development at CSIS. Joining her will be Michael Klein, former World Bank Vice President and Chief Economist of the International Finance Corporation, Abdelghni Lakhdar, Senior Inspector of Finances for the Morocco Ministry of Economy, Finances, and Administration Reform, Amitabh Kant, CEO of the National Institution for Transforming India, and Pierre Jacquet, President of the Global Development Network.

On August 27th, the World Bank announced that it would suspend the publication of its annual Doing Business report in response to allegations of data irregularities. The allegations claim that data for 4 of the 190 countries covered in the report were manipulated during the publication process. These allegations affect 2 of the study's 17 years in print: 2017 and 2019.

Doing Business has been widely recognized as one of the most important and effective tools in promoting global development. Since it was first published in 2003, the study has, for example, identified 722 reforms across 178 economies that have made it easier to start a business. Many of these reforms would not have occurred if not for the Doing Business ranking system, which incentivizes countries to compete with one another to reduce or eliminate barriers to entry for would-be entrepreneurs. Many global development actors rely on Doing Business, including governments, international development organizations, and, most importantly, the small businesses who benefit from the reforms it promotes.

This event is made possible by general CSIS support.