Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

World Bank - Doing Business 2010 - Comparing Regulation in 183 Countries

Doing Business 2010: Reforming Through Difficult Times is the seventh in a series of annual reports investigating
regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators
on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 183 economies, from
Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, over time.


A set of regulations affecting 10 stages of a business’s life are measured: starting a business, dealing with construction
permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across
borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. Data in Doing Business 2010: Reforming Through Difficult Times
are current as of June 1, 2009*. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms have
worked, where, and why.


The Doing Business methodology has limitations. Other areas important to business such as an economy’s proximity
to large markets, the quality of its infrastructure services (other than those related to trading across borders), the
security of property from theft and looting, the transparency of government procurement, macroeconomic conditions
or the underlying strength of institutions, are not studied directly by Doing Business. To make the data comparable
across economies, the indicators refer to a specific type of business, generally a local limited liability company
operating in the largest business city. Because standard assumptions are used in the data collection, comparisons and
benchmarks are valid across economies. The data not only highlight the extent of obstacles to doing business; they
also help identify the source of those obstacles, supporting policymakers in designing reform.


The data set covers 183 economies: 46 in Sub-Saharan Africa, 32 in Latin America and The Caribbean, 27 in Eastern
Europe and Central Asia, 24 in East Asia and Pacific, 19 in the Middle East and North Africa and 8 in South Asia, as
well as 27 OECD high-income economies as benchmarks.


The data used for this country profile
come from the Doing Business database and are summarized in graphs. These graphs allow a comparison of the
economies in each region not only with one another but also with the “good practice” economy for each indicator.
The good-practice economies are identified by their position in each indicator as well as their overall ranking and by
their capacity to provide good examples of business regulation to other countries. These good-practice economies do
not necessarily rank number 1 in the topic or indicator, but they are in the top 10.


More information is available in the full report. Doing Business 2010: Reforming Through Difficult Times presents
the indicators, analyzes their relationship with economic outcomes and recommends reforms. The data, along with
information on ordering the report, are available on the Doing Business website (www.doingbusiness.org).


* Except for the Paying Taxes indicator that refers to the period January to December of 2008.


Note: Doing Business 2008 and Doing Business 2009 data and rankings have been recalculated to
reflect changes to the methodology and the addition of new countries (in the case of the rankings).


Source: http://www.tourismroi.com/InteriorTemplate.aspx?ID=34930