World Bank Has Discontinued “Ease of Doing Business” Report

The World Bank Group has decided to discontinue publication of its “Doing Business” rankings of country business climates after a review of data irregularities in the 2018 and 2020 reports.

The World Bank said that after the irregularities raised ethical matters involving former bank staff and board officials, it will work on a new approach to assessing countries’ business and investment climates.

The irregularities in Doing Business reports had affected four countries: China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Azerbaijan. In the initial Doing Business 2018 report, China had a score of 65.3 with a global ranking of 78, similar to the previous year’s.

However, after the corrections in data for indicators like Starting a Business, Getting Credit, and Paying Taxes indicators, China’s score fell to 64.5 and global ranking to 85.

“Taking as given the published data for all other countries, China’s global ranking in Doing Business 2018 would have been 85, a decline of 7 places relative to the previous year,” World Bank had said in its review report.

“Going forward, we will be working on a new approach to assessing the business and investment climate. We are deeply grateful to the efforts of the many staff members who have worked diligently to advance the business climate agenda, and we look forward to harnessing their energies and abilities in new ways,” the lender said.

Lobbies such as the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) have for instance complained of the country’s waning competitiveness as a producer of goods while the government has been reprimanded more widely for a burdening taxation regime.

At the same time, multiple layers of regulation and policies have been cited as a hindrance to doing business.

“We have found that more and more institutions are being created and these institutions require money to run and people in them. This becomes a license fee, a tax or some cost at one stage,” KAM Chairman Mucai Kunyiha said in March this year.

Players have also resoundingly pushed for the formulation of a national tax policy to create predictability in taxation during budget cycles.

“The good thing about having a tax policy is predictability so one knows that the National Treasury cannot just wake up tomorrow and decide to increase a certain class of taxes affecting you without having had enough time to plan for it,” Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) Chief Executive Officer Habil Olaka said in a recent interview.