Doing Business 2010: Reforming through Difficult Times
9-16-2009
Doing Business 2010: Reforming through Difficult Times recorded 287 reforms between June 2008 and May 2009, up 20 percent from the previous year. Reformers around the world focused on making it easier to start and operate businesses, strengthening property rights, and improving commercial dispute resolution and bankruptcy procedures.
"Business regulation can affect how well small and midsize firms cope with the crisis and seize opportunities when recovery begins," said Penelope Brook, Acting Vice President for Financial and Private Sector Development for the World Bank Group. "The quality of business regulation helps determine how easy it is to reorganize troubled firms to help them survive difficult times, to rebuild when demand rebounds, and to get new businesses started."
Singapore, a consistent reformer, is the top-ranked economy on the ease of doing business for the fourth year in a row, with New Zealand as runner-up. But most of the action occurred in developing economies. Two-thirds of the reforms recorded in the report were in low- and lower-middle-income economies. For the first time a Sub-Saharan African economy, Rwanda, is the world's top reformer of business regulation, making it easier to start businesses, register property, protect investors, trade across borders, and access credit.
Reformers were particularly active in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the Middle East and North Africa. This year, there were 4 new reformers among the top 10: Liberia, the United Arab Emirates, Tajikistan and Moldova. Others include Rwanda, Egypt, Belarus, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Colombia. Colombia and Egypt have been top global reformers in four of the past seven years.
Doing Business analyzes regulations that apply to an economy's businesses during their life cycles, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes, and closing a business. Doing Business does not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to firms and investors. For example, it does not measure security, macroeconomic stability, corruption, skill level, or the strength of financial systems.
Project Announcements
Japan-Based YKK AP America Plans Macon, Georgia, Manufacturing Center
08/19/2022
CF Industries Holdings-Mitsui Plan Ascension Parish, Louisiana, Carbon Capture Ammonia Plant
08/19/2022
Sub-Zero Group Establishes Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Light Manufacturing Plant
08/19/2022
WuXi STA Establishes Middletown, Delaware, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Campus
08/18/2022
Cargill Upgrades St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, Operations
08/18/2022
Pet Supplies Plus Plans Orangeburg County, South Carolina, Distribution Hub
08/18/2022
Most Read
-
The 2021 Top States for Doing Business Reflect Their Locational Advantages
Q3 2021
-
Area Development’s 17th Annual Shovel Awards Recognize State and Local Economic Development Efforts — First Two Platinum Shovels Awarded
Q2 2022
-
In Focus: “Golden Age” of Spec Development
Q3 2022
-
In Focus: Demand for Industrial Land Surges
Q2 2022
-
36th Annual Corporate Survey: Executives Focus on Labor, Energy, Shipping Costs
Q1 2022
-
Using Robust Project Controls to Enhance Project Management
Q3 2022
-
Explosive Growth of Life Sciences Sector Comes with Challenges
Q3 2022