World Bank & IFC Release Doing Business 2007

Measuring regulatory costs of doing business around the world.

The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation recently released Doing Business 2007, the most recent update to their annual report that measures regulatory costs for businesses in 175 countries.

The report divides the analysis into the following topics: Starting a Business; Dealing with Licenses; Employing Workers; Registering Property; Getting Credit; Protecting Investors; Paying Taxes; Trading Across Borders; Enforcing Contracts; and Closing a Business.

DISCLAIMER: While useful to provide a general snapshot of the regulatory environment for business in a particular country, these indicators are not tailored specifically to microfinance institutions or microenterprises. In generating the indicators, the authors made certain assumptions about the business with respect to its size, institutional type, number of employees, location, start-up capital, and other factors. These assumptions tend to reflect a small or medium-sized firm operating in a large urban city. For more information on these assumptions, click here.

Click here to view the report.