What's New?

Recent updates to World Bank Group financial and private sector development websites are highlighted below. Direct links to these sites are provided to the right.

Business Licensing Reform Toolkit
How to Reform Business Licenses: This handbook is designed to assist practitioners in designing and implementing comprehensive "guillotine"-style reforms of business licenses. It features step-by-step guidance that is supported by checklists, as well as standard project documents and templates. This handbook draws from experiences gained through licensing reforms carried out in a wide range of developing and OECD countries. Download this handbook on reforming business licences.

Open door for firms
An Open Door for Firms - The Impact of Business Entry Reforms: This Viewpoint looks at the impact of business entry reforms on productivity and competition. Research shows that when registration procedures and costs are cut, more firms enter the market and a large percentage of new firms survive and grow. Further, new firms increase competition, forcing incumbents to catch up or exit the market. Read this Viewpoint on business entry reforms.



Doing Business in Pakistan
Doing Business in Pakistan: A new report finds that provincial and municipal level reforms of business regulation in Pakistan are complementing nationwide reforms. Consistent reformers outperform others, but no single city does well on all the indicators measured by the report. Each of the 13 cities benchmarked in the report can learn from each other’s best practices. View this report on business regulations across Pakistan.


Financial crisis
Financial Crisis Data: How are firms in Eastern and Central Europe operating in the aftermath of the global financial crisis? Earlier this year, some 1,892 firms in Bulgaria, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Turkey were asked about their sales, hiring decisions, R&D spending, and expectations about the future.


Doing Business in Nigeria: Progress in regulatory reform expands business opportunities
Privatization Trends: A sharp decline but no widespread reversals in 2008
East African Community 2010: The report looks at business regulations in five East African countries
New toolkits: SME banking, secured transactions systems and collateral registries, tax simplification
Women, Business and the Law 2010: The report measures legal gender parity in 128 economies across 6 topics
Women, Business and the Law on Facebook: Receive updates and connect with others interestesd in the topic
More features...

Online Resources

Investing Across Borders provides selected indicators of foreign direct investment regulation in 87 economies.

Women, Business and the Law measures legal gender parity for entrepreneurs and workers in 128 economies across 6 topics. Also visit the Women, Business and the Law Facebook page.

Remittance Prices Worldwide provides data on the cost of sending and receiving small amounts of money from one country to another.

Doing Business provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 183 economies. Also visit the Doing Business Facebook page.

The Better Regulation for Growth program reviews experiences and advises on regulatory governance in developing countries.

Privatization database provides information on privatization transactions of at least US$1 million in developing countries from 2000 to 2008.

Enterprise Surveys provides data on the investment climate in 123 countries, based on surveys of 100,000 firms.

Infrastructure Projects Database includes data on 4,100 private sector projects in 141 low- and middle-income countries.

Book Sales

Doing Business 2010Doing Business 2010 is the seventh in a series of annual reports comparing business regulations in 183 countries. Place your order today.

Doing Business 2006 + 2009 (4 volume set)
Listing of all Doing Business publications