The World Bank has begun work to assess the business and investment climate in up to 180 economies under its flagship ‘Business Ready’ project.

This is contained in a statement by the World Bank’s Online Media Briefing Centre on Tuesday.

According to the statement, the ‘Business Ready’ project is a key instrument of the bank’s new strategy to facilitate private investment, generate employment, and improve productivity.

The project is expected to help countries accelerate development in inclusive and sustainable ways and improve upon and replace the World Bank Group’s earlier Doing Business project.

“It reflects a more balanced and transparent approach toward evaluating a country’s business and investment climate,” it stated. “This has been shaped by recommendations from experts from within and outside the World Bank Group, including governments, the private sector, and civil society organisations.”

The statement said the first annual ‘Business Ready’ report, covering 54 economies, would be published in the Spring of 2024.

“Today, the World Bank Group published two key documents: the Business Ready Manual and Guide, specifying the detailed protocols and safeguards it has put in place to ensure the integrity of the assessments. Also, the Business Ready Methodology Handbook detailing the project’s indicators and scoring methodology,” it explained.

The bank added that data collection on the business environment of the initial 54 economies was done through extensive consultations with regulatory experts and “nationally representative World Bank Enterprise Surveys” collected by competitively selected survey companies.

The statement quoted Indermit Gill, World Bank Group’s Chief Economist, as saying, “The bank is bringing back a fuller and sharper measure of the investment climate of countries.”

(NAN)