The World Bank has suspended the publication of the annual Doing Business report that assesses the investment climate in different countries following allegations that past statistical data was tampered with.
In a statement, the World Bank said whereas the reports help countries make better-informed decisions, the ethical questions raised about them cannot go unnoticed.
“After reviewing all the information available to date on Doing Business, including the findings of past reviews, audits, and the report the Bank released today on behalf of the Board of Executive Directors, World Bank Group management has taken the decision to discontinue the Doing Business report,” the bank announced on Thursday.
The World Bank said the move comes after a thorough investigation into data irregularities on Doing Business 2018 and 2020.
“After data irregularities on Doing Business 2018 and 2020 were reported internally in June 2020, World Bank management paused the next Doing Business report and initiated a series of reviews and audits of the report and its methodology,” World Bank announced.
“In addition, because the internal reports raised ethical matters, including the conduct of former Board officials as well as current and/or former Bank staff, management reported the allegations to the Bank’s appropriate internal accountability mechanisms,” it added.
However, the World Bank Group said it remains committed to advancing the role of the private sector in development and providing support to governments to design the regulatory environment that supports this.
“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 en-ergies and abilities in new ways,” the Bank added.
The doing business index measured regulations directly affecting the ease of doing businesses in 190 countries.
According to the findings, the data irregularities had affected China; Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates; and Azerbaijan.
The initial Doing Business 2018 report showed that China had a score of 65.3 with a global ranking of 78, similar to the previous year’s. After the corrections in data, China’s score fell to 64.5 and global ranking to 85.