World Bank stops issuing Doing Business rankings due to pressure on compilers to promote China

The World Bank stated, which stops the compilation of the Doing Business business climate rating. This decision was made after it became known that the current managing director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, being the chief executive officer of the World Bank, put pressure on the compilers of the rating in order to promote China.

According to materials internal investigation, China’s overestimated position in the 2018 ranking was the result of pressure on compilers from Kristalina Georgieva, who demanded “specific changes in China’s dataset designed to improve its position,” as well as from the office of WB President Jim Yong Kim, who demanded that compilers change of methodology.

“After analyzing all the available information <...> the World Bank Group decided to stop publishing Doing Business,” the WB statement says, which promises to create a new approach to the integrated comparative assessment of the investment climate.

Kristalina Georgieva, in turn, does not recognize the findings of the investigation and her role in advancing China’s interests. “I have already held preliminary consultations with the IMF Board of Directors on this issue,” – leads Bloomberg Statement by the Managing Director of the IMF.

The compilation of the Doing Business rating for 2021 was suspended last summer due to violations of the methodology found in the ratings of 2018 and 2020.

In 2018, World Bank Chief Economist Paul Romer, who claimed to have manipulated ratings, gone resign. In his last months of work in internal correspondence, Romer accused colleagues of “obviously fabricated data” and “shameless self-promotion.” He also stated in interview The Wall Street Journal that the World Bank has repeatedly changed the methodology for compiling the Doing Business rating, which could contribute to manipulation.

In 2019, President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly quoted his rating in his keynote speeches, instructed the government to achieve Russia’s entry into the top 20 Doing Business by 2024. In the ranking of last year, Russia rose to the highest 28th place for itself. Over the past 10 years, the country has climbed 90 positions. However, according to The Bell, in fact, the place in Doing Business poorly reflects the real situation of private business.