Former WB vice president: Publication of Doing Business report should continue

The Doing Business report of the World Bank should continue to be published, it is important from the point of view of the standard for the economies of the countries of the world, Former Vice President of the World Bank Mats Karlsson, now Visiting Professor of International and Public Affairs at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University, told Report on the sidelines of 8h Global Baku Forum.

He noted that the WB Doing Business report was very important during his years of work in the bank.

According to Karlsson, this is necessary so that there is a global standard of information about the state of the business sphere in the world.

“You can always debate what exactly and how you measure, but it is essential that the multilateralism keep track on the comparative level,” Karlsson said.

In September, the World Bank decided to suspend the preparation of the report due to serious suspicions that its authors committed serious violations, lowering the ratings of some countries, and vice versa, presenting the situation in the best possible way in others. So, the ratings of China and Saudi Arabia were overstated. Azerbaijan was among those who, on the contrary, had their ratings lowered.