The World Bank Group has released a statement regarding the correction of the data in the Doing Business report and the findings of an internal audit of the integrity of the data in the report production process.

According to the institution, over the past 17 years, the Doing Business report has been a valuable tool for many countries looking to compare their regulatory framework governing business activity with that of other countries.

The Doing Business indicators and methodology are designed to help countries give impetus to reforms aimed at improving the overall business climate.

As noted in our statement of August 27, according to a press release, irregularities have been reported concerning changes in the data in the Doing Business 2018 and Doing Business 2020 reports, published in October 2017 and 2019 respectively.

According to the World Bank, management immediately requested a systematic review and evaluation of data changes after the institutional process of reviewing the last five Doing Business reports.

Management also requested the Vice President of Internal Audit of the World Bank Group to conduct an assurance review of data integrity in the Doing Business report production process and to verify management's examination of irregularities in the data in the Doing Business reports between 2016 and 2020.

After a thorough review by management and discussions with our institution's Board of Directors, the World Bank is today publishing a comprehensive review of data irregularities and the corrections to be made to data relating to the four countries concerned; an independent audit of the review of data irregularities conducted by the Audit Vice Presidency internal to the World Bank Group.

She highlights that the conclusions of the data integrity assurance review in the production of the Doing Business report conducted by the World Bank Group Audit Vice Presidency (GIA), as well as the measures that have been and will be taken to strengthen the overall internal control environment and address underlying vulnerabilities identified in the report

“Although this has nothing to do with the data irregularities mentioned above, the Bank is also launching an external review of the Doing Business methodology in order to strengthen this product and its usefulness for interested parties around the world, with the results of this review expected in mid-2021,” the World Bank informs. She specifies that she will finalize the terms of publishing the Doing Business 2021 report in the coming months, including the data corrections mentioned above

Finally, it will study and discuss the conclusions of the various reviews raised in this edition of the Doing Business report and in those that follow.

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