Overview

Since 2004 Doing Business has tracked regulatory reforms aimed at improving the ease of doing business in the world’s economies—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Doing Business 2008, the fifth report in the series, found that large emerging markets—such as China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Turkey, and Vietnam—were reforming fast. The report also found that more businesses were starting up, thanks to reforms of business regulation in the period tracked—April 2006 to June 2007.

Main findings

• The report identified 200 reforms between April 2006 and June 2007 that make it easier to do business in 98 economies. 
• Egypt was the top reformer with reforms in 5 of the 10 areas studied by the report. The other top 10 reformers were, in order, Croatia, Ghana, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, China, and Bulgaria.
• For the second year running, Singapore topped the aggregate rankings on the ease of doing business.
• Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as a region, overtook East Asia on the ease of doing business this year.