IOG in Iraq: IOG, The World Bank, and Doing Business 2020

March 10, 2020

1 minute read

For 17 years, The World Bank has been producing annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance business activity, and those that constrain it, across wrld economies and this year, the IOG has made a significant contribution to its latest edition.
Doing Business 2020 presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 190 economies—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe—as well as over time.

Regulations affecting 10 areas of the life of a business are covered, as follows:

Starting a business;
Dealing with construction permits;
Getting electricity;
Registering property;
Getting credit;
Protecting minority investors;
Paying taxes;
Trading across borders;
Enforcing contracts; and
Resolving insolvency.

The IOG’s Adil Al Lami, Project Officer based in Baghdad with our Iraq Team, contributed to the project by reviewing all Iraqi legislation since the establishment of the state in 1921 until 2016.

“Through this project, three studies and proposals for laws were submitted to the Iraqi government, in cooperation with Iraqi and foreign experts on the project to reform three important economic areas,” says Al Lami. “Those three areas were company incorporation licenses, construction licenses, and import and export licenses, all of which are directly related to doing business.”

The project, which is funded by the US Agency for International Development, included workshops, seminars and conferences, with representatives of the World Bank in Iraq amongst the participants.

“Doing Business is a valuable tool that governments can use to design sound regulatory policies,” says David Malpass, President of The World Bank. “By giving policymakers a way to benchmark progress, it stimulates policy debate, both by exposing potential challenges and by identifying good practices and lessons learned.”

Data in Doing Business 2020 are current as of May 1, 2019. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms of business regulation have worked, where and why.

To access Doing Business 2020, click here.