Manipulation of World Bank's Doing Business ranking shocking: Former chief economist Kaushik Basu

The former chief economist of World Bank Kaushik Basu expressed his dismay over the alleged fraud and manipulation in World Bank’s Doing Business report as shocking. Talking about his time in the World Bank he confirmed that the pressures were there from the government but the institution never succumbed to those during his tenure.

The World Bank Group decided to junk its publication- Doing Business report, due to alleged irregularities. The ease of doing business report indicated country-wise investment and business climate. The decision was taken because there had been news on manipulation of the rankings. It was alleged that in 2017 China had pushed its ranking, after a probe on data irregularities.

Basu, who was the chief economist of World Bank from 2012 to 2016, tweeted, “The news of manipulation of World Bank’s Doing Business Ranking is shocking. DB was under my charge from 2012 to 2016. There was pressure from govts. We NEVER gave in. Sad that this changed. I may add, to India’s credit, I never had pressure from India’s govt—current or previous.”

The World Bank issued a statement that the management has taken the decision to discontinue the Doing Business report on behalf of the board of executive directors. It had reviewed all the information constituting findings of past reviews, audits, and the report the bank.

Of 190 countries, India ranked 63rd in the Doing Business report in 2020. It had improved its ranking by 79 positions in the five years between 2014 and 2019.