Paynesville – Liberian politician and human rights lawyer Cllr. Tiawan Saye Gongloe claims that Liberia currently ranks 175th in the “Ease of Doing Business” index compiled by the World Bank. The 2023 Presidential aspirant made the claim as way of bewailing the “unconducive business environment” in the Liberian economy.
Fact Check Report By: Jerry Gaye | LVL Fact Checker
Wrote Cllr. Gongloe on May 11: “We need a government that works with businesses & entrepreneurs to promote the economy. Liberia is currently ranked 175th in ease of doing business. My government will ensure businesses are supported as they are the backbone of this country. It’s time the government served its people.”
The presidential aspirant’s claim was not backed by more details, but a research done by LVL Fact Checking Desk by reviewing the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ 2020 report, shows that the Liberian economy is currently ranked 175th amongst 190 economies in the world. The 2020 report is the latest report.
Ease of Doing Business 2020 is a report published by The World Bank intended to ‘Compare Business Regulation in 190 Economies’. The Doing Business Report targets reforms implemented by countries to ease constraints in doing business based on how the regulatory environment is conducive to business operation and stronger protections of property rights. Economies with a high rank (1 to 20) have simpler and more friendly regulations for businesses.
The 2020 report shows that doing business in Liberia has deteriorated slightly compared to the previous report which ranked the country 174th in 2019 and 172nd in 2018.
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Togo, Bahrain, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, China, India, and Nigeria are the economies with the most notable improvement in the 2020 Ease of Doing Business report. Only two African economies (Togo and Nigeria) made it to the top 50 in the latest report.
However, the process of compiling the report to do the ranking has been criticized. In 2021, the World Bank announced that it would be discontinuing the ‘Doing Business Report’ following accusations of irregularities, data manipulation, undue influence, and unethical behavior by some World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff.
Conclusion
Based on the details in the 2020 Doing Business Report, we conclude that the claim made by Cllr. Tiawan Saye Gongloe on social media that Liberia has been ranked 175th in the world is correct.
A review of the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business 2020’ report by our fact checking desk revealed that Liberia’s economy was ranked 175th among 190 economies in the world. It is also keen to note here that the World Bank announced that it was to discontinue the Doing Business Report. Since this pronouncement by the Bank, there has been no new report released.
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