Business Ready 2024: Outlining a Path to Global Prosperity

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s headquarters were abuzz during last week's 2024 Annual Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The Chamber convened public and private sector experts for discussions around the Bank’s Business Ready (B-Ready) Report, the first-ever corporate flagship report from the World Bank Group evaluating the global business and investment climate in over 50 markets.

Norman Loayza, Director of the World Bank’s Global Indicators Group, presented the B-Ready report and stressed slowed investment in emerging markets can be addressed by energizing the private sector, as doing so requires countries to eliminate business, investment, and trade barriers and create a more favorable regulatory environment.

B-Ready Key Findings

The B-Ready report organizes findings into ten topics to assess the quality of regulations and norms at each stage of a firm's life cycle: business entry, business location, utility services, labor, financial services, international trade, taxation, dispute resolution, market competition, and business insolvency. Topics were analyzed through the lens of a country’s regulatory frameworks and the efficiency of public services essential for business operations.  

The report’s key findings include:

• Many economies are not business-ready.  

• The report finds that only 2/3 of global economies can be considered business-ready based on the quality of their business regulations, and only ½ are ready based on the effectiveness of public services. 

• A public services gap remains in most economies. 

• Most countries have lower scores in public services than in their regulatory framework. This gap is three times larger in low-income economies.  

• Wealthier countries tend to be more business-ready, but the report notes that countries “do not have to be rich to develop a favorable business environment.” 

Global Economic Insights

Following the presentation, experts shared insights and notable findings on a panel.

Indranee Thurai Rajah, Singapore’s Second Minister of Finance and Second Minister for National Development, attributed Singapore’s success to continuous public-private collaboration, saying the “key thing is always engaging with business to find out ... what do they think we can do better.”  

Heba Shams, Mastercard’s Vice President of Global Public Policy, discussed how digital adoption is critical to job creation, strengthening economic efficiency, and achieving sustainable development, emphasizing the need for robust digital infrastructure and security. She also noted that access to education and training on how to leverage new technologies will ensure digital engagement and growth, and that more small and micro-businesses benefit from economic development.  

U.S. Chamber Chief Economist Curtis Dubay highlighted the finding that regardless of income level, countries can provide good public services and improve their business environment, saying “well-designed regulatory policies, fairly and clearly administered, supporting the public services that businesses need are the best recipe for economic growth.” Dubay predicted that countries with more stable regulatory environments will achieve greater success.  

The Path Forward 

To conclude the event, Loayza emphasized that economic growth is not a zero-sum game: improvements in countries can have positive spillover effects across regions and the globe. B-Ready 2024 serves as a reminder of the collective effort and partnerships needed to create a business environment fostering growth, innovation, and sustainability.

As the global economic landscape continues to evolve, reports like B-Ready will be essential for evaluating policy and guiding businesses and countries toward a brighter economic future. The next edition of the B-Ready Survey will, for the first time, include the United States and offer a new international benchmark for our competitiveness.

About the authors

Sarah Pankiw

Sarah Pankiw is an International Communications Intern for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.