External review finds World Bank’s data rigging problem runs deep
Al Jazeera
A review by external advisers found a ‘pattern of government efforts to interfere’ in the Doing Business rankings.
Weeks before the World Bank scrapped its flagship Doing Business rankings following a damning independent probe, a group of external advisers recommended an overhaul of the rankings to limit countries’ efforts to “manipulate their scores”.
An 84-page review, written by senior academics and economists, was published on the bank’s website on Monday, about three weeks after it was submitted to World Bank chief economist Carmen Reinhart.
The World Bank on Thursday said it would cancel the Doing Business series on country business climates, citing internal audits and a separate independent probe by law firm WilmerHale that found senior World Bank leaders, including Kristalina Georgieva who now heads the International Monetary Fund, pressured staff to alter data to favour China during her time as World Bank CEO.
