The world’s biggest emerging economies may face problems ranging from slowing growth to corruption scandals, trade sanctions and grumbling foreign investors, but that has not stopped the World Bank from declaring they are becoming better places to do business.
Russia, China, India and Brazil were given a vote of confidence in the World Bank’s “Doing Business” report yesterday, creeping up the bank’s often controversial annual rankings, in part thanks to a change in methodology.
Russia, in the midst of a recession and facing international sanctions thanks to its interventions in Ukraine, has moved from 62nd to 51st place, ahead of EU economies such as Greece and Luxembourg, and within spitting distance of others such as Belgium and Italy.