Developmentrelevance:
The balance of payments records an economy’s transactions with the rest of the world. Balance of payments accounts are divided into two groups: the current account, which records transactions in goods, services, primary income, and secondary income, and the capital and financial account, which records capital transfers, acquisition or disposal of nonproduced, nonfinancial assets, and transactions in financial assets and liabilities. The current account balance is one of the most analytically useful indicators of an external imbalance.

A primary purpose of the balance of payments accounts is to indicate the need to adjust an external imbalance. Where to draw the line for analytical purposes requires a judgment concerning the imbalance that best indicates the need for adjustment. There are a number of definitions in common use for this and related analytical purposes. The trade balance is the difference between exports and imports of goods. From an analytical view it is arbitrary to distinguish goods from services. For example, a unit of foreign exchange earned by a freight company strengthens the balance of payments to the same extent as the foreign exchange earned by a goods exporter. Even so, the trade balance is useful because it is often the most timely indicator of trends in the current account balance. Customs authorities are typically able to provide data on trade in goods long before data on trade in services are available.

IndicatorName: Total reserves (includes gold, current US$)

Limitationsandexceptions: Discrepancies may arise in the balance of payments because there is no single source for balance of payments data and therefore no way to ensure that the data are fully consistent. Sources include customs data, monetary accounts of the banking system, external debt records, information provided by enterprises, surveys to estimate service transactions, and foreign exchange records. Differences in collection methods - such as in timing, definitions of residence and ownership, and the exchange rate used to value transactions - contribute to net errors and omissions. In addition, smuggling and other illegal or quasi-legal transactions may be unrecorded or misrecorded.

Longdefinition: Total reserves comprise holdings of monetary gold, special drawing rights, reserves of IMF members held by the IMF, and holdings of foreign exchange under the control of monetary authorities. The gold component of these reserves is valued at year-end (December 31) London prices. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: The balance of payments (BoP) is a double-entry accounting system that shows all flows of goods and services into and out of an economy; all transfers that are the counterpart of real resources or financial claims provided to or by the rest of the world without a quid pro quo, such as donations and grants; and all changes in residents' claims on and liabilities to nonresidents that arise from economic transactions. All transactions are recorded twice - once as a credit and once as a debit. In principle the net balance should be zero, but in practice the accounts often do not balance, requiring inclusion of a balancing item, net errors and omissions.

Topic: Economic Policy & Debt: Balance of payments: Reserves & other items


Aggregationmethod: Weighted average

IndicatorName: Total reserves (% of total external debt)

License_Type: CC BY-4.0

Longdefinition: International reserves to total external debt stocks.

Periodicity: Annual

Source: World Bank, International Debt Statistics.


IndicatorName: Total reserves in months of imports

Longdefinition: Total reserves comprise holdings of monetary gold, special drawing rights, reserves of IMF members held by the IMF, and holdings of foreign exchange under the control of monetary authorities. The gold component of these reserves is valued at year-end (December 31) London prices. This item shows reserves expressed in terms of the number of months of imports of goods and services they could pay for [Reserves/(Imports/12)].

Source: International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics and data files.


IndicatorName: Total reserves minus gold (current US$)

Longdefinition: Total reserves minus gold comprise special drawing rights, reserves of IMF members held by the IMF, and holdings of foreign exchange under the control of monetary authorities. Gold holdings are excluded. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


IndicatorName: Claims on central government (annual growth as % of broad money)

Limitationsandexceptions: Monetary accounts are derived from the balance sheets of financial institutions - the central bank, commercial banks, and nonbank financial intermediaries. Although these balance sheets are usually reliable, they are subject to errors of classification, valuation, and timing and to differences in accounting practices. For example, whether interest income is recorded on an accrual or a cash basis can make a substantial difference, as can the treatment of nonperforming assets. Valuation errors typically arise for foreign exchange transactions, particularly in countries with flexible exchange rates or in countries that have undergone currency devaluation during the reporting period. The valuation of financial derivatives and the net liabilities of the banking system can also be difficult. The quality of commercial bank reporting also may be adversely affected by delays in reports from bank branches, especially in countries where branch accounts are not computerized. Thus the data in the balance sheets of commercial banks may be based on preliminary estimates subject to constant revision. This problem is likely to be even more serious for nonbank financial intermediaries.

Longdefinition: Claims on central government (IFS line 32AN..ZK) include loans to central government institutions net of deposits.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The banking system's assets include its net foreign assets and net domestic credit. Net domestic credit includes credit extended to the private sector and general government and credit extended to the nonfinancial public sector in the form of investments in short- and long-term government securities and loans to state enterprises; liabilities to the public and private sectors in the form of deposits with the banking system are netted out. Net domestic credit also includes credit to banking and nonbank financial institutions.

Domestic credit is the main vehicle through which changes in the money supply are regulated, with central bank lending to the government often playing the most important role. The central bank can regulate lending to the private sector in several ways - for example, by adjusting the cost of the refinancing facilities it provides to banks, by changing market interest rates through open market operations, or by controlling the availability of credit through changes in the reserve requirements imposed on banks and ceilings on the credit provided by banks to the private sector.

Topic: Financial Sector: Assets


IndicatorName: Claims on other sectors of the domestic economy (annual growth as % of broad money)

Longdefinition: Claims on other sectors of the domestic economy (IFS line 32S..ZK) include gross credit from the financial system to households, nonprofit institutions serving households, nonfinancial corporations, state and local governments, and social security funds.


IndicatorName: Net domestic credit (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Net domestic credit is the sum of net claims on the central government and claims on other sectors of the domestic economy (IFS line 32). Data are in current local currency.


IndicatorName: Claims on governments and other public entities (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Claims on governments and other public entities (IFS line 32an + 32b + 32bx + 32c) usually comprise direct credit for specific purposes such as financing of the government budget deficit or loans to state enterprises, advances against future credit authorizations, and purchases of treasury bills and bonds, net of deposits by the public sector. Public sector deposits with the banking system also include sinking funds for the service of debt and temporary deposits of government revenues. Data are in current local currency.


IndicatorName: Claims on governments, etc. (annual growth as % of M2)

Longdefinition: Claims on governments and other public entities (IFS line 32an + 32b + 32bx + 32c) usually comprise direct credit for specific purposes such as financing of the government budget deficit or loans to state enterprises, advances against future credit authorizations, and purchases of treasury bills and bonds, net of deposits by the public sector. Public sector deposits with the banking system also include sinking funds for the service of debt and temporary deposits of government revenues. Money and quasi money (M2) comprise the sum of currency outside banks, demand deposits other than those of the central government, and the time, savings, and foreign currency deposits of resident sectors other than the central government.


IndicatorName: Net foreign assets (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Net foreign assets are the sum of foreign assets held by monetary authorities and deposit money banks, less their foreign liabilities. Data are in current local currency.


IndicatorName: Banking survey: claims on private sector (net) (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Claims on private sector (IFS line 32D..ZK or 32D..ZF) include gross credit from the financial system to individuals, enterprises, nonfinancial public entities not included under net domestic credit, and financial institutions not included elsewhere.


IndicatorName: Monetary Sector credit to private sector (% GDP)

Longdefinition: Domestic credit to private sector refers to financial resources provided to the private sector, such as through loans, purchases of nonequity securities, and trade credits and other accounts receivable, that establish a claim for repayment. For some countries these claims include credit to public enterprises.

Source: International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics and data files, and World Bank and OECD GDP estimates.


IndicatorName: Claims on private sector (annual growth as % of M2)

Longdefinition: Claims on private sector (IFS line 32d) include gross credit from the financial system to individuals, enterprises, nonfinancial public entities not included under net domestic credit, and financial institutions not included elsewhere. Money and quasi money (M2) comprise the sum of currency outside banks, demand deposits other than those of the central government, and the time, savings, and foreign currency deposits of resident sectors other than the central government.


IndicatorName: Claims on private sector (annual growth as % of broad money)


IndicatorName: Broad money (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Broad money (IFS line 35L..ZK) is the sum of currency outside banks; demand deposits other than those of the central government; the time, savings, and foreign currency deposits of resident sectors other than the central government; bank and traveler’s checks; and other securities such as certificates of deposit and commercial paper.

Topic: Financial Sector: Monetary holdings (liabilities)


Generalcomments: The derivation of this indicator was simplified in September 2012 to be current-year broad money divided by current-year GDP times 100.

IndicatorName: Broad money (% of GDP)


IndicatorName: Broad money to total reserves ratio


IndicatorName: Broad money growth (annual %)

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: Money and the financial accounts that record the supply of money lie at the heart of a country’s financial system. There are several commonly used definitions of the money supply. The narrowest, M1, encompasses currency held by the public and demand deposits with banks. M2 includes M1 plus time and savings deposits with banks that require prior notice for withdrawal. M3 includes M2 as well as various money market instruments, such as certificates of deposit issued by banks, bank deposits denominated in foreign currency, and deposits with financial institutions other than banks. However defined, money is a liability of the banking system, distinguished from other bank liabilities by the special role it plays as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value.


IndicatorName: Money (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Money is the sum of currency outside banks and demand deposits other than those of central government. This series, frequently referred to as M1 is a narrower definition of money than M2. Data are in current local currency.


IndicatorName: Money and quasi money (M2) (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Money and quasi money comprise the sum of currency outside banks, demand deposits other than those of the central government, and the time, savings, and foreign currency deposits of resident sectors other than the central government. This definition of money supply is frequently called M2; it corresponds to lines 34 and 35 in the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) International Financial Statistics (IFS). Data are in current local currency.


Generalcomments: The derivation of this indicator was simplified in September 2012 to be current-year M2 divided by current-year GDP times 100.

IndicatorName: Money and quasi money (M2) as % of GDP

Longdefinition: Money and quasi money comprise the sum of currency outside banks, demand deposits other than those of the central government, and the time, savings, and foreign currency deposits of resident sectors other than the central government. This definition of money supply is frequently called M2; it corresponds to lines 34 and 35 in the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) International Financial Statistics (IFS).


IndicatorName: Money and quasi money (M2) to total reserves ratio

Longdefinition: Money and quasi money comprise the sum of currency outside banks, demand deposits other than those of the central government, and the time, savings, and foreign currency deposits of resident sectors other than the central government. This definition is frequently called M2; it corresponds to lines 34 and 35 in the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) International Financial Statistics (IFS). Total reserves comprise holdings of monetary gold, special drawing rights, reserves of IMF members held by the IMF, and holdings of foreign exchange under the control of monetary authorities. The gold component of these reserves is valued at year-end (December 31) London prices.


IndicatorName: Money and quasi money growth (annual %)

Longdefinition: Average annual growth rate in money and quasi money. Money and quasi money comprise the sum of currency outside banks, demand deposits other than those of the central government, and the time, savings, and foreign currency deposits of resident sectors other than the central government. This definition is frequently called M2; it corresponds to lines 34 and 35 in the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) International Financial Statistics (IFS). The change in the money supply is measured as the difference in end-of-year totals relative to the level of M2 in the preceding year.


IndicatorName: Quasi money (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Quasi money refers to time, savings, and foreign currency deposits of resident sectors other than the central government.


Developmentrelevance: A general and continuing increase in an economy’s price level is called inflation. The increase in the average prices of goods and services in the economy should be distinguished from a change in the relative prices of individual goods and services. Generally accompanying an overall increase in the price level is a change in the structure of relative prices, but it is only the average increase, not the relative price changes, that constitutes inflation. A commonly used measure of inflation is the consumer price index, which measures the prices of a representative basket of goods and services purchased by a typical household. The consumer price index is usually calculated on the basis of periodic surveys of consumer prices. Other price indices are derived implicitly from indexes of current and constant price series.

IndicatorName: Consumer price index (2010 = 100)

Limitationsandexceptions: Consumer price indexes should be interpreted with caution. The definition of a household, the basket of goods, and the geographic (urban or rural) and income group coverage of consumer price surveys can vary widely by country. In addition, weights are derived from household expenditure surveys, which, for budgetary reasons, tend to be conducted infrequently in developing countries, impairing comparability over time. Although useful for measuring consumer price inflation within a country, consumer price indexes are of less value in comparing countries.

Longdefinition: Consumer price index reflects changes in the cost to the average consumer of acquiring a basket of goods and services that may be fixed or changed at specified intervals, such as yearly. The Laspeyres formula is generally used. Data are period averages.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: Consumer price indexes are constructed explicitly, using surveys of the cost of a defined basket of consumer goods and services.

Topic: Financial Sector: Exchange rates & prices


Aggregationmethod: Median

IndicatorName: Inflation, consumer prices (annual %)

Longdefinition: Inflation as measured by the consumer price index reflects the annual percentage change in the cost to the average consumer of acquiring a basket of goods and services that may be fixed or changed at specified intervals, such as yearly. The Laspeyres formula is generally used.


IndicatorName: Food price index (2000 = 100)

Longdefinition: Food price index is a subindex of the consumer price index.

Source: United Nations, Statistical Yearbook and Monthly Bulletin of Statistics.


IndicatorName: Wholesale price index (2010 = 100)

Longdefinition: Wholesale price index refers to a mix of agricultural and industrial goods at various stages of production and distribution, including import duties. The Laspeyres formula is generally used.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: Wholesale price indexes are based on the prices at the first commercial transaction of commodities that are important in a country's output or consumption. Prices are farm-gate for agricultural commodities and ex-factory for industrial goods. Preference is given to indexes with the broadest coverage of the economy.


Developmentrelevance: Both banking and financial systems enhance growth, the main factor in poverty reduction. At low levels of economic development commercial banks tend to dominate the financial system, while at higher levels domestic stock markets tend to become more active and efficient. The size and mobility of international capital flows make it increasingly important to monitor the strength of financial systems. Robust financial systems can increase economic activity and welfare, but instability can disrupt financial activity and impose widespread costs on the economy.

IndicatorName: Deposit interest rate (%)

Limitationsandexceptions: Countries use a variety of reporting formats, sample designs, interest compounding formulas, averaging methods, and data presentations for indices and other data series on interest rates. The IMF's Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual does not provide guidelines beyond the general recommendation that such data should reflect market prices and effective (rather than nominal) interest rates and should be representative of the financial assets and markets to be covered. For more information, please see http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/mfs/manual/index.htm.

Longdefinition: Deposit interest rate is the rate paid by commercial or similar banks for demand, time, or savings deposits. The terms and conditions attached to these rates differ by country, however, limiting their comparability.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Many interest rates coexist in an economy, reflecting competitive conditions, the terms governing loans and deposits, and differences in the position and status of creditors and debtors. In some economies interest rates are set by regulation or administrative fiat. In economies with imperfect markets, or where reported nominal rates are not indicative of effective rates, it may be difficult to obtain data on interest rates that reflect actual market transactions. Deposit and lending rates are collected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as representative interest rates offered by banks to resident customers. The terms and conditions attached to these rates differ by country, however, limiting their comparability.

In 2009 the IMF began publishing a new presentation of monetary statistics for countries that report data in accordance with its Monetary Financial Statistical Manual 2000. The presentation for countries that report data in accordance with its International Financial Statistics (IFS) remains the same.

Topic: Financial Sector: Interest rates


IndicatorName: Lending interest rate (%)

Longdefinition: Lending rate is the bank rate that usually meets the short- and medium-term financing needs of the private sector. This rate is normally differentiated according to creditworthiness of borrowers and objectives of financing. The terms and conditions attached to these rates differ by country, however, limiting their comparability.


IndicatorName: Interest rate spread (lending rate minus deposit rate, %)

Longdefinition: Interest rate spread is the interest rate charged by banks on loans to private sector customers minus the interest rate paid by commercial or similar banks for demand, time, or savings deposits. The terms and conditions attached to these rates differ by country, however, limiting their comparability.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: The interest rate spread - the margin between the cost of mobilizing liabilities and the earnings on assets - measures financial sector efficiency in intermediation. A narrow spread means low transaction costs, which reduces the cost of funds for investment, crucial to economic growth.


IndicatorName: Interest rate spread (lending rate minus LIBOR, %)


Developmentrelevance:
The banking system's assets include its net foreign assets and net domestic credit. Net domestic credit includes credit extended to the private sector and general government and credit extended to the nonfinancial public sector in the form of investments in short- and long-term government securities and loans to state enterprises; liabilities to the public and private sectors in the form of deposits with the banking system are netted out. Net domestic credit also includes credit to banking and nonbank financial institutions.

Domestic credit is the main vehicle through which changes in the money supply are regulated, with central bank lending to the government often playing the most important role. The central bank can regulate lending to the private sector in several ways - for example, by adjusting the cost of the refinancing facilities it provides to banks, by changing market interest rates through open market operations, or by controlling the availability of credit through changes in the reserve requirements imposed on banks and ceilings on the credit provided by banks to the private sector.

The real interest rate is used in various economic theories to explain such phenomena as the capital flight, business cycle and economic bubbles. When the real rate of interest is high, that is, demand for credit is high, then money will, all other things being equal, move from consumption to savings. Conversely, when the real rate of interest is low, demand will move from savings to investment and consumption.

IndicatorName: Real interest rate (%)

Longdefinition: Real interest rate is the lending interest rate adjusted for inflation as measured by the GDP deflator. The terms and conditions attached to lending rates differ by country, however, limiting their comparability.

Source: International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics and data files using World Bank data on the GDP deflator.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Many interest rates coexist in an economy, reflecting competitive conditions, the terms governing loans and deposits, and differences in the position and status of creditors and debtors. In some economies interest rates are set by regulation or administrative fiat. In economies with imperfect markets, or where reported nominal rates are not indicative of effective rates, it may be difficult to obtain data on interest rates that reflect actual market transactions. Deposit and lending rates are collected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as representative interest rates offered by banks to resident customers. The terms and conditions attached to these rates differ by country, however, limiting their comparability.

Real interest rates are calculated by adjusting nominal rates by an estimate of the inflation rate in the economy. A negative real interest rate indicates a loss in the purchasing power of the principal. The real interest rates are calculated as (i - P) / (1 + P), where i is the nominal lending interest rate and P is the inflation rate (as measured by the GDP deflator).

In 2009 the IMF began publishing a new presentation of monetary statistics for countries that report data in accordance with its Monetary Financial Statistical Manual 2000. The presentation for countries that report data in accordance with its International Financial Statistics (IFS) remains the same.


IndicatorName: Risk premium on lending (lending rate minus treasury bill rate, %)

Longdefinition: Risk premium on lending is the interest rate charged by banks on loans to private sector customers minus the "risk free" treasury bill interest rate at which short-term government securities are issued or traded in the market. In some countries this spread may be negative, indicating that the market considers its best corporate clients to be lower risk than the government. The terms and conditions attached to lending rates differ by country, however, limiting their comparability.

Source: International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics database.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: The risk premium on lending is the spread between the lending rate to the private sector and the "risk-free" government rate. Spreads are expressed as an annual average. A small spread indicates that the market considers its best corporate customers to be low risk; a negative value indicates that the market considers its best corporate clients to be lower risk than the government.


IndicatorName: Claims on central government, etc. (% GDP)

Longdefinition: Claims on central government (IFS line 52AN or 32AN) include loans to central government institutions net of deposits.


IndicatorName: Claims on other sectors of the domestic economy (% of GDP)

Longdefinition: Claims on other sectors of the domestic economy (IFS line 52S or 32S) include gross credit from the financial system to households, nonprofit institutions serving households, nonfinancial corporations, state and local governments, and social security funds.


IndicatorName: Domestic credit provided by financial sector (% of GDP)

Limitationsandexceptions: In a few countries governments may hold international reserves as deposits in the banking system rather than in the central bank. Since claims on the central government are a net item (claims on the central government minus central government deposits), the figure may be negative, resulting in a negative figure for domestic credit provided by the banking sector.

Longdefinition: Domestic credit provided by the financial sector includes all credit to various sectors on a gross basis, with the exception of credit to the central government, which is net. The financial sector includes monetary authorities and deposit money banks, as well as other financial corporations where data are available (including corporations that do not accept transferable deposits but do incur such liabilities as time and savings deposits). Examples of other financial corporations are finance and leasing companies, money lenders, insurance corporations, pension funds, and foreign exchange companies.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: Domestic credit provided by the financial sector as a share of GDP measures banking sector depth and financial sector development in terms of size. The data on domestic credit provided by the financial sector are taken from the financial corporations survey (line 52) of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) International Financial Statistics or, when unavailable, from its depository corporations survey (line 32). The financial sector includes monetary authorities (the central bank) and deposit money banks, as well as other financial institutions where data are available (including institutions that do not accept transferable deposits but do incur such liabilities as time and savings deposits). Examples of other banking institutions are savings and mortgage loan institutions, finance companies, development banks, and building and loan associations.


IndicatorName: Banking survey: claims on private sector (current LCU)


Developmentrelevance: Private sector development and investment - tapping private sector initiative and investment for socially useful purposes - are critical for poverty reduction. In parallel with public sector efforts, private investment, especially in competitive markets, has tremendous potential to contribute to growth. Private markets are the engine of productivity growth, creating productive jobs and higher incomes. And with government playing a complementary role of regulation, funding, and service provision, private initiative and investment can help provide the basic services and conditions that empower poor people - by improving health, education, and infrastructure.

IndicatorName: Domestic credit to private sector (% of GDP)

Limitationsandexceptions: Credit to the private sector may sometimes include credit to state-owned or partially state-owned enterprises.

Longdefinition: Domestic credit to private sector refers to financial resources provided to the private sector by financial corporations, such as through loans, purchases of nonequity securities, and trade credits and other accounts receivable, that establish a claim for repayment. For some countries these claims include credit to public enterprises. The financial corporations include monetary authorities and deposit money banks, as well as other financial corporations where data are available (including corporations that do not accept transferable deposits but do incur such liabilities as time and savings deposits). Examples of other financial corporations are finance and leasing companies, money lenders, insurance corporations, pension funds, and foreign exchange companies.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: Credit is an important link in money transmission; it finances production, consumption, and capital formation, which in turn affect economic activity. The data on domestic credit provided to the private sector are taken from the financial corporations survey (line 52D) of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) International Financial Statistics or, when unavailable, from its depository survey (line 32D). The banking sector includes monetary authorities (the central bank) and deposit money banks, as well as other financial corporations where data are available (including institutions that do not accept transferable deposits but do incur such liabilities as time and savings deposits). Examples of other financial corporations are finance and leasing companies, money lenders, insurance corporations, pension funds, and foreign exchange companies.


IndicatorName: Liquid liabilities (M3) as % of GDP

Longdefinition: Liquid liabilities are also known as M3. They are the sum of currency and deposits in the central bank (M0), plus transferable deposits and electronic currency (M1), plus time and savings deposits, foreign currency transferable deposits, certificates of deposit, and securities repurchase agreements (M2), plus travelers checks, foreign currency time deposits, commercial paper, and shares of mutual funds or market funds held by residents.


IndicatorName: Quasi-liquid liabilities (% of GDP)

Longdefinition: Quasi-liquid liabilities are the sum of currency and deposits in the central bank (M0), plus time and savings deposits, foreign currency transferable deposits, certificates of deposit, and securities repurchase agreements, plus travelers checks, foreign currency time deposits, commercial paper, and shares of mutual funds or market funds held by residents. They equal the M3 money supply less transferable deposits and electronic currency (M1).


Generalcomments: Each economy is classified based on the classification of World Bank Group's fiscal year 2022 (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022).

IndicatorName: Account ownership at a financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider, poorest 40% (% of population ages 15+)

Longdefinition: Account denotes the percentage of respondents who report having an account (by themselves or together with someone else) at a bank or another type of financial institution or report personally using a mobile money service in the past 12 months (poorest 40%, share of population ages 15+).

Periodicity: Triennial

Source: Global Findex Database, World Bank (https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/globalfindex).

Topic: Financial Sector: Access


IndicatorName: Account ownership at a financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider, richest 60% (% of population ages 15+)

Longdefinition: Account denotes the percentage of respondents who report having an account (by themselves or together with someone else) at a bank or another type of financial institution or report personally using a mobile money service in the past 12 months (richest 60%, share of population ages 15+).


IndicatorName: Account ownership at a financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider, female (% of population ages 15+)

Longdefinition: Account denotes the percentage of respondents who report having an account (by themselves or together with someone else) at a bank or another type of financial institution or report personally using a mobile money service in the past 12 months (female, % age 15+).


IndicatorName: Account ownership at a financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider, male (% of population ages 15+)

Longdefinition: Account denotes the percentage of respondents who report having an account (by themselves or together with someone else) at a bank or another type of financial institution or report personally using a mobile money service in the past 12 months (male, % age 15+).


IndicatorName: Account ownership at a financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider, older adults (% of population ages 25+)

Longdefinition: Account denotes the percentage of respondents who report having an account (by themselves or together with someone else) at a bank or another type of financial institution or report personally using a mobile money service in the past 12 months (older adults, % of population ages 25+).


IndicatorName: Account ownership at a financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider, primary education or less (% of population ages 15+)

Longdefinition: Account denotes the percentage of respondents who report having an account (by themselves or together with someone else) at a bank or another type of financial institution or report personally using a mobile money service in the past 12 months (primary education or less, % of population ages 15+).


IndicatorName: Account ownership at a financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider, secondary education or more (% of population ages 15+)

Longdefinition: Account denotes the percentage of respondents who report having an account (by themselves or together with someone else) at a bank or another type of financial institution or report personally using a mobile money service in the past 12 months (secondary education or more, % of population ages 15+).


IndicatorName: Account ownership at a financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider, young adults (% of population ages 15-24)

Longdefinition: Account denotes the percentage of respondents who report having an account (by themselves or together with someone else) at a bank or another type of financial institution or report personally using a mobile money service in the past 12 months (young adults, % of population ages 15-24).


IndicatorName: Account ownership at a financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider (% of population ages 15+)

Longdefinition: Account denotes the percentage of respondents who report having an account (by themselves or together with someone else) at a bank or another type of financial institution or report personally using a mobile money service in the past 12 months (% age 15+).


Developmentrelevance: Expenditure on research and development (R&D) is a key indicator of government and private sector efforts to obtain competitive advantage in science and technology.

IndicatorName: Research and development expenditure (% of GDP)

Limitationsandexceptions:
Estimates of the resources allocated to R&D are affected by national characteristics such as the periodicity and coverage of national R&D surveys across institutional sectors and industries; and the use of different sampling and estimation methods. R&D typically involves a few large performers, hence R&D surveys use various techniques to maintain up-to-date registers of known performers, while attempting to identify new or occasional performers.

R&D totals from SNA accounts may differ from these estimates, due in part to the different treatments of software R&D in the totals.

Longdefinition: Gross domestic expenditures on research and development (R&D), expressed as a percent of GDP. They include both capital and current expenditures in the four main sectors: Business enterprise, Government, Higher education and Private non-profit. R&D covers basic research, applied research, and experimental development.

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). UIS.Stat Bulk Data Download Service. Accessed September 30, 2024. https://apiportal.uis.unesco.org/bdds.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The gross domestic expenditure on R&D indicator consists of the total expenditure (current and capital) on R&D by all resident companies, research institutes, university and government laboratories, etc. It excludes R&D expenditures financed by domestic firms but performed abroad.

The OECD's Frascati Manual defines research and experimental development as "creative work undertaken on a systemic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications." R&D covers basic research, applied research, and experimental development.

(1) Basic research - Basic research is experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundation of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view

(2) Applied research - Applied research is also original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge; it is, however, directed primarily towards a specific practical aim or objective.

(3) Experimental development - Experimental development is systematic work, drawing on existing knowledge gained from research and/or practical experience, which is directed to producing new materials, products or devices, to installing new processes, systems and services, or to improving substantially those already produced or installed.

The fields of science and technology used to classify R&D according to the Revised Fields of Science and Technology Classification are:
1. Natural sciences;
2. Engineering and technology;
3. Medical and health sciences;
4. Agricultural sciences;
5. Social sciences;
6. Humanities and the arts.

The data are obtained through statistical surveys which are regularly conducted at national level covering R&D performing entities in the private and public sectors.

Topic: Infrastructure: Technology


IndicatorName: Net acquisition of financial assets (current LCU)

Limitationsandexceptions:
For most countries central government finance data have been consolidated into one account, but for others only budgetary central government accounts are available. Countries reporting budgetary data are noted in the country metadata. Because budgetary accounts may not include all central government units (such as social security funds), they usually provide an incomplete picture. In federal states the central government accounts provide an incomplete view of total public finance.

Data on government revenue and expense are collected by the IMF through questionnaires to member countries and by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Despite IMF efforts to standardize data collection, statistics are often incomplete, untimely, and not comparable across countries.

Longdefinition: Net acquisition of government financial assets includes domestic and foreign financial claims, SDRs, and gold bullion held by monetary authorities as a reserve asset. The net acquisition of financial assets should be offset by the net incurrence of liabilities.

Source: International Monetary Fund, Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The IMF's Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014, harmonized with the 2008 SNA, recommends an accrual accounting method, focusing on all economic events affecting assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenses, not just those represented by cash transactions. It accounts for all changes in stocks, so stock data at the end of an accounting period equal stock data at the beginning of the period plus flows over the period. The 1986 manual considered only debt stocks.

Government finance statistics are reported in local currency. Many countries report government finance data by fiscal year; see country metadata for information on fiscal year end by country.

Topic: Public Sector: Government finance: Deficit & financing


IndicatorName: Net acquisition of financial assets (% of GDP)


IndicatorName: Cash surplus/deficit (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Cash surplus or deficit is revenue (including grants) minus expense, minus net acquisition of nonfinancial assets. In the 1986 GFS manual nonfinancial assets were included under revenue and expenditure in gross terms. This cash surplus or deficit is closest to the earlier overall budget balance (still missing is lending minus repayments, which are now a financing item under net acquisition of financial assets).


IndicatorName: Cash surplus/deficit (% of GDP)

Source: International Monetary Fund, Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, and World Bank and OECD GDP estimates.


IndicatorName: Central government debt, total (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Debt is the entire stock of direct government fixed-term contractual obligations to others outstanding on a particular date. It includes domestic and foreign liabilities such as currency and money deposits, securities other than shares, and loans. It is the gross amount of government liabilities reduced by the amount of equity and financial derivatives held by the government. Because debt is a stock rather than a flow, it is measured as of a given date, usually the last day of the fiscal year.


IndicatorName: Central government debt, total (% of GDP)


IndicatorName: Net incurrence of liabilities, domestic (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Net incurrence of government liabilities includes foreign financing (obtained from nonresidents) and domestic financing (obtained from residents), or the means by which a government provides financial resources to cover a budget deficit or allocates financial resources arising from a budget surplus. The net incurrence of liabilities should be offset by the net acquisition of financial assets (a third financing item). The difference between the cash surplus or deficit and the three financing items is the net change in the stock of cash.


IndicatorName: Net incurrence of liabilities, domestic (% of GDP)


IndicatorName: Net incurrence of liabilities, foreign (current LCU)


IndicatorName: Net incurrence of liabilities, foreign (% of GDP)


IndicatorName: Net incurrence of liabilities, total (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Net incurrence of government liabilities includes foreign financing (obtained from nonresidents) and domestic financing (obtained from residents), or the means by which a government provides financial resources to cover a budget deficit or allocates financial resources arising from a budget surplus. The net incurrence of liabilities should be offset by the net acquisition of financial assets.


IndicatorName: Net incurrence of liabilities, total (% of GDP)


IndicatorName: Net investment in nonfinancial assets (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Net investment in government nonfinancial assets includes fixed assets, inventories, valuables, and nonproduced assets. Nonfinancial assets are stores of value and provide benefits either through their use in the production of goods and services or in the form of property income and holding gains. Net investment in nonfinancial assets also includes consumption of fixed capital.


IndicatorName: Net investment in nonfinancial assets (% of GDP)


IndicatorName: Net lending (+) / net borrowing (-) (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Net lending (+) / net borrowing (–) equals government revenue minus expense, minus net investment in nonfinancial assets. It is also equal to the net result of transactions in financial assets and liabilities. Net lending/net borrowing is a summary measure indicating the extent to which government is either putting financial resources at the disposal of other sectors in the economy or abroad, or utilizing the financial resources generated by other sectors in the economy or from abroad.


IndicatorName: Net lending (+) / net borrowing (-) (% of GDP)


IndicatorName: Grants and other revenue (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Grants and other revenue include grants from other foreign governments, international organizations, and other government units; interest; dividends; rent; requited, nonrepayable receipts for public purposes (such as fines, administrative fees, and entrepreneurial income from government ownership of property); and voluntary, unrequited, nonrepayable receipts other than grants.

Topic: Public Sector: Government finance: Revenue


IndicatorName: Grants and other revenue (% of revenue)


IndicatorName: Social contributions (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Social contributions include social security contributions by employees, employers, and self-employed individuals, and other contributions whose source cannot be determined. They also include actual or imputed contributions to social insurance schemes operated by governments.


IndicatorName: Social contributions (% of revenue)


IndicatorName: Revenue, excluding grants (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Revenue is cash receipts from taxes, social contributions, and other revenues such as fines, fees, rent, and income from property or sales. Grants are also considered as revenue but are excluded here.


IndicatorName: Revenue, excluding grants (% of GDP)


IndicatorName: Taxes on exports (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Taxes on exports are all levies on goods being transported out of the country or services being delivered to nonresidents by residents. Rebates on exported goods that are repayments of previously paid general consumption taxes, excise taxes, or import duties are deducted from the gross amounts receivable from these taxes, not from amounts receivable from export taxes.


IndicatorName: Taxes on exports (% of tax revenue)


IndicatorName: Taxes on goods and services (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Taxes on goods and services include general sales and turnover or value added taxes, selective excises on goods, selective taxes on services, taxes on the use of goods or property, taxes on extraction and production of minerals, and profits of fiscal monopolies.


IndicatorName: Taxes on goods and services (% of revenue)


IndicatorName: Taxes on goods and services (% value added of industry and services)

Source: International Monetary Fund, Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, and World Bank and OECD value added estimates.


IndicatorName: Customs and other import duties (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Customs and other import duties are all levies collected on goods that are entering the country or services delivered by nonresidents to residents. They include levies imposed for revenue or protection purposes and determined on a specific or ad valorem basis as long as they are restricted to imported goods or services.


IndicatorName: Customs and other import duties (% of tax revenue)


IndicatorName: Taxes on international trade (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Taxes on international trade include import duties, export duties, profits of export or import monopolies, exchange profits, and exchange taxes.


IndicatorName: Taxes on international trade (% of revenue)


IndicatorName: Other taxes (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Other taxes include employer payroll or labor taxes, taxes on property, and taxes not allocable to other categories, such as penalties for late payment or nonpayment of taxes.


IndicatorName: Other taxes (% of revenue)


IndicatorName: Tax revenue (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Tax revenue refers to compulsory transfers to the central government for public purposes. Certain compulsory transfers such as fines, penalties, and most social security contributions are excluded. Refunds and corrections of erroneously collected tax revenue are treated as negative revenue.


IndicatorName: Tax revenue (% of GDP)


IndicatorName: Taxes on income, profits and capital gains (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Taxes on income, profits, and capital gains are levied on the actual or presumptive net income of individuals, on the profits of corporations and enterprises, and on capital gains, whether realized or not, on land, securities, and other assets. Intragovernmental payments are eliminated in consolidation.


IndicatorName: Taxes on income, profits and capital gains (% of revenue)


IndicatorName: Taxes on income, profits and capital gains (% of total taxes)


IndicatorName: Compensation of employees (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Compensation of employees consists of all payments in cash, as well as in kind (such as food and housing), to employees in return for services rendered, and government contributions to social insurance schemes such as social security and pensions that provide benefits to employees.

Topic: Public Sector: Government finance: Expense


IndicatorName: Compensation of employees (% of expense)


IndicatorName: Goods and services expense (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Goods and services include all government payments in exchange for goods and services used for the production of market and nonmarket goods and services. Own-account capital formation is excluded.


IndicatorName: Goods and services expense (% of expense)


IndicatorName: Interest payments (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Interest payments include interest payments on government debt--including long-term bonds, long-term loans, and other debt instruments--to domestic and foreign residents.


IndicatorName: Interest payments (% of revenue)


IndicatorName: Interest payments (% of expense)


IndicatorName: Other expense (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Other expense is spending on dividends, rent, and other miscellaneous expenses, including provision for consumption of fixed capital.


IndicatorName: Other expense (% of expense)


IndicatorName: Expense (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Expense is cash payments for operating activities of the government in providing goods and services. It includes compensation of employees (such as wages and salaries), interest and subsidies, grants, social benefits, and other expenses such as rent and dividends.


IndicatorName: Expense (% of GDP)


IndicatorName: Subsidies and other transfers (current LCU)

Longdefinition: Subsidies, grants, and other social benefits include all unrequited, nonrepayable transfers on current account to private and public enterprises; grants to foreign governments, international organizations, and other government units; and social security, social assistance benefits, and employer social benefits in cash and in kind.


IndicatorName: Subsidies and other transfers (% of expense)


IndicatorName: Government Effectiveness: Estimate

Longdefinition: Government Effectiveness captures perceptions of the quality of public services, the quality of the civil service and the degree of its independence from political pressures, the quality of policy formulation and implementation, and the credibility of the government's commitment to such policies. Estimate gives the country's score on the aggregate indicator, in units of a standard normal distribution, i.e. ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5.

Othernotes: The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) are a research dataset summarizing the views on the quality of governance provided by a large number of enterprise, citizen and expert survey respondents in industrial and developing countries. These data are gathered from a number of survey institutes, think tanks, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and private sector firms. The WGI do not reflect the official views of the Natural Resource Governance Institute, the Brookings Institution, the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. The WGI are not used by the World Bank Group to allocate resources.

Relatedsourcelinks: Worldwide Governance Indicators website (https://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/)

Source: Detailed documentation of the WGI, interactive tools for exploring the data, and full access to the underlying source data available at www.govindicators.org.The WGI are produced by Daniel Kaufmann (Natural Resource Governance Institute and Brookings Institution) and Aart Kraay (World Bank Development Research Group).  Please cite Kaufmann, Daniel, Aart Kraay and Massimo Mastruzzi (2010).  "The Worldwide Governance Indicators:  Methodology and Analytical Issues".  World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 5430 (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1682130).  The WGI do not reflect the official views of the Natural Resource Governance Institute, the Brookings Institution, the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent.

Topic: Public Sector: Policy & institutions


IndicatorName: Government Effectiveness: Number of Sources

Longdefinition: Government Effectiveness captures perceptions of the quality of public services, the quality of the civil service and the degree of its independence from political pressures, the quality of policy formulation and implementation, and the credibility of the government's commitment to such policies.  Number of sources indicates the number of underlying data sources on which the aggregate estimate is based.


IndicatorName: Government Effectiveness: Percentile Rank

Longdefinition: Government Effectiveness captures perceptions of the quality of public services, the quality of the civil service and the degree of its independence from political pressures, the quality of policy formulation and implementation, and the credibility of the government's commitment to such policies. Percentile rank indicates the country's rank among all countries covered by the aggregate indicator, with 0 corresponding to lowest rank, and 100 to highest rank.  Percentile ranks have been adjusted to correct for changes over time in the composition of the countries covered by the WGI.


IndicatorName: Government Effectiveness: Percentile Rank, Lower Bound of 90% Confidence Interval

Longdefinition: Government Effectiveness captures perceptions of the quality of public services, the quality of the civil service and the degree of its independence from political pressures, the quality of policy formulation and implementation, and the credibility of the government's commitment to such policies. Percentile rank indicates the country's rank among all countries covered by the aggregate indicator, with 0 corresponding to lowest rank, and 100 to highest rank.  Percentile ranks have been adjusted to correct for changes over time in the composition of the countries covered by the WGI.  Percentile Rank Lower refers to lower bound of 90 percent confidence interval for governance, expressed in percentile rank terms.


IndicatorName: Government Effectiveness: Percentile Rank, Upper Bound of 90% Confidence Interval

Longdefinition: Government Effectiveness captures perceptions of the quality of public services, the quality of the civil service and the degree of its independence from political pressures, the quality of policy formulation and implementation, and the credibility of the government's commitment to such policies. Percentile rank indicates the country's rank among all countries covered by the aggregate indicator, with 0 corresponding to lowest rank, and 100 to highest rank.  Percentile ranks have been adjusted to correct for changes over time in the composition of the countries covered by the WGI.  Percentile Rank Upper refers to upper bound of 90 percent confidence interval for governance, expressed in percentile rank terms.


IndicatorName: Government Effectiveness: Standard Error

Longdefinition: Government Effectiveness captures perceptions of the quality of public services, the quality of the civil service and the degree of its independence from political pressures, the quality of policy formulation and implementation, and the credibility of the government's commitment to such policies. Standard error indicates the precision of the estimate of governance.  Larger values of the standard error indicate less precise estimates.  A 90 percent confidence interval for the governance estimate is given by the estimate +/- 1.64 times the standard error.


Developmentrelevance: The indicator attempts to capture the reliability of government budgets: do governments spend what they intend to and do they collect what they set out to collect. The ability to implement the enacted budget is an important factor in government’s ability to deliver public services and achieve development objectives. The deviation between approved and actual spending is measured over a 12-month period (the budget year) and may have important implications for macroeconomic stability, public service delivery, and social welfare. A credibly implemented budget has only small deviations from the approved one.  If expenditure is under-executed, beneficiaries may not receive crucial services. Over-executed budgets may result in budget deficits and increased public debt levels and can influence the macroeconomic stability. In both cases, lack of budget credibility undermines the usefulness of the budget process for policy making and implementation and erodes public trust in government.

IndicatorName: Primary government expenditures as a proportion of original approved budget (%)

Longdefinition: Primary government expenditures as a proportion of original approved budget measures the extent to which aggregate budget expenditure outturn reflects the amount originally approved, as defined in government budget documentation and fiscal reports. The coverage is budgetary central government (BCG) and the time period covered is the last three completed fiscal years.

Source: Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA). Ministry of Finance (MoF).

Topic: Public Sector: Government finance


IndicatorName: Human capital index (HCI) (scale 0-1)

Longdefinition: The HCI calculates the contributions of health and education to worker productivity. The final index score ranges from zero to one and measures the productivity as a future worker of child born today relative to the benchmark of full health and complete education.

Relatedindicators: Please visit the Human Capital Index (HCI) database (http://databank.worldbank.org/data/source/human-capital-index) for each of the components of the Human Capital Index as well as for the overall index, disaggregated by gender.

Source: World Bank staff calculations based on the methodology described in World Bank (2018). https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/30498


IndicatorName: Human capital index (HCI), female (scale 0-1)


IndicatorName: Human capital index (HCI), lower bound (scale 0-1)

Longdefinition: The HCI lower bound reflects uncertainty in the measurement of the components and the overall index. It is obtained by recalculating the HCI using estimates of the lower bounds of each of the components of the HCI. The range between the upper and lower bound is the uncertainty interval. While the uncertainty intervals constructed here do not have a rigorous statistical interpretation, a rule of thumb is that if for two countries they overlap substantially, the differences between their HCI values are not likely to be practically meaningful.


IndicatorName: Human capital index (HCI), female, lower bound (scale 0-1)


IndicatorName: Human capital index (HCI), male, lower bound (scale 0-1)


IndicatorName: Human capital index (HCI), male (scale 0-1)


IndicatorName: Human capital index (HCI), upper bound (scale 0-1)

Longdefinition: The HCI upper bound reflects uncertainty in the measurement of the components and the overall index. It is obtained by recalculating the HCI using estimates of the upper bounds of each of the components of the HCI. The range between the upper and lower bound is the uncertainty interval. While the uncertainty intervals constructed here do not have a rigorous statistical interpretation, a rule of thumb is that if for two countries they overlap substantially, the differences between their HCI values are not likely to be practically meaningful.


IndicatorName: Human capital index (HCI), female, upper bound (scale 0-1)


IndicatorName: Human capital index (HCI), male, upper bound (scale 0-1)


Aggregationmethod: Unweighted average

Developmentrelevance: When compared across years, the ease of doing business score shows how much the regulatory environment for local entrepreneurs in an economy has changed over time in absolute terms, whereas the ease of doing business ranking shows only how much the regulatory environment has changed relative to that in other economies.

Generalcomments: Data are presented for the survey year instead of publication year.

IndicatorName: Ease of doing business score (0 = lowest performance to 100 = best performance)

Longdefinition: The ease of doing business scores benchmark economies with respect to regulatory best practice, showing the proximity to the best regulatory performance on each Doing Business indicator. An economy’s score is indicated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the worst regulatory performance and 100 the best regulatory performance.

Source: World Bank, Doing Business project (http://www.doingbusiness.org/). NOTE: Doing Business has been discontinued as of 9/16/2021. For more information: https://bit.ly/3CLCbme

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: The aggregate ease of doing business score for each economy is the simple average of their scores on each of the 10 topics included in the ranking: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. All topics are weighted equally. Please refer to the Doing Business website for a detailed description of the methodology: https://www.doingbusiness.org/en/methodology

Topic: Private Sector & Trade: Business environment


Developmentrelevance:
The economic health of a country is measured not only in macroeconomic terms but also by other factors that shape daily economic activity such as laws, regulations, and institutional arrangements. The data measure business regulation, gauge regulatory outcomes, and measure the extent of legal protection of property, the flexibility of employment regulation, and the tax burden on businesses.

The fundamental premise of this data is that economic activity requires good rules and regulations that are efficient, accessible to all who need to use them, and simple to implement. Thus sometimes there is more emphasis on more regulation, such as stricter disclosure requirements in related-party transactions, and other times emphasis is on for simplified regulations, such as a one-stop shop for completing business startup formalities.

Entrepreneurs may not be aware of all required procedures or may avoid legally required procedures altogether. But where regulation is particularly onerous, levels of informality are higher, which comes at a cost: firms in the informal sector usually grow more slowly, have less access to credit, and employ fewer workers - and those workers remain outside the protections of labor law. The indicator can help policymakers understand the business environment in a country and - along with information from other sources such as the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys - provide insights into potential areas of reform.

IndicatorName: Business extent of disclosure index (0=less disclosure to 10=more disclosure)

Limitationsandexceptions: The Doing Business methodology has limitations that should be considered when interpreting the data. First, the data collected refer to businesses in the economy's largest city and may not represent regulations in other locations of the economy. To address this limitation, subnational indicators are being collected for selected economies. These subnational studies point to significant differences in the speed of reform and the ease of doing business across cities in the same economy. Second, the data often focus on a specific business form - generally a limited liability company of a specified size - and may not represent regulation for other types of businesses such as sole proprietorships. Third, transactions described in a standardized business case refer to a specific set of issues and may not represent the full set of issues a business encounters. Fourth, the time measures involve an element of judgment by the expert respondents. When sources indicate different estimates, the Doing Business time indicators represent the median values of several responses given under the assumptions of the standardized case. Fifth, the methodology assumes that a business has full information on what is required and does not waste time when completing procedures.

Longdefinition: Disclosure index measures the extent to which investors are protected through disclosure of ownership and financial information. The index ranges from 0 to 10, with higher values indicating more disclosure.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Data are collected by the World Bank with a standardized survey that uses a simple business case to ensure comparability across economies and over time - with assumptions about the legal form of the business, its size, its location, and nature of its operation. Surveys are administered through more than 9,000 local experts, including lawyers, business consultants, accountants, freight forwarders, government officials, and other professionals who routinely administer or advise on legal and regulatory requirements.

Corporations are instruments of entrepreneurship and growth. They can also be abused for personal gain. The indicator measures the strength of minority shareholder protections against directors' misuse of corporate assets for personal gain.

The Doing Business project of the World Bank encompasses two types of data: data from readings of laws and regulations and data on time and motion indicators that measure efficiency in achieving a regulatory goal. Within the time and motion indicators cost estimates are recorded from official fee schedules where applicable. The data from surveys are subjected to numerous tests for robustness, which lead to revision or expansion of the information collected.


Developmentrelevance:
The economic health of a country is measured not only in macroeconomic terms but also by other factors that shape daily economic activity such as laws, regulations, and institutional arrangements. The fundamental premise of this data is that economic activity requires good rules and regulations that are efficient, accessible to all who need to use them, and simple to implement.
The Doing Business project provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level.
The Doing Business project, launched in 2002, looks at domestic small and medium-size companies and measures the regulations applying to them through their life cycle.
By gathering and analyzing comprehensive quantitative data to compare business regulation environments across economies and over time, Doing Business encourages economies to compete towards more efficient regulation; offers measurable benchmarks for reform; and serves as a resource for academics, journalists, private sector researchers and others interested in the business climate of each economy.

Generalcomments: Data are presented for the survey year instead of publication year. The country ranking is only available for the latest year.

IndicatorName: Ease of doing business rank (1=most business-friendly regulations)

Limitationsandexceptions: The Doing Business methodology has limitations that should be considered when interpreting the data. First, the data collected refer to businesses in the economy's largest city and may not represent regulations in other locations of the economy. To address this limitation, subnational indicators are being collected for selected economies. These subnational studies point to significant differences in the speed of reform and the ease of doing business across cities in the same economy. Second, the data often focus on a specific business form - generally a limited liability company of a specified size - and may not represent regulation for other types of businesses such as sole proprietorships. Third, transactions described in a standardized business case refer to a specific set of issues and may not represent the full set of issues a business encounters. Fourth, the time measures involve an element of judgment by the expert respondents. When sources indicate different estimates, the Doing Business time indicators represent the median values of several responses given under the assumptions of the standardized case. Fifth, the methodology assumes that a business has full information on what is required and does not waste time when completing procedures. Please also see: https://www.doingbusiness.org/en/about-us/faq

Longdefinition: Ease of doing business ranks economies from 1 to 190, with first place being the best. The ranking of economies is determined by sorting the aggregate ease of doing business scores. A high ranking (a low numerical rank) means that the regulatory environment is conducive to business operation.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The ranking of economies is determined by sorting the aggregate ease of doing business scores. The aggregate ease of doing business score for each economy is the simple average of their scores on each of the 10 topics included in the ranking: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. All topics are weighted equally.

Data are collected by the World Bank with a standardized survey that uses a simple business case to ensure comparability across economies and over time - with assumptions about the legal form of the business, its size, its location, and nature of its operation. Surveys are administered through more than 9,000 local experts, including lawyers, business consultants, accountants, freight forwarders, government officials, and other professionals who routinely administer or advise on legal and regulatory requirements.

The Doing Business project of the World Bank encompasses two types of data: data from readings of laws and regulations and data on time and motion indicators that measure efficiency in achieving a regulatory goal. Within the time and motion indicators cost estimates are recorded from official fee schedules where applicable. The data from surveys are subjected to numerous tests for robustness, which lead to revision or expansion of the information collected. Please also refer to the Doing Business website for additional information: https://www.doingbusiness.org/en/methodology


Developmentrelevance:
Private sector development is critical for poverty reduction and private markets are the engine of productivity growth, creating productive jobs and higher incomes. Thus, entrepreneurship is a critical part of economic development and growth and important for the continued dynamism of the modern economy. And with government playing a complementary role of regulation, funding, and service provision, private initiative and investment can help provide the basic services and conditions that empower poor people - by improving health, education, and infrastructure.

The Entrepreneurship Database is a critical source of data that facilitates the measurement of entrepreneurial activity across countries and over time. The data also allow for a deeper understanding of the relationship between new firm registration, the regulatory environment, and economic growth. Previous research using the Entrepreneurship Database has shown a significant relationship between the cost of compliance required to start a business and new firm registration.

Generalcomments: For cross-country comparability, only limited liability corporations that operate in the formal sector are included.

IndicatorName: New business density (new registrations per 1,000 people ages 15-64)

Limitationsandexceptions:
Data collected from economies categorized as offshore financial centers by Eurostat are excluded from the analysis, because registered entities in these countries may not fit the objective of the Entrepreneurship Database aiming at measuring formally registered companies with actual economic activities. The information provided by these economies likely reflects a number of shell companies, defined as companies that are registered for tax purposes but are not economically active. The information on offshore centers is collected and published by the Entrepreneurship Database, but it is not used for trend analysis purposes. Information on whether a country is classified as an offshore center is available in the metadata (footnotes).

The Entrepreneurship Database looks the number of new companies with limited liability registered during each calendar year, the number of limited liability companies closed during each calendar year, and the total number of companies with limited liability at the end of each calendar year. It does not include all other cases such as the suspension of firms, restoration of firms, temporary measures, etc.

Longdefinition:
New business density is defined as the number of newly registered companies with limited liability
per 1,000 working-age adults (ages 15–64) per calendar year.

Source: World Bank's Entrepreneurship Database (https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/entrepreneurship).

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The Entrepreneurship Database is a unique source of comparable and cross-country data on the dynamics of formal private enterprises around the world based on administrative data collected from public agencies.

Entrepreneurship is defined as the activities of an individual or a group of individuals aimed at initiating economic enterprise in the formal sector under a legal form of business. The legal form of business refers to private companies with limited liability. The database assesses the flow and the stock of companies with limited liability.

The main sources of information are national business registries. In a limited number of cases where the business registry is unable to provide the data, the Entrepreneurship Database uses other alternatives sources, such as national statistics agencies, ministries of economy, chambers of commerce, private sector, or publicly available data.


IndicatorName: New businesses registered (number)

Longdefinition: New businesses registered are the number of new limited liability corporations (or its equivalent) registered in the calendar year.


Developmentrelevance:
Access to finance can expand opportunities for all with higher levels of access and use of banking services associated with lower financing obstacles for people and businesses. A stable financial system that promotes efficient savings and investment is also crucial for a thriving democracy and market economy.

There are several aspects of access to financial services: availability, cost, and quality of services. The development and growth of credit markets depend on access to timely, reliable, and accurate data on borrowers' credit experiences. Access to credit can be improved by making it easy to create and enforce collateral agreements and by increasing information about potential borrowers' creditworthiness. Lenders look at a borrower's credit history and collateral. Where credit registries and effective collateral laws are absent - as in many developing countries - banks make fewer loans. Indicators that cover getting credit include the strength of legal rights index and the depth of credit information index.

The economic health of a country is measured not only in macroeconomic terms but also by other factors that shape daily economic activity such as laws, regulations, and institutional arrangements. The data measure business regulation, gauge regulatory outcomes, and measure the extent of legal protection of property, the flexibility of employment regulation, and the tax burden on businesses.

The fundamental premise of this data is that economic activity requires good rules and regulations that are efficient, accessible to all who need to use them, and simple to implement. Thus sometimes there is more emphasis on more regulation, such as stricter disclosure requirements in related-party transactions, and other times emphasis is on for simplified regulations, such as a one-stop shop for completing business startup formalities.

Entrepreneurs may not be aware of all required procedures or may avoid legally required procedures altogether. But where regulation is particularly onerous, levels of informality are higher, which comes at a cost: firms in the informal sector usually grow more slowly, have less access to credit, and employ fewer workers - and those workers remain outside the protections of labor law. The indicator can help policymakers understand the business environment in a country and - along with information from other sources such as the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys - provide insights into potential areas of reform.

IndicatorName: Depth of credit information index (0=low to 8=high)

Longdefinition: Depth of credit information index measures rules affecting the scope, accessibility, and quality of credit information available through public or private credit registries. The index ranges from 0 to 8, with higher values indicating the availability of more credit information, from either a public registry or a private bureau, to facilitate lending decisions.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
For Doing Business 2015, the credit information index has expanded with two new measurements, namely whether (1) banks and financial institutions access credit bureaus and credit registries' databases through an online platform or system-to-system connection; and (2) bureau or registry credit scores are offered as a value added service to help banks and financial institutions to assess the creditworthiness of borrowers. Furthermore, if the credit bureau or registry is not operational or covers less than 5% of the adult population, the score on the depth of credit information index is 0. (Previously, the coverage threshold to score on the credit information index was 0.1%. In Doing Business 2015 this threshold has been increased to 5%.)

Data are collected by the World Bank with a standardized survey that uses a simple business case to ensure comparability across economies and over time - with assumptions about the legal form of the business, its size, its location, and nature of its operation. Surveys are administered through more than 9,000 local experts, including lawyers, business consultants, accountants, freight forwarders, government officials, and other professionals who routinely administer or advise on legal and regulatory requirements.

The Doing Business project of the World Bank encompasses two types of data: data from readings of laws and regulations and data on time and motion indicators that measure efficiency in achieving a regulatory goal. Within the time and motion indicators cost estimates are recorded from official fee schedules where applicable. The data from surveys are subjected to numerous tests for robustness, which lead to revision or expansion of the information collected. For more information on methodology, see http://www.doingbusiness.org/Methodology/getting-credit#legalRights.


IndicatorName: Private credit bureau coverage (% of adults)

Longdefinition: Private credit bureau coverage reports the number of individuals or firms listed by a private credit bureau with current information on repayment history, unpaid debts, or credit outstanding. The number is expressed as a percentage of the adult population.


Generalcomments: Data are presented for the survey year instead of publication year. Data starting in 2013 reflect the DB15-17 methodology change.

IndicatorName: Public credit registry coverage (% of adults)

Longdefinition: Public credit registry coverage reports the number of individuals and firms listed in a public credit registry with current information on repayment history, unpaid debts, or credit outstanding. The number is expressed as a percentage of the adult population.


Developmentrelevance:
Firms evaluating investment options, governments interested in improving business conditions, and economists seeking to explain economic performance have all grappled with defining and measuring the business environment. The firm-level data from Enterprise Surveys provide a useful tool for benchmarking economies across a large number of indicators measured at the firm level.

International trade can be beneficial for firms in terms of less expensive inputs for manufacturing and new markets for exporting finished products and services. Time spent waiting for imports and exports to clear customs can be costly for firms and deter them from engaging in trade or making them uncompetitive globally.

IndicatorName: Average time to clear exports through customs (days)

Limitationsandexceptions:
The sampling methodology for Enterprise Surveys is stratified random sampling. In a simple random sample, all members of the population have the same probability of being selected and no weighting of the observations is necessary. In a stratified random sample, all population units are grouped within homogeneous groups and simple random samples are selected within each group. This method allows computing estimates for each of the strata with a specified level of precision while population estimates can also be estimated by properly weighting individual observations. The sampling weights take care of the varying probabilities of selection across different strata. Under certain conditions, estimates' precision under stratified random sampling will be higher than under simple random sampling (lower standard errors may result from the estimation procedure).

The strata for Enterprise Surveys are firm size, business sector, and geographic region within a country. Firm size levels are 5-19 (small), 20-99 (medium), and 100+ employees (large-sized firms). Since in most economies, the majority of firms are small and medium-sized, Enterprise Surveys oversample large firms since larger firms tend to be engines of job creation. Sector breakdown is usually manufacturing, retail, and other services. For larger economies, specific manufacturing sub-sectors are selected as additional strata on the basis of employment, value-added, and total number of establishments figures. Geographic regions within a country are selected based on which cities/regions collectively contain the majority of economic activity.

Ideally the survey sample frame is derived from the universe of eligible firms obtained from the country’s statistical office. Sometimes the master list of firms is obtained from other government agencies such as tax or business licensing authorities. In some cases, the list of firms is obtained from business associations or marketing databases. In a few cases, the sample frame is created via block enumeration, where the World Bank “manually” constructs a list of eligible firms after 1) partitioning a country’s cities of major economic activity into clusters and blocks, 2) randomly selecting a subset of blocks which will then be enumerated. In surveys conducted since 2005-06, survey documentation which explains the source of the sample frame and any special circumstances encountered during survey fieldwork are included with the collected datasets.

Obtaining panel data, i.e. interviews with the same firms across multiple years, is a priority in current Enterprise Surveys. When conducting a new Enterprise Survey in a country where data was previously collected, maximal effort is expended to re-interview as many firms (from the prior survey) as possible. For these panel firms, sampling weights can be adjusted to take into account the resulting altered probabilities of inclusion in the sample frame.

Longdefinition: Average time to clear exports through customs is the average number of days to clear direct exports through customs.

Notesfromoriginalsource: All surveys were administered using the Enterprise Surveys methodology as outlined in the Methodology page which can be found from www.enterprisesurveys.org.

Source: World Bank, Enterprise Surveys (http://www.enterprisesurveys.org/).

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Firm-level surveys have been conducted since the 1990's by different units within the World Bank. Since 2005-06, most data collection efforts have been centralized within the Enterprise Analysis Unit. Surveys implemented by the Enterprise Analysis Unit follow the Global Methodology.

Private contractors conduct the Enterprise Surveys on behalf of the World Bank. Due to sensitive survey questions addressing business-government relations and bribery-related topics, private contractors, rather than any government agency or an organization/institution associated with government, are hired by the World Bank to collect the data.

Confidentiality of the survey respondents and the sensitive information they provide is necessary to ensure the greatest degree of survey participation, integrity and confidence in the quality of the data. Surveys are usually carried out in cooperation with business organizations and government agencies promoting job creation and economic growth, but confidentiality is never compromised.

The Enterprise Survey is answered by business owners and top managers. Sometimes the survey respondent calls company accountants and human resource managers into the interview to answer questions in the sales and labor sections of the survey. Typically 1200-1800 interviews are conducted in larger economies, 360 interviews are conducted in medium-sized economies, and for smaller economies, 150 interviews take place.

The manufacturing and services sectors are the primary business sectors of interest. This corresponds to firms classified with ISIC codes 15-37, 45, 50-52, 55, 60-64, and 72 (ISIC Rev.3.1). Formal (registered) companies with 5 or more employees are targeted for interview. Services firms include construction, retail, wholesale, hotels, restaurants, transport, storage, communications, and IT. Firms with 100% government/state ownership are not eligible to participate in an Enterprise Survey. Occasionally, for a few surveyed countries, other sectors are included in the companies surveyed such as education or health-related businesses. In each country, businesses in the cities/regions of major economic activity are interviewed.

In some countries, other surveys, which depart from the usual Enterprise Survey methodology, are conducted. Examples include 1) Informal Surveys- surveys of informal (unregistered) enterprises, 2) Micro Surveys- surveys fielded to registered firms with less than five employees, and 3) Financial Crisis Assessment Surveys- short surveys administered by telephone to assess the effects of the global financial crisis of 2008-09.

The Enterprise Surveys Unit uses two instruments: the Manufacturing Questionnaire and the Services Questionnaire. Although many questions overlap, some are only applicable to one type of business. For example, retail firms are not asked about production and nonproduction workers.

The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures.

Over 90% of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country’s business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents’ opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance. The mode of data collection is face-to-face interviews.


IndicatorName: Time to obtain an electrical connection (days)

Longdefinition: The average wait, in days, experienced to obtain an electrical connection from the day an establishment applies for it to the day it receives the service.


IndicatorName: Power outages in firms in a typical month (number)

Longdefinition: Power outages are the average number of power outages that establishments experience in a typical month.


Developmentrelevance:
Firms evaluating investment options, governments interested in improving business conditions, and economists seeking to explain economic performance have all grappled with defining and measuring the business environment. The firm-level data from Enterprise Surveys provide a useful tool for benchmarking economies across a large number of indicators measured at the firm level.

Informality is associated with business operations without registration. The informal sector in an economy may be a source of unfair competition to formal firms and also deprive governments of potential tax revenue and diminish a government's capacity for regulatory oversight.

Informality can be defined along different dimensions such as operating without registration, income tax evasion, labor tax evasion, or operating outside the legal framework of an economy. Firms may show different degrees of informality along these dimensions which may also overlap.

A large informal sector has serious consequences for the formal private sector, and may pose unfair competition for formal firms. It is an approximation to the prevalence of informality in the private economy.

IndicatorName: Firms experiencing electrical outages (% of firms)

Longdefinition: Percent of firms experiencing electrical outages during the previous fiscal year.


IndicatorName: Time required to get electricity (days)

Longdefinition: Time required to get electricity is the number of days to obtain a permanent electricity connection. The measure captures the median duration that the electricity utility and experts indicate is necessary in practice, rather than required by law, to complete a procedure.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Data are collected by the World Bank with a standardized survey that uses a simple business case to ensure comparability across economies and over time - with assumptions about the legal form of the business, its size, its location, and nature of its operation. Surveys are administered through more than 9,000 local experts, including lawyers, business consultants, accountants, freight forwarders, government officials, and other professionals who routinely administer or advise on legal and regulatory requirements.

Data records all procedures required for a business to obtain a permanent electricity connection. These procedures include applications and contracts with electricity utilities, all necessary inspections and clearances from the utility and other agencies and the external and final connection works.

The Doing Business project of the World Bank encompasses two types of data: data from readings of laws and regulations and data on time and motion indicators that measure efficiency in achieving a regulatory goal. Within the time and motion indicators cost estimates are recorded from official fee schedules where applicable. The data from surveys are subjected to numerous tests for robustness, which lead to revision or expansion of the information collected. Data starting in 2014 reflect the DB15-17 methodology change. Please also see: https://www.doingbusiness.org/en/methodology/getting-electricity


IndicatorName: Firing cost (weeks of wages)

Longdefinition: Firing cost is the cost of advanced notice requirements, severance payments, and penalties due when terminating a redundant worker, expressed in weekly wages. One month is recorded as 4 1/3 weeks.

Source: World Bank, Doing Business project (http://www.doingbusiness.org/).