FIAS’ overall strategy relies on the systematic measurement of the performance of projects to assess their effectiveness in improving the investment climate of client countries. This year FIAS launched two pilot benchmarking projects in Sierra Leone and Bangladesh to monitor the progress of private sector development reforms. Both pilots fostered the creation of public-private committees to build local capacity in monitoring and evaluation.

This year, documenting best practices in many of the areas we work in was also a priority, with increased attention on political economy and reform process issues. FIAS finalized a major research effort to better understand the underpinnings of successful investment climate reform processes, synthesizing the lessons from 25 investment climate reform case studies — Reforming the Investment Climate: Lessons for Practitioners.

FIAS Impact on Doing Business
FIAS advisory work focuses mainly on four of the ten Doing Business indicators: starting a business, dealing with licenses, registering property, and paying taxes. In fact, FIAS has been involved in 58 percent of all business licensing, 35 percent of all business entry, 31 percent of all tax administration, and 24 percent of all property registration reforms in developing and transition countries identified by the Doing Business 2007 report.

In many cases, FIAS’ advisory work and impact goes far beyond helping clients improve specific Doing Business indicators. For example, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, and Kenya FIAS is currently building the capacity of the government to establish a comprehensive system of regulatory governance to improve the quality of business regulations.