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The World Bank has released its annual Doing Business report, which looks at the ease of doing business around the world.

Doing Business ranks economies based on 10 indicators of business regulation that record the time and cost to meet government requirements in starting and operating a business, trading across borders, paying taxes, and closing a business. The rankings do not reflect such areas as macroeconomic policy, security, labor skills of the population or the strength of the financial system or financial market regulations.

It is a narrow measure of a country's economic prospects, but an important one in a globalized economy, particularly for country's dependent on foreign investment and trade. Amidst the creeping protectionism, rapid decline in international capital flows, and poor credit availability of this crisis, you might expect such indicators to plunge. However, the World Bank found 2008/09 to be a record year of reform. Surprising? Perhaps not:

-Singapore was ranked #1 for ease of doing business for the fourth year in a row. This is no surprise (small, open, and highly integrated economy).

-Two-thirds of the recorded reforms were in low- and lower middle-income countries. This isn't that surprising either, as the threshold for these countries is typically low (any concerted reform agenda will drive these countries high up the ranking), and crises tend to disproportionately affect smaller, less-diversified economies heavily dependent on exports and commodity prices. Amidst these conditions, either external (IMF, WB, etc.) or electoral (regime change) factors tend to provide a strong impetus to reform.

-Rwanda was the biggest reformer across almost all indicators, a first for a sub-Saharan African economy, but again, not a surprise. President Kagame has vigorously promoted foreign investment to diversify the economy away from commodity exports (coffee and tea), and with donor funds accounting for almost 50% of the budget, Rwanda has a strong external commitment to reform.

The biggest point, but if you know your history perhaps the least surprising, was the following statement:

'The financial crisis has also prompted governments to act in areas where regulatory reform may be more difficult and require more time.'

I have noted on a number of occasions over the past year that despite the massive destruction caused, global crises also present the biggest opportunities for reform. Often, interests are realigned, reformers and technocrats elected, and economies and foreign investment regimes restructured. The latest Doing Business report reaffirms this trend.

So while there is justifiable pessimism over the protectionist slide of many major economies, we should take comfort in knowing that on at least one measure, globalization pushes on.