In Washington, DC:
Rebecca Ong
Phone: +1 (202) 458-0434
Email: rong@ifc.org


Washington, D.C., October 19, 2007 — Lars Thunell, IFC Executive Vice President and CEO, today emphasized IFC’s commitment to creating opportunities in business and access to jobs for women. Speaking at the USAID conference, “Empowering Women – Promoting Growth,” Thunell announced a groundbreaking initiative led by IFC and the World Bank’s Doing Business project. The team, in partnership with governments and women’s groups, will identify legal and regulatory barriers facing businesswomen in 178 countries and advocate change.

Each year IFC and the World Bank publish the Doing Business report, which compares regulations from around the world that affect the ease of doing business. Higher country rankings are associated with growth, more jobs, and a smaller number of businesses in the informal, unregulated sector.

“Doing Business 2008 finds that the benefits of reforming business regulations and leveling the playing field are especially significant for women,” said Thunell. “Countries with higher rankings for the ease of doing business have more women entrepreneurs and more women in the workforce. Reform is good for women and fuels development.”

Thanks to the new initiative, over the next two years Doing Business reports will identify laws and regulations that discriminate against women. For example, in the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, the law forbids women to work at night. To start a business in the Democratic Republic of Congo, married women need their husband’s consent and single women require a judge’s approval. In Yemen, a woman is unable to travel abroad for business without her husband’s written permission to obtain a passport and travel. In Lao PDR, women are banned from performing certain types of manual work. In many African countries, women have fewer inheritance rights than men, either by law or custom. Such obstacles prevent women from realizing their economic potential, as well as constrain economic development.

IFC supports women’s participation in business as an important part of its mission to foster sustainable private sector growth in developing countries. IFC creates opportunities for women entrepreneurs, by providing financial products and advisory services that help increase their access to finance, reduce gender-based barriers in the business environment, and improve the sustainability of IFC’s projects. In 2006, IFC made its first line of credit dedicated to women, by providing funding to Access Bank in Nigeria to help ease access to credit.  The bank has extended $16.5 million in loans to 117 women entrepreneurs and a microfinance institution with a reach of 1,500 women. In Uganda, IFC has worked with civil society to advocate a level playing field for women regarding legal and regulatory issues in the private sector.

Doing Business 2008 rankings are based on 10 business regulation indicators that track the time and cost to meet government requirements in business start-up, operation, trade, taxation, and closure. The rankings do not reflect such areas as macroeconomic policy, quality of infrastructure, currency volatility, investor perceptions, or crime rates. Since 2003 Doing Business has inspired or informed more than 113 reforms around the world. For more information, visit www.doingbusiness.org.

About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, fosters sustainable economic growth in developing countries by financing private sector investment, mobilizing private capital in local and international financial markets, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. IFC’s vision is that poor people have the opportunity to escape poverty and improve their lives. In FY07, IFC committed $8.2 billion and mobilized an additional $3.9 billion through loan participations and structured finance for 299 investments in 69 developing countries. IFC also provided advisory services in 97 countries. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.