Chile Censures World Bank Bias

Chilean officials late Saturday criticized the World Bank, saying it treated the South American country unfairly in its closely watched annual “Doing Business” competitiveness rankings. “What happened with the World Bank’s competitiveness rankings is very concerning,” socialist President Michelle Bachelet, whose four-year term ends in March, wrote on Twitter after the World Bank’s chief economist apologized for Chile’s slippage in the rankings under her tenure, Reuters reported. “Rankings that international institutions conduct should be trustworthy, since they impact investment and countries’ development,” Bachelet wrote, adding that the government would formally request a complete investigation from the World Bank. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on Friday, World Bank Chief Economist Paul Romer apologized to Chile for changes to the report’s methodology that he said “conveyed the wrong impression” about the business environment under Bachelet. Chile currently ranks 55th out of 190 countries on the list, down from 34th in 2014, the year Bachelet took office. Its ranking declined to 41st in 2015, 48th in 2016, and 57th in 2017, the World Bank’s reports show.