Business Ready

The Business Ready (B-READY) project is the World Bank’s new flagship benchmarking exercise, designed to replace the now-defunct Doing Business rankings. It evaluates a country’s business environment through three specific pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency, with 10 topics: (1) Business Entry, (2) Business Location, (3) Utility Services, (4) Labor, (5) Financial Services, (6) International Trade, (7) Taxation, (8) Dispute Resolution, (9) Market Competition, and (10) Business Insolvency.

For Myanmar, the transition to B-READY comes at a time of significant domestic instability, which heavily influences its data and standing.

📊 Current Status of Myanmar in B-READY

As of early 2026, Myanmar’s participation in the B-READY rollout is characterized by the following:

Pilot Phase Inclusion: Myanmar was included in the early data collection phases (2024–2025). The World Bank has begun publishing indicator-level data for Myanmar across several topics, including Taxation, Labor, and Business Entry.
The “Public Services Gap”: Consistent with many developing economies, Myanmar shows a significant “public services gap.” While some Regulatory Frameworks (the “laws on paper”) remain on the books, the Public Services and Operational Efficiency scores are notably lower due to the ongoing political and economic crisis.
Data Availability: Because B-READY relies on “de facto” data (what happens in practice), the World Bank utilizes expert consultations and firm-level surveys. In Myanmar, this data reflects the severe disruptions caused by conflict, electricity shortages, and banking restrictions.

🔍 Key Performance Indicators (Estimates)

Based on the 2025 interim reports, Myanmar’s business environment faces the following challenges:

Pillar	Current Reality in Myanmar
Regulatory Framework	Moderate scores due to legacy laws (like the 2017 Myanmar Companies Law) that remain technically valid.
Public Services	Low scores. Digital services like the MyCO registry remain functional but are hampered by intermittent internet and power.
Operational Efficiency	Very low scores. High inflation, currency volatility (Kyat depreciation), and “brain drain” significantly slow down business operations.

⚠️ Contextual Challenges

It is important to note that a “ranking” for Myanmar in 2026 is less a measure of policy intent and more a measure of crisis resilience.

Polycrisis: The World Bank’s Myanmar Economic Monitor frequently highlights a “polycrisis” involving conflict, poverty, and economic contraction. These factors make it difficult for Myanmar to climb the B-READY rankings compared to its regional neighbors in ASEAN.
Infrastructure: Operational efficiency is dragged down by the fact that nearly 60% of the road network remains unpaved and the national power grid suffers from frequent outages.
Corruption: Myanmar continues to rank poorly on transparency indices, which is a significant metric within the B-READY “Market Competition” and “Dispute Resolution” topics.

Note: The full global edition of B-READY, featuring a complete ranking of 170+ economies, is expected to conclude its rollout by the end of 2026. Until then, Myanmar’s data serves more as a diagnostic tool for its struggling private sector rather than a competitive ranking.

Related article: Ease of Doing Business in Myanmar