To understand how the World Bank's financing of projects in developing countries leads to business opportunities for suppliers of goods, services, and know-how, it is advisable to study the World Bank "project cycle".
Other useful links are indicated in the "Business Links" box.
Firms wishing to bid on contracts for goods, services, and civil works financed by World Bank project lending and awarded by borrowing governments can obtain in-depth information on the policies and procedures governing such procurement from the World Bank's Procurement pages. Procurement under World Bank-financed projects results in the award of approximately 20-30,000 contracts (total value of about $20 billion); about 10,000 are subject to prior review (total value of about $10 billion). The World Bank's database of Contract Awards includes a list of contracts awarded to Canadian firms.
The Private Sector Liaison Officers (PSLO) Network is a network of local contact persons who facilitate SME access to the World Bank Group (WBG) products and services and interaction between the WBG and the private sector.
The PSLOs, with support from the World Bank Group, act as a convenient local "one-stop shop". They disseminate information about the WBG and its transaction opportunities (procurement, IFC, MIGA, trust funds), organize regional or thematic events, facilitate contacts between local companies and the World Bank Group, and promote the World Bank Group as a platform for knowledge-sharing and partnership.
Currently, there are 100 PSLOs in 79 countries, with the first US PSLO named in early 2008. Kasia Batorski of the Illinois Global Partnership is located in Chicago, and serves as liaison for businesses in the states of Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky wishing to do business with the World Bank Group.
Plans are underway to roll out PSLOs in other major cities in the near future.
US investors interested in buying World Bank-backed securities should visit the World Bank Treasury Department's Debt Securities page, while investors seeking opportunities for investment in plants and other facilities in developing countries can consult the FDI.net web portal, which is operated by MIGA and offers free, on-demand country analysis and information on all things related to foreign direct investment in 175 countries.
The "Doing Business" database provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement. These indicators are comparable across 145 economies and indicate the regulatory costs of business. The indicators can be used to analyze specific regulations that enhance or constrain investment, productivity and growth. To see how "Doing Business" ranked the US, click here.
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