Days to Open: Interim Findings from 30 Cities

A World Bank assessment points to a persistent gap between the rules businesses face and the public services that put those rules into practice. Reseated’s permit reports show owners describing costs and delays across many countries—but they do not establish which countries or cities perform worst.

What happened

The World Bank’s B-READY 2025 assessment covered 101 economies and reported that public-service scores averaged about 23% below regulatory-framework scores.

B-READY 2025 assessed 101 economies and found an average business-readiness level of about 60%.
Across the assessment, public-services scores were about 23% below regulatory-framework scores; a full 164-economy edition was due at the end of 2026.
Reseated’s Red Tape Council had received 236 permit reports from 45 countries as of 7 September 2026.

What it means for small businesses

Clear rules do not by themselves tell an owner how long an application will take or whether a service will work reliably.

Reseated’s reports describe a cross-border concern, but report counts are not a measure of the prevalence or severity of red tape in any country.

Owners can make their own permit experience easier to assess by keeping dated records of requirements, submissions, requests, fees and decisions.