The World Bank organisation’s annual Doing Business Report identifies 239 reforms between June 2007 and June 2008 which make it easier to do business in 113 economies.

For the fifth year in a row, eastern Europe and central Asia led the world’s regions, with more than 90% of its countries making reforms. And the trend is moving eastward as newcomers join the list of reforming economies.

Azerbaijan is the world’s leading reformer of business regulations this year, with improvements in seven of the 10 areas studied by the report.

In Africa, 28 countries completed a record 58 reforms and three of the world’s top 10 economies that reformed their business regulations are from the region. The top 10 are, in order, Azerbaijan, Albania, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Egypt.