Research Guides: International Business: Doing Business Abroad: Multilateral Organizations

United Nations

The United Nations is an umbrella organization for numerous autonomous specialized agencies. These affiliated agencies provide a great deal of information by country and by region relating to their individual operations and mandates. Much of this information is relevant to companies seeking to business abroad.

Here is a site to see what specialized agencies exist and access some of the information they provide.

Below are some of the key organizations to know about when doing research on the business environment in other countries.

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

UNIDO Statistics Data Portal
According to their website:
"UNIDO maintains a variety of databases comprising statistics of overall industrial growth, detailed data on business structure and statistics on major indicators of industrial performance by country in the historical time series."

International Monetary Fund

IMF Data
Select a country from the "Data by Country/Economy" drop-down menu. From there, you have the option(s) to retrieve:
Canned statistical/financial data on a country
OR
Retrieve more in-depth, detailed time-series reports (reported quarterly, annually or monthly)
OR
Create a tailored data report by selecting parameters of your choosing (Select the "Query" tab).
IMF - Country Information
General information, data and reports.

NOTE and SUMMARY:

There are three ways to get smart about a country using the IMF information:

Get a financial/economic snapshot of the country by clicking on the country tab, selecting the country and viewing the "At a Glance" information or find current individual statistics using the "Country Data" table on the country page and selecting your parameter.
Get downloadable historical time series data on country statistics by using the IMF databases here or here.
Get profiles, overviews or reports (such as this one) by clicking on the country name and then scrolling down to "See all documents" and browsing. You can also limit the documents to "type of document".

International Telecommunications Union (ITU)

ITU - Statistics
Lots of statistical data on telecommunications worldwide, by region and by country.
Digital Development Dashboard
Select your country (economy) to retrieve snapshot statistics on Internet usage, mobile communications statistics and more.

World Bank

World Bank - Countries and Economies -- Data
In-depth statistical, economic, financial, demographic and industrial data and information about individual countries.
Select a country from the list.
Choose "Country Profile" for an overview table of important indicators.
Choose "DataBank" to create a downloadable table of economic, demographic, financial and market related statistics using self-selected parameters. Data are historical (much data is available going back up to 50 years).
World Bank - Doing Business Project
Provides country analysis and data for companies looking to do business in those specific countries. Gives economic and overviews of countries, their regulatory environment and procedures as well as other important factors relating to doing business in specific countries.
Begin with the "data" tab on top. Select a country from the "Economic Snapshots" tab.
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There are other non-country specific reports here as well on topics relating to considerations when doing business abroad.
World Bank - Enterprise Surveys
These surveys cover a broad range of business environment topics including access to finance, corruption, infrastructure, competition, and performance measures.
World Bank - Foreign Direct Investment by country
World Bank - Research Reports
Type the country name into the search box to retrieve reports and analyses on economic aspects of that country.

WTO - World Trade Organization

WTO - International Trade and Market Access Data
Searchable statistical data by country or region and product or service.
WTO - Rules of Origin Facilitator
Find import duties in foreign markets applicable to your product, available duty savings, detailed rules of origin, and certification procedures. For commodities, not services.
WTO - Services Trade Policy Database
Select country, sector (e.g., telecommunications) and measure categories (e.g., "conditions on market entry, measures affecting competition, etc.) for a report on policies and procedures.
WTO: Import Licensing Practice by Members
Click on "European Union" for trade/import-export policies, regulations and procedures of EU countries.
WTO Stats
Create a downloadable time-series data report of trade statistics by country (or between two countries) by commodity or service.