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Doing Business: Mexico, Colombia Improve
Chile and Brazil deteriorate, but Venezuela remains worst country.
BY LATINVEX STAFF
Chile and Brazil fell on the latest Doing business report from The World Bank, while Colombia moved up.
Chile fell from second place in Latin America to fourth place, while Brazil fell from 13th to 15th place, according to a Latinvex ranking based on the country scores given by the bank.
“Business reform activity accelerated in Latin America and the Caribbean with over two-thirds of the region’s economies implementing a total of 32 reforms in the past year, compared with 24 reforms the previous year,” The World Bank says. “The bulk of the reforms were aimed at improving tax payment systems, facilitating cross-border trade and starting a new business, with Brazil implementing the most reforms in the past year.”
The Doing Business report, which covers 190 economies, looks at domestic small and medium-size companies and measures the regulations applying to them such as starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.
MEXICO AND COLOMBIA IMPROVE
Mexico, Latin America’ second-largest economy, again tops the Doing Business ranking in the region. It improved its score on registering property, enforcing contracts, dealing with construction permits and resolving insolvency. However, its score fell on starting a business and paying taxes.
Colombia moved up on the Latin American ranking – from fourth to second place -- thanks to seeing its score improving on starting a business, enforcing contracts, dealing with construction permits and registering property.
CHILE AND BRAZIL DECLINE
Chile’s score fell on paying taxes, while increasing on dealing with construction permits and resolving insolvency. The tax score decline comes as Chile also saw the worst decline in the Latinvex tax score after increasing corporate taxes (see Taxes: Latin America Improves, Chile Worsens). Latinvex looked at the tax environment in Latin America and Chile fell due to its hike of corporate taxes.
Chile, once the top-ranked Latin America country on Doing Business, now lags behind Colombia and Peru and ranks fourth in the region, with Costa Rica close behind.
Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, improved its score on starting a business, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and dealing with construction permits. But it saw a decline in resolving insolvency, getting electricity, paying taxes and registering property. As a result, it now ranks as the fourth-worst country in Latin America in terms of doing business.
Brazil’s score may improve on next year’s ranking thanks to new reforms being implemented by the country’s new government led by President Michel Temer, who is following largely business friendly policies that contrast with those of his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff.
VENEZUELA: GLOBAL LAGGARD
Venezuela continues to rank among the four worst countries in the world and the worst in Latin America. Only Somalia, Eritrea and Libya are worse for doing business, according to The World Bank. Even war revised South Sudan ranks better.
Venezuela’s score fell dramatically on getting electricity and also significantly on starting a business. It also saw declines in dealing with construction permits, registering property and resolving insolvency.
© Copyright Latinvex
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Doing Business: Best & Worst |
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LRK |
Ch |
GRK |
Country |
Score |
|
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1 |
47 |
Mexico |
72.29 |
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|
2 |
2 |
53 |
Colombia |
70.92 |
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3 |
54 |
Peru |
70.25 |
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|
4 |
-2 |
57 |
Chile |
69.56 |
|
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5 |
62 |
Costa Rica |
68.5 |
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|
6 |
70 |
Panama |
66.19 |
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|
7 |
88 |
Guatemala |
62.93 |
||
|
8 |
1 |
90 |
Uruguay |
61.85 |
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9 |
-1 |
95 |
El Salvador |
61.02 |
|
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10 |
103 |
Dom. Rep. |
59.35 |
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11 |
1 |
93 |
Honduras |
59.09 |
|
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12 |
-1 |
100 |
Paraguay |
59.03 |
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13 |
1 |
114 |
Ecuador |
57.97 |
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14 |
1 |
116 |
Argentina |
57.45 |
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15 |
-2 |
123 |
Brazil |
56.53 |
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16 |
127 |
Nicaragua |
55.75 |
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17 |
149 |
Bolivia |
49.85 |
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18 |
187 |
Venezuela |
33.37 |
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LAC Average |
58.75 |
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LRK=Latin America rank |
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GRK=Global rank |
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Sources: The World Bank's Doing Business 2016; Latinvex (rank, changes) | |||||
