DoingBusiness Org Release
Friday, October 26, 2012
Doing Business in the Caribbean remains a challenge, when compared to countries in Asia, Europe and the United States, according to the latest World Bank Rankings on the ease of doing business among 185 countries around the world.
Puerto Rico, with a rank of 41, topped the Caribbean, as the easiest country in this region to do business. This includes starting a business and the time and procedures needed to get rolling.
St. Lucia, where it takes about 15 days to get a company started, was next at 53 followed by Antigua and Barbuda at 63. Tiny Dominica took the 68th spot ahead of Trinidad and Tobago at 69. Analysts say it takes less time to start a business in Dominica than T&T. The wait time for Dominica for paper processing is 13 days compared to 41 for T&T according to the report.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines came in next at 74, where starting a business takes about 10 days while Barbados was way down at 88 with analysts saying it takes 18 days to start a business there.
Jamaica was ranked at 90 while St. Kitts and Nevis came in at 96. Grenada came in at 100 while Belize and Guyana were ranked at 105 and 114, respectively. The Dominican Republic received the bottom three ranks for the Caribbean 116.
The lowest rank went to Haiti with 174 while the second lowest was Suriname at 164.
Singapore topped the global ranking on the ease of doing business for the seventh consecutive year, followed by Hong Kong SAR, China,; New Zealand; the United States; and Denmark. Georgia was a new entrant to the top 10.
Doing Business 2013: Smarter Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises assesses regulations affecting domestic firms in 185 economies and ranks the economies in 10 areas of business regulation, such as starting a business, resolving insolvency and trading across borders. This year's report data cover regulations measured from June 2011 through May 2012. The report marks the 10th edition of the Doing Business series. Over the past decade, these reports have recorded nearly 2,000 regulatory reforms implemented by 180 economies.
