Washington D.C., October 20, 2011—
A new
report from
IFC and the World Bank finds that
17 of 32 economies in Latin America and the Caribbean implemented regulatory reforms in the past year to make doing business easier for local entrepreneurs. Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico remain in the lead in improving business regulations in the region, with new technologies playing a key role in improving transparency and access to information across the region.
Over the past six years, Peru has been among the 40 economies worldwide that have done the most to improve their regulatory environments for entrepreneurs. This year it is positioned second in the Region in the ease of doing business and in the position 41 of the global ranking among 183 economies, ahead of Colombia, Mexico and Brazil.
Released today,
Doing Business 2012: Doing Business in a More Transparent World
assesses regulations affecting domestic firms in 183 economies and ranks them in 10 areas of business regulation, such as resolving insolvency and trading across borders. This year, the rankings on ease of doing business were expanded to include indicators on getting electricity connections.
The report shows that Peru has made starting a business easier by eliminating the requirement for micro and small enterprises to deposit start-up capital in a bank before registration. It strengthened investor protections through a new law allowing minority shareholders to request access to non-confidential corporate documents.
“Governments in Latin America and the Caribbean continue to adopt new technologies to make life easier for local businesses,” said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Director, Global Indicators and Analysis, World Bank Group. “They have made it easier to pay taxes, get credit, trade across borders, and register property.”
Five of the seven regional economies that made paying taxes easier did so by improving electronic filing systems. Peru made paying taxes easier for companies by improving electronic filing and payment of the major taxes and promoting the use of the electronic option among the majority of taxpayers.
“Economic activity is supported by rules that increase efficiency and transparency and are accessible to all,” said Sylvia Solf, lead author of the report. New data show that governments around the world are making use of new technologies to facilitate access to relevant information and increase transparency in business regulation. In Latin America, 25 economies make documentation requirements for trade available either online or via public notices. Transparency and efficiency often go hand-in-hand. Globally, trade processes are on average twice as fast in economies where documentation requirements are easily accessible.
About the
Doing Business
report series
Doing Business
analyzes regulations that apply to an economy’s businesses during their life cycle, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes, and resolving insolvency.
Doing Business
does not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to firms and investors. For example, it does not measure security, macroeconomic stability, corruption, the level of skills, or the strength of financial systems. Its findings have stimulated policy debates in more than 80 economies and enabled a growing body of research on how firm-level regulation relates to economic outcomes across economies. For more information about the
Doing Business
report series, please visit
www.doingbusiness.org
. Join us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/DoingBusiness.org
.
About the World Bank Group
The World Bank Group is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It comprises five closely associated institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA), which together form the World Bank; the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Each institution plays a distinct role in the mission to fight poverty and improve living standards for people in the developing world. For more information, please visit
www.worldbank.org
,
www.miga.org
, and
www.ifc.org
.
Regional Media Contacts:
Latin America and the Caribbean
Adriana Gomez +1 (202) 458-5204 Stevan Jackson +1 (202) 458-5054
