Doing Business 2012 Confirms Latin America Lags Behind

As a region, Central America, is located in the second half of the list entitled ‘Doing Business 2012’.

Doing Business 2012, a report by the World Bank this year added a new area of analysis, which is the ease of obtaining an electrical connection, along with the traditional items which include: ease of starting a business, management of construction permits, registering property , getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, cross border trade, enforcing contracts, and insolvency resolution.

In the list of 183 economies analyzed, Chile, in 39th place, is the best positioned Latin American country. Within Central America, Panama continues to be the "least bad" and is ranked 61st in the overall list, followed distantly by Guatemala, which is ranked 97th, El Salvador 112th, Nicaragua 118th, Costa Rica 121st, and Honduras 128th.

The Doing Business report indicators are used to analyze the results of an economy, and to identify where governments should apply their efforts in order to facilitate business activities and thus stimulate economic growth.

Source: CentralAmericaData.COM

More on this topic

Central America falls in Ease of Doing Business

November 2010

Position in 2010 Rankings: Panama 72 (62 in 2009), El Salvador 86 (80), Guatemala 101 (100), Nicaragua 117 (119), Costa Rica 125 (121), Honduras 131 (128).

With the exception of Nicaragua, which rose two places, the Doing Business 2011 ranking shows that easiness of doing business in the Central American countries has deteriorated, at least in relation to other countries.

Doing Business in Panama

November 2008

Guide prepared by the professional staff of Deloitte Panamá.

It is designed to provide potencial foreing investors with fundamental information about Panama's enviroment, including factors a foreing investor should consider in deciding whether to acquire an existin Panama company or to start a new operation en the country.