São Paulo – Brazil and Arab countries have lost positions in the ranking of ease of doing business, according to the Doing Business 2013 report released this Monday (22nd) by the World Bank and its private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Brazil dropped from 126th in the previous survey to 130th in the current one. The list comprises 185 and is based on 10 indicators pertaining to business activity, the time required to establish a company, bureaucracy, taxes, foreign trade operations, investment protection, and others.
In Latin America, Brazil ranked higher only than Ecuador, Bolivia, Suriname and Venezuela, and the highlights were Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.
Chile ranks first in the region and 37th in the world in ease of doing business, Colombia was the Latin American country which implemented the most reforms to this end since 2005, and Costa Rica is among the 10 countries in the world which made the most changes last year.
The report considers rules which influence the daily lives of companies and investors, but does not assess aspects such as fiscal management, macroeconomic stability, labour force training, and financial market solidity. For instance, the survey claims that in Brazil it takes 119 days on average to establish a company, while in Chile it only takes eight.
In the Arab world, only the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Egypt and Mauritania have climbed positions in the ranking, from 33rd to 26th, from 49th to 47th, from 110th to 109th, and from 167th to 159th, respectively. The remaining countries have lost positions, but still, five countries in the region are among the 50 countries with greatest ease of doing business: Saudi Arabia, in 22nd, Emirates, Qatar (40th), Bahrain (42th), Oman and Tunisia (50th). Also, Kuwait, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon and Yemen are ahead of Brazil in the list.
The survey informs that the process that there was a slowing down of the regulatory reform process due to the Arab Spring, but adds that there is now a “renewed opportunity” to improve the business environment.
In the world, the report informs that ease of doing business has increased in developing countries in the last 10 years. According to the World Bank and the IFC, approximately 2,000 regulatory reforms have taken place in 180 different countries during the period. The average time to establish a company, for instance, has gone from 50 to 30 days, and in low- and medium-income economies the number of days dropped in half.
Last year alone, according to the report, 201 different business regulation measures were adopted in 108 countries, mostly in East Europe and Central Asia.
Singapore tops the ease of doing business ranking for the seventh consecutive year, followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand, United States, Denmark, Norway, United Kingdom, South Korea, Georgia and Australia.
The nations which implemented the most reforms, however, were Poland, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Burundi, Costa Rica, Mongolia, Greece, Serbia and Kazakhstan.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
