Mexico Best For Doing Business: WBank

Mexico is the best place in LatAm for companies, according to the World Bank’s Doing Business 2011 survey. Despite worsening drug-related crime, Mexico has moved up 6 places in the global ranking to 35 in the study, released last week. “The region’s top-ranked economy, Mexico launched an online one-stop shop for initiating business registration, improved construction permitting, and increased options for online payment of taxes,” says the multilateral. Twelve of 20 economies in LatAm have reformed business regulation to expand opportunity for local firms in the past year, according to the World Bank. Peru improved business regulation the most in the region, moving up 10 places in the global ranking on the overall ease of doing business, to 36th out of 183 economies. Peru was also among the world’s 10 most active economies, improving in 4 of 9 areas covered by the report. It created an online one-stop shop for business registration, improving the ease of business start-up more than any other economy. Peru also streamlined permits for construction, introduced fast-track procedures at the land registry, and eased trade with a new Web-based electronic data interchange system, the World Bank adds. “Economies in Latin America are improving regulation with faster, transparent, electronic systems,” says the multilateral. Chile moved up to 43 from 53 in the global ranking, while Grenada did best in the Caribbean, it adds. 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 closing a business. It does not measure security, macroeconomic stability, corruption, skill level, or the strength of financial systems.