MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile and Uruguay lead “institutional quality” in Latinamerica

“Institutional quality”, closed linked to rule of the law, economics and private property has Chile and Uruguay as Latinamerica best ranked countries, according to Argentina's think tank Institutions and Markets Research Centre, Ciima.

The think tank which was created by the High School of Economics and Business Administration, ranked Chile in position 22 and Uruguay, 50, while Mercosur senior members Brazil and Argentina figure in positions 90 and 93 This means Argentina stands below Lebanon and above Macedonia out of a total of 184 countries which have been qualified for "institutional quality". The Latinamerican ranking follows: Chile, 22; Uruguay, 50; Costa Rica, 54; Belize, 56; El Salvador, 65; Panama, 68; Mexico, 75; Peru, 80; Brazil, 90; Colombia, 100, Bolivia, 118 and Venezuela, 161. The global ranking has Switzerland leading followed by Denmark, Finland, New Zealand; Iceland, Sweden; Luxembourg; United States and Holland. The Ciima work methodology is basically an aggregation of data from the World Bank, Freedom House, Transparency International, Heritage Foundation and the World Economic Forum. The basic items included to elaborate the annual ranking are: private property, economic freedom, competitiveness, time needed to install a business; corruption perception; freedom of the press, legal accountability and clear.