MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pacific Alliance well ahead of Mercosur in the “Doing Business 2014” report

“Countries want to be more competitive and to be prepared for when their markets are more open to international trade” said Rita Ramalho

The World Bank's “Doing business 2014” report is not very encouraging for Latin-America with Chile the best ranked in position 34 out of 189 economies surveyed, but the group of countries that make up the Pacific Alliance again figures well ahead of Mercosur.

In effect with Chile in position 34, followed by Peru, 42; Colombia, 43 and Mexico, 53, the Pacific Alliance clearly beats Mercosur since Uruguay is the best viewed in position 88, followed by Paraguay, 109; Brazil, 116; Argentina, 126 and Venezuela 181, just ahead of Ethiopia.

Doing Business 2014, is a World Bank Group flagship report, covers 189 economies and 10 indicator sets: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, paying taxes, trading across borders, getting credit, protecting investors, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency.

“Countries want to be more competitive and to be prepared for when their markets are more open to international trade,” said Rita Ramalho, program manager for Doing Business at the World Bank Group.

They also want businesses to be able to survive competition from foreign firms, she added.

“Governments across the globe realize the private sector is an important motor of development and job creation,” said Ramalho. “And they realize it’s important to have the right regulations that enable the development of the private sector.”

The overall rankings sometimes mask major gains in countries that are reforming amid challenges, such as conflict or widespread poverty. To provide a fuller picture, the survey’s “Distance to the Frontier” indicator measures an economy’s own progress in reforming business regulations and practices over time.

In this year’s survey, 80% of economies had a better score on this front, but only a third went up in the overall ranking, said Ramalho.

The increase is part of a decade-long trend in which countries are shortening the amount of time it takes to start a business and streamlining the process of exporting or importing goods, to name two examples of reform.

Georgia, Malaysia, and eight high-income economies are among the 10 most business-friendly places on the globe. But the gap between the developed and developing worlds is narrowing as countries such as Rwanda, Philippines, and the Russian Federation improve regulations to foster entrepreneurship and trade.

The 2014 Doing Business Report finds an uptick in the pace of business regulation reform in the past year, with 114 economies enacting 238 reforms, vs. 108 economies and 201 reforms in 2011-12.

The leading countries of the Doing Business Report are: Singapore; Hong Kong; New Zealand; US; Denmark; Malaysia; Korea; Georgia; Norway; UK and Australia.

In Latin America the ranking is as follows: Chile, 34; Perú: 42; Colombia: 43; México: 53; Guatemala: 70; Uruguay: 88; Costa Rica: 102; Paraguay: 109; Brazil: 116; El Salvador: 118; Nicaragua: 124; Argentina: 126; Honduras: 127; Ecuador: 135; Bolivia: 162 and Venezuela 181.