Jamaica slides to 81st in Doing Business rankings

Jamaica made solid gains in cutting delays in the registration of property but still slipped two slots in the ease-of-doing business rankings to No. 81 in the latest survey released Wednesday.

Singapore leads in the ease of doing business, for a fifth straight year, followed by Hong Kong SAR China, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The Golding administration made sufficient gains on simplifying real estate transactions to improve its standing by 17. But its record is by no means spectacular in this area, having risen from 123 to 106 in the league of 183 countries polled.

Otherwise, in all but two areas where no gains were made at all - starting a business and dealing with construction projects - Jamaica retreated one or two places in the standings.

The country of 2.7 million people, whose per capita income of US$5,020 puts it in the upper-income category, remains one of the worst with complicated tax payment systems. In this area Jamaica slipped from 173 to 174.

Its best showings in the rankings were for 'starting a business' at 18th of 181 countries - it takes one to three days, for example, to register a company; closing a business at 24, down from 23; and approvals for construction permits, which held steady at 47.

Its worst showing is its tax system, followed by contract enforcements, on which it slipped two places in the rankings from 126 to 128; and registering property at No. 106.

The Doing Business 2011 report, published by IFC and the World Bank, focused on 'Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs'.

In this regard, the report touted Peru for making strong gains in simplifying business regulations, for which it moved up 10 places to No. 36 in the global standings. It created an online one-stop shop for business registration, improving the ease of business start-up more than any other economy, said a World Bank release on Latin America's performance in the current survey.

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 said.

The Doing Business report analyses 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.

The World Bank said that in the past year, governments in 117 economies carried out 216 regulatory reforms aimed at making it easier to start and operate a business, strengthening transparency and property rights, and improving the efficiency of commercial dispute resolution and bankruptcy procedures.

"In the past five years, about 85 per cent of the world's economies have made it easier for local entrepreneurs to operate, through 1,511 improvements to business regulation," the multilateral said.

Developing economies, it said, are increasingly active. In the past year, 66 per cent reformed business regulation, up from 34 per cent six years earlier.

"New technology underpins regulatory best practice around the world," said Janamitra Devan, vice-president for financial and private sector development for the World Bank Group.

"Technology makes compliance easier, less costly, and more transparent."

business@gleanerjm.com