Doing Business 2014 Regional Profile : Latin America

Abstract

This regional profile presents the Doing
 Business indicators for economies in Latin America. It also
 shows the regional average, the best performance globally
 for each indicator and data for the following comparator
 regions: Caribbean States, East Asia and the Pacific,
 European Union, South Asi, and OECD High Income. The data in
 this report are current as of June 1, 2013, except for the
 paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January to
 December 2012. Regional Doing Business reports capture
 differences in business regulations and their enforcement
 across countries in a single region. They provide data on
 the ease of doing business, rank each location, and
 recommend reforms to improve performance in each of the
 indicator areas. The report sheds light on how easy or
 difficult it is for a local entrepreneur to open and run a
 small to medium-size business when complying with relevant
 regulations. It measures and tracks changes in regulations
 affecting 11 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting
 a business, dealing with construction permits, getting
 electricity, registering property, getting credit,
 protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders,
 enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and employing
 workers. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on
 business regulations and the protection of property rights
 that can be compared across 189 economies, from Afghanistan
 to Zimbabwe, over time. The data set covers 47 economies in
 Sub-Saharan Africa, 33 in Latin America and the Caribbean,
 25 in East Asia and the Pacific, 25 in Eastern Europe and
 Central Asia, 20 in the Middle East and North Africa and 8
 in South Asia, as well as 31 OECD high-income economies. The
 indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and
 identify what reforms have worked, where and why.