Caribbean Way Behind As Top Business Destinations; Haiti rank 139th

bana2166 · Published by bana2166- 09-07-06

Caribbean Way Behind As Top Business Destinations

Hardbeatnews, WASHINGTON, D.C., Thurs. Sept. 7, 2006: When it comes to the top business destinations around the world, don?t look to the Caribbean.

A new report, released by the World Bank yesterday, shows that no Caribbean country managed to break the top ten rank of best business destinations around the world. And in the top twenty listing, only one managed that feat.

?Doing Business 2007: How to Reform,? claims that Puerto Rico, geographically in the Caribbean but a U.S. territory, is the top regional country on the list, at number 19. St. Lucia was placed at 27th and second, followed by Antigua & Barbuda at 33.

St. Vincent & the Grenadines was fourth, but came 11 ranks later at 44, while Jamaica barely made the top 50, coming in at exactly 50th. The troubled Caricom nation of Belize was put at 56, but it was higher than the oil rich nation of Trinidad and Tobago, which came in at only 59th.

Dominica and Grenada were ranked at 62 and 63, respectively, while St. Kitts was put at 85th. The Dominican Republic was lower still, coming in next at a low 117th. Guyana and Haiti brought up the rear at 136th and 139th, respectively.

Singapore was listed as the top business destination followed by New Zealand, the United States and Canada. The report is the fourth in a series of annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Researchers ranked nations based on ease of starting a business to dealing with licenses, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business.

"The report points out that in many economies the costs of doing business are so prohibitive that most entrepreneurs are forced to operate outside the formal economy," said Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank Group. "The report is a critical tool for developing countries to determine where more reforms are needed.? ? Hardbeatnews.com