Washington, D.C., October 29, 2014—A new World Bank Group report finds that Chile is among the top five economies in Latin America where it is easiest to do business. The country performs particularly well in the areas of starting a business, registering property, paying taxes, and trading across borders.
Released today, Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency highlights Chile’s experience in adopting online services for business registration. Since 2013, entrepreneurs in Chile have been able to register limited liability companies through an electronic, unified company registry that is accessible from anywhere free of charge. This online company registry has made the incorporation process faster and more convenient, allowing greater productivity among local entrepreneurs. Starting a new business in Chile now takes only five and half days—on par with international best practice.
“The authorities in Chile have made concerted efforts in recent years to reduce the size of the country’s informal sector and strengthen the legal framework for local businesses,” said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Director, Global Indicators Group, Development Economics, World Bank Group. “By continually enhancing the efficiency of public services through the use of the latest technologies, they have reduced the bureaucracy and red tape that entrepreneurs face.”
The report records reforms implemented by governments from June 2013 through May 2014. Reforms implemented after May 31, 2014, will be reflected in next year’s edition. This is the case for Chile’s new insolvency act, which went into effect on October 9, 2014. The new law provides mechanisms to make it easier for companies that are experiencing financial difficulties to recover and continue operating. The law clarifies and streamlines provisions related to the reorganization and liquidation of companies and facilitates the continuation of the debtor’s business during insolvency proceedings.
This year, for the first time, Doing Business collected data for a second city in the 11 economies with a population of more than 100 million. The report this year also expands the data for three of the 10 topics covered, and there are plans to do so for five more topics next year. In addition, the ease of doing business ranking is now based on the distance to frontier score. This measure shows how close each economy is to global best practices in business regulation. A higher score indicates a more efficient business environment and stronger legal institutions.
The report finds that Singapore tops the global ranking on the ease of doing business. Joining it on the list of the top 10 economies with the most business-friendly regulatory environments are New Zealand; Hong Kong SAR, China; Denmark; the Republic of Korea; Norway; the United States; the United Kingdom; Finland; and Australia.
About the Doing Business report series
The annual World Bank Group flagship Doing Business report analyzes regulations that apply to an economy’s businesses during their life cycle, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes, and resolving insolvency. The aggregate ease of doing business rankings are based on the distance to frontier scores for 10 topics and cover 189 economies. Doing Business does not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to firms and investors. For example, it does not measure the quality of fiscal management, other aspects of macroeconomic stability, the level of skills in the labor force, or the resilience of financial systems. Its findings have stimulated policy debates worldwide and enabled a growing body of research on how firm-level regulation relates to economic outcomes across economies. Each year the report team works to improve the methodology and to enhance their data collection, analysis and output. The project has benefited from feedback from many stakeholders over the years. With a key goal to provide an objective basis for understanding and improving the local regulatory environment for business around the world, the project goes through rigorous reviews to ensure its quality and effectiveness. This year’s report marks the 12th edition of the global Doing Business report series. For more information about the Doing Business reports, please visit doingbusiness.org and join us on doingbusiness.org/Facebook.
About the World Bank Group
The World Bank Group plays a key role in the global effort to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. It consists of five institutions: the World Bank, including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA); the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Working together in more than 100 countries, these institutions provide financing, advice, and other solutions that enable countries to address the most urgent challenges of development. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org, www.miga.org, and ifc.org.
Last Updated: Oct 28, 2014
