–ranked at 101 of 183 countries in World Bank report
Guyana ranked 101 out of 183 economies surveyed in this year’s Doing Business report, the seventh in a series of annual reports prepared under the auspices of the World Bank.
Doing Business 2010: Reforming Through Difficult Times, released this month, investigates regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Guyana’s rank on this index last year was 105 of 181 countries, while for the previous year it was 95.
According to the report, between last year and this year Guyana implemented reforms in two areas that ease doing business here – starting a business and trading across borders.
With regard to starting a business, Guyana’s rank this year was 97, while last year it was 103 and for trading across borders it ranked 76 this year, the same as last year.
“Guyana eased business start-up by applying a flat registration fee for all companies, regardless of their capital amount, and removing the duty payable on incorporation,” the report said. “It also streamlined registration with the tax authorities with the introduction of a single tax identification number for corporate, value added, and labour taxes.
Implementation of an electronic declaration system reduced customs clearance times for exports and imports.”
Guyana’s ranks for the other business indicators this year were: dealing with construction permits (39), employing workers (87), registering property (72), getting credit (150), protecting investors (73), paying taxes (113), enforcing contracts (75) and closing a business (129).
The report noted that setting up a business in Guyana involved procedures that could take more than three months to complete. If for instance, the entrepreneur needed to build a warehouse s/he would have to obtain a building permit from Mayor and City Council which takes 90 days; obtain a planning permit from Central Housing and Planning Authority which takes 90 days and follow up with the Fire Department on a building permit which takes 90 days; receive inspection and obtain approval upon completion of a project from the fire department, which takes 60 days.
Sewage connection takes 43 days; electricity connection, 60 days; water, 14 days and telephone 30 days. It however noted that some of these tasks could be done simultaneously.
In terms of cost, the most prohibitive is electricity connection. This is because in the city enough electricity at the correct voltage is usually not available.
The business would need to secure a transformer and must pay the additional cost for it which is about $500,000.
Meanwhile, regionally, Guyana’s rank placed it at 19 among 32 Latin America and Caribbean countries surveyed. Puerto Rico, St Lucia, Colombia, Chile, Antigua and Barbuda and Mexico were the top five countries in the region. Guyana came in just below Panama, Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic and Grenada. The countries at the bottom of the regional table were Honduras, Haiti, Suriname, Bolivia and Venezuela.
The most reformed country in the ease of doing business this year was Rwanda, while Singapore continued to claim the top spot for the third year running. Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo occupied the bottom spots as they had for the past few years.
