According to the latest World Bank Ease of Doing Business Report 2016, the Dominican Republic has slipped three places since last year and is now in 93rd place out of 189 countries, with deficiencies in electricity being the main problem highlighted, ranking 149th.
The report looks into starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency.
In the Caribbean, the DR is ranked below Puerto Rico (57), Jamaica (64), St. Lucia (77), Trinidad & Tobago (88) and Dominica (91). The DR’s neighbor, Haiti is ranked in 182nd place on the list of 189 countries.
In Central America, the DR is ranked below Panama (69), Guatemala (81) and El Salvador (86).
Latin American countries ranked better than the DR are Mexico (38), Chile (48), Colombia (54) and Uruguay (92). Nonetheless the DR is still above the average of Latin America that is 104.
In addition the country has improved by 0.36 percentage points to 61.16 in terms of what the World Bank report looks into Distance to the Frontier ranking or DAF that measures how close country procedures are to the best practices in the world for doing business.
In addition to the electricity issue the country also falls behind in the areas of contract completion and resolution of insolvency. For the next report, in this area the country should improve with the recent passing of a new insolvency law. The report highlights that starting a business was made easier in the DR easier after the requirement for a proof of deposit of capital when establishing a new company was eliminated. Nevertheless, starting a company was made more difficult when legislation set a minimum capital requirement of RD$100,000 (around US$2,855) for limited liability companies (SRLs)
It also criticizes the DR for increasing the building permit fees.
In the credit area, the World Bank says the Dominican Republic improved its credit information system by enacting a new law regulating the protection of personal data and the operation of credit reporting institutions.
In the area of protecting minority investors, it reports the DR has made progress because it has strengthened minority investor protections by introducing greater shareholder rights and requirements for greater corporate transparency.
Nevertheless, when it comes to paying taxes, the report mentions that the Dominican Republic has increased the corporate income tax rate. On the positive side, the report mentions that the DR made trading across borders easier by reducing the number of documents required for exports and imports.
The rankings for the DR (on the list of 1-189 countries) are:
Starting a business (rank) 110
Dealing with construction permits 44
Getting electricity 149
Registering property 82
Getting credit 97
Protecting minority investors 81
Paying taxes 77
Enforcing contracts 115
Trading across borders 52
Resolving insolvency 159
http://www.doingbusiness.org/~/media/GIAWB/Doing%20Business/Documents/Profiles/Regional/DB2016/DB16-Latin-America-and-Caribbean.pdf
http://www.doingbusiness.org/reports/global-reports/~/media/GIAWB/Doing%20Business/Documents/Annual-Reports/English/DB16-Chapters/DB16-Country-Tables.pdf
http://www.doingbusiness.org/reports
http://www.doingbusiness.org/~/media/GIAWB/Doing%20Business/Documents/Profiles/Regional/DB2016/DB16-Latin-America-and-Caribbean.pdf