Guyana continues to slide in the world rankings for the ease of doing business, falling five places to 137 in the latest listing of 189 countries.
According to the World Bank’s ‘Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency’ report, Guyana is ranked at 137, having been ranked at 132 last year. Last year’s ranking of 123 was adjusted to 132 based on data corrections.
The World Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ reports 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 minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labour market regulation.
Guyana’s business climate has been worsening and its ranking has been dropping in the reports over the past few years.
According to the report, Guyana is ranked at 92 in the area of starting a business. The ranking was 87 last year. There are seven procedures that must be undertaken and it takes 18 days to start a business. Seven procedures are needed to get a construction permit and these take 198 days. To get electricity for one’s business also involves eight procedures and 109 days. Guyana stands at 125 in the ranking of 189 economies on the ease of registering property and the report says registering property takes some 75 days and there are six procedures involved.
Guyana is listed at 167 in the ranking of 189 economies on the ease of getting credit. The economy has a score of 0 on the depth of credit information index and a score of 3 on the strength of legal rights index. For this area, higher scores indicate more credit information and stronger legal rights for borrowers and lenders.
As it relates to paying taxes, the report says on average, firms make 35 tax payments a year, spend 256 hours a year filing, preparing and paying taxes and pay total taxes amounting to 32.3% of profit. Globally, Guyana stands at 117 in the ranking of 189 economies on the ease of paying taxes.
Meanwhile, Guyana stands at 139 in the ranking of 189 economies on the ease of trading across borders. It takes less money to import than to export and the time to import is also less than the time to export.
As it relates to enforcing contracts, the report says the time period is 581 days. Globally, Guyana stands at 87 in the ranking of 189 economies on the ease of enforcing contracts. It takes three years to resolve insolvency, according to the report.
