Panama, Uruguay and Dominican Republic improve their business climate, while Venezuela worsens.
Panama has replaced Chile as the Latin American country with the best business climate, according to the fifth annual Latin Business Index from Latin Business Chronicle.
The index of 19 countries is the broadest measure of business climate in Latin America. Rather than looking at the size of a country’s GDP or GDP per capita, it looks at five key categories and 27 subcategories to measure the recent, current and future business environment in a country. They are:
- Macro Environment (GDP growth 2008 and 2009, estimated growth this year and forecasted growth next year, inflation 2008 and 2009, estimated inflation this year and forecasted inflation next year).
- Corporate Environment (corporate tax rates, access to capital for entrepreneurs, ease of doing business (including starting and closing a business) and economic freedom).
- Globalization & Competitiveness (globalization, competitiveness, tariffs, education/ health and security for companies and business executives).
- Technology Level (PC, Internet, broadband, wireless and fixed telephony penetration).
- Political Environment (political freedom, political stability, political outlook, business policies of government and corruption).
