JAMAICA dipped two places to rank 81 in the new Doing Business Report 2011 representing its sixth year of decline despite ongoing improvements in property registration.

The World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) which published the report yesterday lauded Singapore for topping the list for the fifth consecutive year. It also lauded Jamaica as a top 10 real estate reformer but still ranked the country as the tenth worst place to pay taxes worldwide — Belarus is the worst.

“Registration for simple property sales is now possible in two days, down from seven,” stated the report on the island.

“Jamaica eased the transfer of property by lowering transfer taxes and fees, offering expedited registration procedures and making information from the company registrar available online.”

A good place to do business in the region

Regionally doing business in Jamaica remains fairly competitive ranking 11 and six among Latin America and the Caribbean respectively. It also continued to rank higher than the Caribbean’s most industrial economy Trinidad & Tobago at 97 (95 in 2010).

The top countries to do business in the region are led by Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Chile and Puerto Rico, St Lucia, Antigua & Barbuda, Panama, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Bahamas and Jamaica.

Jamaica hurt by crime and drugs has seen its international competitiveness falter from 48 in 2006 to 81 in the Doing Business Report 2011, but similarly affected countries such as Colombia rose from 66 to 39 in 2011 following the introduction of a slate of reforms which improved business and reduced drug control.

The Doing Business 2011: Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs, is the eighth in a series of annual reports but it only started ranking nations six years ago.

The Doing Business report analyses regulations that apply to an economy’s businesses during their life cycle, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes, and closing a business.

Jamaica’s ranking decline mirrors other reports including the United Nation’s Human Development Index (HDI) at 100 in 2009 from 92 in 2006 and the Global Information Technology Report 2009-10 down 13 places to rank 66. Jamaica is also projected to grow the seventh slowest in the world up to 2015 according to World Economic Outlook October 2010 published by the International Monetary Fund.

Bill Clinton former US president in his address in Kingston last week said that Jamaica must focus on improving at least one of its systems in order to improve its global competitiveness. Systems foster development and are the real difference between Haiti, Jamaica and the US, he said.

“Governments in the Caribbean, as elsewhere, have been picking up the pace of improvements to business regulation to empower local entrepreneurs,” he further added.

Sylvia Solf, lead author of the report said: “Small island states such as Grenada, Cape Verde, and Brunei Darussalam have been paying attention to the quality of business regulation to make their economies more competitive and to support greater job creation by local firms.”

Around the world, governments in 117 economies carried out 216 business regulation reforms aimed at making it easier to start and operate a business, strengthening transparency and property rights, and improving the efficiency of commercial dispute resolution and bankruptcy procedures, the report stated.

The 40 most-improved economies in those five years include China, the Arab Republic of Egypt, Nigeria, and India, which together account for more than 40 per cent of the world’s population. Colombia and Peru have also been among the world’s most consistent reformers of business regulation. The World Bank Group is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries.

Jamaica’s historical ranking over six years included:

* 48 from 155 countries in the 2006 report;

* 50 from 175 countries in the 2007 report;

* 62 from 178 countries in the 2008 report;

* 63 from 181 countries in the 2009 report;

* 78 from 183 countries in the 2010 report (listed as 75 in the original report); and

* 81 from 183 countries in the 2011 report.