Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Suriname is 'world leader' in business delay
09-07-2006

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP): Singapore has gained the top place in a World Bank ranking of the best places to do business, compared to the dismal picture for businesses in places like Suriname, the "world leader" for the length of time it takes to set up a business -- 694 days.

The former possession of the Netherlands has never abolished a colonial-era rule that required all business registrations to be approved by the Dutch monarch. Today, the president of Suriname must give his seal of approval.

The Bank's "Doing Business 2007" report underlined that straightforward changes, like enabling investors to set up a company online, could do wonders for a country's business climate and so encourage its economic growth.

"The big picture is that ... the world is getting a much better place to do business," Caralee McLeish, one of the report's authors, told journalists.

"There are countries that are reforming because they're ranking worse than their neighbours," she said, adding that international donors are increasingly tying their aid to indicators detailed in the annual report.

Singapore moved up from second place in last year's report to top overall, swapping places with New Zealand. The United States ranked third, followed by Canada and Hong Kong.

In all the high-ranking countries, an entrepreneur can register a business in days rather than months, and can usually do it online along with paying taxes and filing import and export documents.

The costs of registration are kept low, and there is little or no minimum capital required to set up a company. Property and contract rights are enforced by independent courts.

Another of the report's authors, Simeon Djankov, said the single most important reform countries could undertake would be to emulate countries like Singapore in placing their business, tax and customs applications online.

"That makes tremendous change for very little money," Djankov said, estimating the software costs involved at a uniform 1.0 to 2.0 million dollars regardless of the location.