Best business environment: Panama

Panama has long been recognized, for the ease, with which companies can do business across borders. Now, Panama has strengthened its position as a good place to do business, by adding several improvements in its systems of taxation and registration, and by increasing the degree of legal certainty.

The result is that Panama is at the top of the list, in terms of business environment in Central America, according to the Doing Business 2012 rankings, released this week by the World Bank.

Panama moved up two spots since last year, reaching number 61 in the global list. Next on the regional level is Guatemala, which dropped four places from 93 to 97, and El Salvador, which remained in position 112.

The world leader is Singapore, followed by Hong Kong and New Zealand.

In Latin America, Chile had the best performance, finishing in 39th place, followed by Peru in position 41.


The figures represent the position of each country in Central America in the global list.

1. Panama (61)
2. Guatemala (97)
3. El Salvador (112)
4. Nicaragua (118)
5. Costa Rica (121)
6. Honduras (128)