Costa Rica first in ease of doing business

Costa Rica is the  leader in Central America and 62d of 190 countries in the World Bank's 2017 Doing Business ranking.

Costa Rica did best in the “getting credit” category, were it scored 85 points out of 100.

Panama with 66 points placed second in the region and 70th worldwide, followed by Guatemala in 88th place.

Mexico is the top Latin American country in this year's ranking, while Nicaragua is last.

Globally, New Zealand is considered as the most convenient place to do business, while Somalia is the worst.

Some of the factors evaluated in the study are the ease of starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors and paying taxes (numbers in brackets indicate each country’s position in the global ranking).

1            Costa Rica (62)
2            Panama (70)
3            Guatemala (88)
4            El Salvador (95)
5            Honduras (105)
6            Nicaragua (127)