To begin with, Panama is best option

A company needs an average of no more than eight days to start operations in Panama.

Largely because of the speed, with which an investor can register his or her company, Panama is considered one of the best places in Latin America to launch a business, according to ranking "Doing Business 2012, published earlier this month by the World Bank.

First place worldwide goes to New Zealand, where starting a business takes about a day.

Chile, where registration takes a week, comes first in Latin America.

In the global list, Panama is ranked 29th, ahead of Central American neighbors such as Costa Rica, which ranks second in the isthmus and 122d in the world, even though the time needed to register a business - 12 days – is not much longer than that of Panama.

For the study, the Bank analyzed the number of days that requires a company to register their operation, the number of steps involved, the registration fee and the minimum capital requirement.

The figures represent the place in the global list occupied by each Central American country on the process required to start a business.

1. Panama (29)
2. Costa Rica (122)
3. Nicaragua (130)
4. El Salvador (136)
5. Honduras (150)
6. Guatemala (165)