The Americas

Doing Business in Latin America, de la última columna de Anastasia en la que se refiere al reporte anual del Banco Mundial donde se mide el clima de negocios en el mundo:

Peru moved up 13 places, but it still ranks a lowly 158th in the regulatory burden of "employing workers" and 135th in "paying taxes." For a medium-sized business to be tax compliant in Peru requires 53 payments, taking 424 hours and costing 40.80% of gross profit. Like its neighbors, Peru doesn't need foreign aid. It needs a leader to take a machete to its red tape.

These countries constitute the good news in the region. The rest of the hemisphere has an even grimmer profile. Costa Rica and Ecuador made zero net reforms over the past 12 months while Venezuela and Bolivia both lost ground. Venezuela dropped 20 places and now has the honor of ranking below Zimbabwe (153). In the "paying taxes" category the survey finds that Venezuelan "entrepreneurs must make 68 payments, spend 864 hours and pay 51.92% of gross profit." To enforce a contract it takes 41 steps and 435 days.

Most troubling for the region is the performance of the South American giant, Brazil. As a middle-income democracy with a young, talented, eager population and a world-class industrial sector, Brazil ought to "get it" by now. But its rankings on paying taxes, starting a business, getting credit and registering property are all worse this year and its overall rank moves up only one place. No wonder the government is always broke and poverty in the favelas is booming.