Costa Rica and Panama are the economies of the region where businessmen find it easier to develop business, followed by El Salvador and Guatemala, and in the last two places, Honduras and Nicaragua.

The World Bank announced the results of the Doing Business 2019 report, which measures the regulations that favor or restrict the development of business activity in different countries. Doing Business consists of quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of private property rights, comparable in 190 economies.

A rating close to 1 means that regulations in the field of business enable the opening of companies and their activities

Central America situation:

After publishing in the 2018 report a slight improvement in the global ranking, going up from 62 to 61, in the last report Costa Rica worsened, falling from 61 to 67. However, the country is still the best positioned country in Central America.
See: “Costa Rica in Doing Business 2019 report”

Panama is the second ranked country in the region, as the global ranking registered no variations with respect to the previous year’s report, remaining in 79th place. In the case of the global index, which refers to the rating the country receives according to the factors evaluated, a slight increase of 0.4% was reported between 2018 and 2019.
See: “Panama in Doing Business 2019 report”

After the significant progress registered in El Salvador between 2016 and 2017, when the country increased from 95th to 73rd position, this year a setback is reported, falling to 85th position in the global index.
See “El Salvador in Doing Business 2019 report.”

Guatemala is the fourth best rated economy in the region, ranking 98th in the global ranking. Regarding the rating reflected in the global index, reported an improvement of 1% over that recorded in the 2018 report.
See “Guatemala in the Doing Business 2019 report.”

Honduras kept falling in the global ranking, since in the most recent report ranked 121. In last year’s report had fallen ten places with respect to the position in 2017, reflecting the decline in the conditions for doing business in this country.
See “Honduras in the Doing Business 2019 report”

Nicaragua is the worst ranked country in Central America, since in the 2019 report was ranked 132. Its slight fall in the ranking is followed by the decline from position 127 to 131 recorded in the 2018 report.
See “Nicaragua in the Doing Business 2019 report“.

See Doing Business 2019.