Business climate in Costa Rica improving: World Bank

October 30^th, 2013 (InsideCostaRica.com) The Government of Costa Rica celebrated yesterday after the country climbed seven spots on a World Bank report that ranks the business climate in 185 countries worldwide.

Costa Rica climbed from 109^th to 102^nd in the “Doing Business 2014” report issued by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank this week, which assesses progress made against excessive bureaucracy in doing business.

“The improvement of the country in regulatory matters for the second consecutive year, demonstrates the success of the strategy outlined by the Government with the support of various sectors, and changes the trend of previous years where Costa Rica was losing competitiveness due to excessive paperwork in the public sector,” President Laura Chinchilla said in a statement.

The ranking assesses various matters of doing business in the country.

Costa Rica’s biggest improvement was in the issuing of building permits, climbing from 119^th place last year to 82^nd this year.

The report also said that Costa Rica has improved in the ease to create a company, rising from 126^th to 102^nd.

The Government said that it expects Costa Rica will continue to improve in the coming years due to a series of measures to increase competitiveness, part of the “National Strategy for Regulatory Reform.”

The World Bank report said that Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the United States and Denmark remain the countries with the most favorable regulations for business.

In Latin America, Chile (34), Peru (42), and Colombia (43) top the list.