Haiti lost one position and now occupies the 174th position out of 185 total studied economies in the new Doing Business 2013 report released by the World Bank. Neighboring Dominican Republic holds the 116th position. The top 7 economies with the most business-friendly regulations are Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the United States, Denmark, Norway, and the United Kingdom. This study measures how easy or difficult it is for a local entrepreneur to open and run a business in a particular country.

According to the study, Haiti did not pass any reform this year that would significantly change last year's indicators. Its last reform was in 2011 when Haiti eased business start-up by eliminating the review by the president’s or the prime minister’s office of the incorporation act submitted for publication.

Haiti kept losing positions in the Doing Business reports since 2010 when it was ranked 151st. For 2011 it was ranked 166th, and for 2012, 173rd place. This may not mean that Haiti is doing worse, but that the rest of the world is moving faster.

Haiti continues to rank one of the lowest in terms of ease of starting a business. It is ranked 183rd out of 185 studied economies. The main challenges remain high costs (286.6% of income per capita compared to 33% in other Latin American and Caribbean countries), and the time it takes to start a business - 105 days (compared to 53 days in the region). 

The procedure that takes longest is the Registration with the Commercial Registry at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to obtain the authorization of operations (Droit de fonctionnement). It takes 2-3 weeks for registration and 60 days for publication.

In New Zealand, ranked first in the Starting a Business category, it only takes one procedure: Apply for registration with the Companies Office online, one day, and 0.4% of income per capita to register a business. In the US, it takes 6 procedures and 6 days. In Jamaica, it takes 7 days and only 6.7% of income per capita, the best result in the Caribbean.

Haiti's best result is for "Getting electricity", 71st position where all indicators are quite good compared to the average, except for the extremely high cost, 4599% of income per capita in comparison to 559% of income per capita in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 93% in developed economies.

When it comes to the total tax rate, Haiti's total taxes (40.8% of profit) are lower than average in Latin America and the Caribbean (47.2% of profit), and lower than average tax rate in the developed economies (42.7% of profit), but higher than in many other studied economies. In this category Haiti occupies the 123rd position.

The Doing Business reports measure 10 indicators: the ease of Starting a Business, Dealing with Construction Permits, Getting Electricity, Registering Property, Getting Credit, Protecting Investors, Paying Taxes, Trading Across Borders, Enforcing Contracts, and Resolving Insolvency.
According to the Doing Business 2013, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are the economies in the region with the most business regulatory reforms from June 2011 to June 2012. The Dominican Republic ranks among the 50 economies (out of 185) improving business regulation the most since 2005.

More information about the Doing Business reports is available at www.doingbusiness.org.