GREAT ECONOMIC NEWS for JA: Jamaica ranks 64th in the Wold in Doing Business Report....Tops independent region again .... "Jamaica, one of the 10 top improvers worldwide, reformed in four areas measured by Doing Business,"

BY STEVEN JACKSON Business reporter jacksons@jamaicaobserver.com  Wednesday, October 28, 2015   

Jamaica jumped seven spots to 64th in the world in the prestigious Doing Business Report 2016 which actually betters Panama, the fastest-growing country in Latin America.

"Jamaica, one of the 10 top improvers worldwide, reformed in four areas measured by Doing Business," stated the study published yesterday by the World Bank and its IFC affiliate.

Jamaica made paying taxes easier and less costly by encouraging taxpayers to pay their taxes online, introducing an employment tax credit, and increasing the depreciation rate for industrial buildings, the document stated. It added that the island made resolving insolvency easier through several initiatives, including the establishment of a public office responsible for the general administration of insolvency proceedings.

It's the second consecutive year of rapid ascension for the island implementing a number of reforms influenced by multilateral conditionalities. Prior to the rise in ranking, the island dipped in ranking for nine straight years.

Nowadays the island represents a case study for successfully implementing procedures seen as important by the World Bank in facilitating business.

"Jamaica excels in the areas of getting credit and starting a business, ranking among the top 10 economies worldwide. Incorporating a company in Jamaica takes only three days and two interactions with government agencies," states the notes about the 2016 report.

The ranking for the island becomes increasingly significant when compared to the Caribbean average rank of 108. For instance, the fastest-growing country in the Caribbean, Dominican Republic, ranks 93rd; one of the most developed independent nations in the region -- Barbados -- ranks 119th; and oil-rich Trinidad ranks at 88th. St Lucia, a country like Jamaica which languishes from negative and low growth scored the second highest among independent Caribbean at 77th. For full disclosure Puerto Rico scored 57 or the highest in the Caribbean, but that's discounted as it's a US territory.

The economies with the region's lowest rankings are Haiti at 182, Grenada at 135 and St Kitts and Nevis at 124. more