2011年-世界发展银行全球_Enterprise_Surveys___Ecuador_Country_Profile_2010_15页_835kb

Ecuador Country Profile 2010 Summary

Core Content Overview

The Ecuador Country Profile 2010 is part of the Enterprise Surveys conducted by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). These surveys aim to evaluate the business environment and firm productivity across various sectors, providing insights for policymakers and researchers to improve economic performance.

The document focuses on non-agricultural formal private firms, covering key areas such as business environment obstacles, infrastructure, trade, regulations, taxes, and business licensing, corruption, crime and informality, finance, and innovation and workforce. It compares Ecuador’s performance with its regional average (Latin America & Caribbean) and income group (Lower middle income).

Main Topics and Key Indicators

1. Business Environment Obstacles

• Top Constraints: Firms in Ecuador face challenges related to corruption, regulations, and business licensing.
• Benchmarking: Ecuador’s business environment is compared to regional and income group averages, highlighting areas where it may lag or perform better.

2. Average Firm

• Firm Age: The average firm age is 16.5 years, with small firms averaging 13.3 years and large firms averaging 29.0 years.
• Ownership: 89.3% of firms are privately owned, with 10.7% being foreign-owned and 0.0% being government-owned.
• Gender Participation: 17.0% of firms have female top managers, and 24.1% have female participation in ownership.

3. Infrastructure

• Electricity: Firms face 2.6 power outages per month, with 3.9% of sales lost due to these outages.
• Water Supply: 1.1 water shortages per month, with an average duration of 3.0 hours.
• Service Delays: Delays in obtaining electricity (10.7 days), water (24.4 days), and telephone connections (9.8 days) are significant, affecting operational efficiency.

4. Trade

• Exporter Firms: 7.3% of firms export directly or indirectly.
• Foreign Inputs: 80.8% of firms use foreign material inputs or supplies.
• Customs Delays: The average time to clear direct exports is 18.2 days, and imports take 18.2 days.
• Export Losses: 0.9% of exports are lost due to theft, and 0.3% due to breakage or spoilage.

5. Regulations, Taxes, and Business Licensing

• Permits and Licenses: The time to obtain an import license is 16.6 days, construction-related permits take 111.3 days, and operating licenses take 30.0 days.
• Government Interaction: Senior management spends 22.5% of their time dealing with government regulatory requirements.
• Tax Inspections: The average number of visits with tax officials is 0.8.
• Corporate Structure: 55.5% of firms are closed shareholding companies, 39.8% are partnerships, and 3.6% are open shareholding companies.

6. Corruption

• Graft Index: 1.6% of firms in Ecuador were asked or expected to pay bribes when applying for public services, compared to 6.6% regionally and 15.8% in the income group.
• Bribe Payments:
  • 0.4% of firms expect to give gifts in meetings with tax inspectors.
  • 2.3% expect to give gifts to secure government contracts.
  • 3.0% expect to give gifts to obtain a construction permit.
  • 1.1% expect to give gifts to get an import license.
  • 1.3% expect to give gifts to get an operating license.

7. Crime and Informality

• Court Fairness: 18.8% of firms believe the court system is fair, impartial, and uncorrupted.
• Security Costs: 1.6% of sales are spent on security.
• Losses from Crime: 1.0% of sales are lost due to theft, robbery, vandalism, and arson.
• Informality: 85.1% of firms are formally registered when starting operations, indicating a moderate level of informality in the economy.

8. Finance

• Internal Finance: 47.8% of firms use internal finance for investment.
• Bank Finance: 13.1% of firms use bank finance for investment.
• Working Capital: 52.9% of firms use external financing for working capital.
• Collateral Requirements: 209.5% of the loan amount is required as collateral.
• Bank Access: 48.9% of firms have bank loans or lines of credit, and 100.0% have checking or savings accounts.

9. Innovation and Workforce

• Quality Certification: 9.7% of firms have internationally recognized quality certification.
• External Audits: 47.9% of firms have their financial statements reviewed by an external auditor.
• Website Usage: 48.7% of firms use their own website.
• Email Usage: 99.5% of firms use email for communication.
• Workforce Composition:
  • 2.2 temporary workers on average.
  • 42.1 permanent full-time workers on average.
  • 35.6% of full-time workers are women.

Key Takeaways

• Corruption is a major obstacle, though Ecuador’s level is lower than the regional average.
• Infrastructure deficiencies affect firm productivity and increase operational costs.
• Trade is relatively limited, with only 7.3% of firms exporting directly.
• Regulatory and licensing processes are lengthy and burdensome, particularly for construction permits.
• Informality is present but not as high as in some other countries.
• Access to finance is moderate, with bank finance playing a significant role.
• Innovation and workforce practices show room for improvement, especially in quality certification and workforce diversity.