2016年-世界发展银行全球_Doing_Business_Economy_Profile_2017___Dominica_94页_1mb

Doing Business 2017: Summary of Dominica's Business Environment

Core Content

The Doing Business 2017 report, published by the World Bank Group, evaluates the regulatory environment for small to medium-sized businesses across 190 economies, including Dominica. It focuses on 11 key areas of business regulation, such as starting a business, getting electricity, registering property, and resolving insolvency. The report provides both rankings and distance to frontier (DTF) scores, which measure the gap between an economy's current regulatory practices and the best-in-class performance.

The report also introduces a gender dimension in several indicators, reflecting how women may face different procedural burdens than men when starting a business, registering property, or enforcing contracts. Additionally, a new postfiling process component is added to the paying taxes indicator, covering tax refunds, audits, and appeals.

Main Topics and Indicators Covered

• Starting a Business: Dominica's rank dropped from 58 in 2016 to 64 in 2017, with a DTF score of 89.26. It requires 5 procedures for both men and women, taking 12 days and costing 15.7% of income per capita.
• Dealing with Construction Permits: Dominica's rank remained stable at 90, with a DTF score of 69.09. It requires 10 procedures, taking 175 days and costing 0.1% of warehouse value.
• Getting Electricity: Dominica's rank was 61 in 2017, with a DTF score of 79.26. It requires 5 procedures, taking 61 days and costing 479.7% of income per capita.
• Registering Property: Dominica's rank was 164, with a DTF score of 43.39. It requires 5 procedures, taking 42 days and costing 13.3% of property value.
• Getting Credit: Dominica's rank was 139, with a DTF score of 30.00. It requires no credit registry coverage and has a low strength of legal rights index (6.0/12).
• Protecting Minority Investors: Dominica's rank was 70, with a DTF score of 56.67. It scores 5.7 on the minority investor protection index (0-10).
• Paying Taxes: Dominica's rank was 111, with a DTF score of 67.38. It requires 37 payments per year, taking 117 hours and having a total tax rate of 35.2% of profit.
• Trading Across Borders: Dominica's rank was 80, with a DTF score of 74.26. It takes 36 hours for export border compliance and 39 hours for import border compliance.
• Enforcing Contracts: Dominica's rank was 79, with a DTF score of 59.17. It takes 681 days and costs 36% of claims.
• Resolving Insolvency: Dominica's rank was 128, with a DTF score of 34.19. It takes 4 years and costs 10% of estate.

Key Findings

• Dominica's ease of doing business ranking dropped from 95 in 2016 to 101 in 2017, indicating a slight decline in the business environment.
• The distance to frontier (DTF) score for Dominica was 60.27 in 2017, a decrease of 0.25 from 2016.
• Dominica performs relatively poorly in several areas, including registering property and getting credit, compared to comparator economies like Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, and Jamaica.
• The labor market regulation indicators are not included in the aggregate ranking but are presented in the economy profile.
• Gender-specific procedures are included in the report, showing that both men and women face similar procedural burdens in most areas, though some economies have more onerous processes for women.
• New Zealand is highlighted as the best performer globally in most indicators, with scores ranging from 99.96 to 100.

Methodology and Limitations

• The report uses standardized assumptions to ensure valid comparisons across economies.
• It does not cover all aspects of the business environment, such as proximity to large markets, infrastructure quality (beyond electricity and construction permits), or macroeconomic stability.
• The DTF score provides a more detailed view of how much an economy has improved or regressed in regulatory practices over time compared to the best performers.
• Data in the report is current as of June 1, 2016, except for paying taxes, which covers the period January–December 2015.

Comparative Insights

• Dominica's performance is compared to other Caribbean economies such as Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Jamaica, Puerto Rico (U.S.), St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
• The best performers in the report include New Zealand, Korea, Rep., Luxembourg, and Singapore, which serve as benchmarks for improvement.
• Dominica's procedures, time, and costs are generally higher than those of its comparator economies, especially in areas like registering property and getting credit.

Conclusion

The Doing Business 2017 report highlights the challenges Dominica faces in improving its business environment, particularly in areas like property registration, credit access, and contract enforcement. While the report does not include labor market regulation in the overall ranking, it provides valuable insights into the regulatory burden and costs associated with doing business in Dominica. The introduction of a gender component and postfiling processes adds a new dimension to the analysis, emphasizing the importance of inclusive and efficient regulatory frameworks. Policymakers in Dominica can use this data to identify areas for reform and improve the ease of doing business for all entrepreneurs.