2016年-世界发展银行全球_Enterprise_Surveys___El_Salvador_Country_Profile_2016_12页_528kb

El Salvador 2016 Enterprise Survey Summary

Core Content

The El Salvador 2016 Enterprise Survey, conducted by the World Bank Group, provides an overview of key business environment indicators across different firm sizes and sectors. It compares El Salvador's performance to its geographic region (Latin America & Caribbean) and income group (Lower middle income). The survey focuses on the experiences of businesses in the non-agricultural, formal, private economy, with interviews conducted with top managers and business owners from 719 firms between March and August 2016.

Main Topics Covered

• Firm Characteristics: Age, gender diversity, and workforce composition.
• Workforce: Number of employees, formal training, and manager experience.
• Firm Performance: Sales and employment growth.
• Physical Infrastructure: Reliability and efficiency of electricity and water supply.
• International Trade: Export and import activities, customs procedures.
• Access to Finance: Sources of financing, use of financial services.
• Crime and Informality: Security costs and competition from informal firms.
• Regulations, Permits, and Taxes: Time spent on regulatory compliance, number of meetings with tax officials.
• Corruption: Incidence of bribery and informal payments.
• Business Environment Obstacles: Identification of the most significant challenges.

Key Findings

Firm Characteristics

• Age of firms: The average age of firms is 21.7 years.
• Gender diversity:
  • 38.4% of firms have female participation in ownership.
  • 28.0% of firms have a female top manager.
  • 34.7% of permanent full-time workers are female.
• Workforce composition:
  • 53.8% of firms offer formal training.
  • The proportion of workers offered formal training is 68.3%.
  • The average experience of top managers in the firm's sector is 21.2 years.

Workforce

• Employment:
  • 30.5% of firms have permanent full-time workers.
  • 3.0% of firms have temporary workers.
• Gender distribution:
  • 37.8% of permanent full-time non-production workers are female.
  • 28.4% of permanent full-time production workers are female.
  • 24.3% of production workers are unskilled.

Firm Performance

• Annual sales growth: 3.1% on average.
• Annual employment growth: 1.5% on average.

Physical Infrastructure

• Electricity:
  • 1.2 electrical outages occur per month.
  • Losses due to electrical outages are 0.5% of annual sales.
  • It takes an average of 35.4 days to obtain an electrical connection.
• Water:
  • 4.9 water insufficiencies occur per month.
  • It takes an average of 10.6 days to obtain an import license.

International Trade

• Export and import activities:
  • 16.5% of firms export directly or indirectly.
  • 67.9% of firms use foreign material inputs or supplies.
• Customs procedures:
  • It takes an average of 2.9 days to clear direct exports through customs.
  • It takes an average of 18.0 days to clear imports through customs.

Access to Finance

• Financial services:
  • 83.6% of firms have a checking or savings account.
  • 40.2% of firms have a bank loan or line of credit.
• Financing sources:
  • 62.3% of investment is financed internally.
  • 20.0% of investment is financed by banks.
  • 11.3% of investment is financed by supplier credit.

Crime and Informality

• Security costs: 3.2% of annual sales.
• Losses due to theft and vandalism: 0.8% of annual sales.
• Informality:
  • 67.7% of firms compete against unregistered or informal firms.
  • 83.3% of firms were formally registered when they started operations.

Regulations, Permits, and Taxes

• Regulatory compliance:
  • 11.2% of senior management time is spent on government regulatory requirements.
  • 0.9 visits or meetings with tax officials per firm.
• Permits:
  • 98.0 days to obtain a construction-related permit.
  • 30.9 days to obtain an operating license.

Corruption

• Bribery incidence: 4.2% of firms experienced at least one bribe payment request.
• Gifts:
  • 9.4% of firms expect to give gifts to get a construction permit.
  • 15.2% of firms expect to give gifts to secure a government contract.
  • 0.7% of firms expect to give gifts in meetings with tax officials.

Business Environment Obstacles

• Top obstacles:
  • Access to finance: 5.4% of firms consider it the biggest obstacle.
  • Crime, theft, and disorder: 28.6% of firms consider it the biggest obstacle.
  • Corruption: 3.9% of firms consider it the biggest obstacle.
  • Customs and trade regulations: 4.6% of firms consider it the biggest obstacle.
  • Business licenses and permits: 4.3% of firms consider it the biggest obstacle.

Summary

The Enterprise Survey for El Salvador in 2016 highlights the challenges and opportunities faced by firms in the country. The survey provides valuable insights into the business environment, workforce characteristics, firm performance, and access to key services such as finance and infrastructure. It also identifies the main obstacles to business growth, including access to finance, crime, and corruption. The findings suggest that while there is a relatively high level of formal registration and access to financial services, challenges in regulatory compliance, infrastructure reliability, and corruption persist. These insights can guide policymakers in improving the business environment and fostering private sector growth.