Dominican Republic gets star rating in Trade Eenvironment

From Latin Business Chronicle
Dominican Today / Sep 26 2008

The dynamicCaucedo Multimodal Port, a boost to trade environment.

Zoom Picture MIAMI.- The Dominican Republic and Panama are the best countries in Latin America when it comes to the time necessary to export containerized goods, according to a Latin Business Chronicle analysis of new data from The World Bank. It typically takes nine days to export a container from the Dominican Republic and Panama. Meanwhile, it takes ten days to import a container in the Dominican Republic, which is the second-best time in Latin America after Panama (where it typically takes nine days).

When also factoring factors like the cost and documents needed for exporting and importing containers, the Dominican Republic has the second-best trade environment in Latin America after Panama, according to the Latin Business Chronicle analysis of the 2009 version of the World Bank's Doing business survey.

It typically takes six documents to export a container from the Dominican Republic. That's less that countries like Costa Rica and Peru, but more than countries like Chile and Mexico. To import a container, the average number of Dominican documents needed are seven, which is the same as in countries like Chile and Brazil and less than nations like Colombia and Costa Rica. However, it's more than required in countries like Panama and Mexico.

When it comes to cost, the Dominican Republic compares favorably to countries like Brazil and Mexico. A container typically costs $916 to export from the country and $1,150 to import. Countries that have lower costs for both include Panama, Chile, El Salvador and Peru.

While the Dominican Republic is a star when it comes to trade environment, its neighbor Haiti is among the worst countries in Latin America. It ranks as the second-worst in the region in overall trade environment. Only Venezuela is worse, according to the Latin Business Chronicle analysis.