CaribWorldNews, NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. Sept. 10, 2009: Trying to do business in Haiti or Suriname? Well you may want to think again after reading the latest `Doing Business 2010` report.

The annual report analyzing  the ease of doing business in 183 economies around the globe, shows that in the Caribbean, the South American nation of Suriname and the poverty-stricken country of Haiti are by far the worst.

Both countries scored poorly not just overall, but when it came to simple issues, such as starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting credit, protecting investors and closing a business.

On a scale of 1 – 183, with one being the best to do business with ease, Haiti and Suriname registered 29 and 30 on the Latin America and Caribbean rank, respectively but a whopping 154 and 148 on the general list. When it came to simply starting a business, the report claims that simple chore could take over 195 days compared to some 13 days in OECD countries.

In Suriname, starting a business is simply worst and could reportedly run some 694 days.  However, while Haiti dropped further down the ranks this year, by some three points, Suriname actually improved slightly to move up seven points from last year.

Think that`s not bad? Well compare those numbers to other Caribbean nations like Puerto Rico, which registered at one and St. Lucia, which was ranked at two in the Latin America/Caribbean pool and overall at 33 and 34 globally.

Antigua & Barbuda received a five on the scale while the Bahamas came in at 8 on the Caribbean list and 44 and 59 globally.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines was ranked at 9 while Jamaica was given a 10 on the LatAm list but registered at 62 and 67 globally respectively. St. Kitts & Nevis came in at 11 while Belize and Trinidad & Tobago ranked 13 and 14, respectively in the Caribbean/Latin American pool and worldwide at 70, 75 and 78 overall, with improvements over last year.

Dominica was given a 15 while the Dominican Republic scored 17 in the Caribbean pool and 76 and 102 overall respectively.  The DR dropped 17 points down the global rank even though it saw some improvement on its start-up procedures for businesses.

Grenada and Guyana were 18 and 19, respectively on the Latin American/Caribbean pooling but 88 and 98 overall. Still both countries saw improvements in their business procedures in some quarters. Grenada still lagged woefully behind when it came to getting credit, enforcing contracts and closing a business while Guyana lagged in areas of paying taxes as well as getting credit and closing a business. 

Barbados was not listed in the report and neither were the dependent territories in the region. 

The rankings are from the Doing Business 2010 report, covering the period June 2008 through May 2009. Doing Business analyzes regulations that apply to an economy`s businesses during their life cycles, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes, and closing a business.