República Dominicana

Contacts:
In Washington :Carl Hanlon 202-473-8087; chanlon@worldbank.org;
Philip Hay 202-473-1796
phay@worldbank.org

WASHINGTON, October 8, 2008 – High food and fuel prices will increase the number of malnourished people around the world in 2008 by 44 million to reach a total of 967 million, a report from the World Bank says.

While food and fuel price increases may have moderated in recent months, prices remain much higher than previous years and show few signs of declining significantly, according to the report entitled “Rising food and fuel prices: addressing the risks to future generations”. Poor families around the world are being pushed to the brink of survival, causing irreparable damage to the health of millions of children. As families cut back on spending, there are also grave risks for the educational performance of poor children.

“While people in the developed world are focused on the financial crisis, many forget that a human crisis is rapidly unfolding in developing countries. It is pushing poor people to the brink of survival,” said World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick. “The financial crisis will only make it more difficult for developing countries to protect their most vulnerable people from the impact of rising food and fuel costs.”

The report, due to be presented on Sunday to the Development Committee at the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF, says the food and fuel crisis could have long term effects on poor people and countries. Malnourished children cannot develop into healthy adults and become productive members of society who can contribute to the growth needed to lift themselves and their country out of poverty.

The report says priority should be given to a series of targeted measures. These include:

• Making existing targeted cash (or near cash) transfer programs more generous;
• Getting nutrition to infants and pregnant women;
• expanding so-called ”in-kind” food distribution programs including school feeding and the distribution of fortified calorically dense food;
• using fee waivers, lifeline-pricing and other forms of targeted subsidies for poor users/consumers; and
• introducing additional measures to prevent children from dropping out of school, such as fee waivers, subsidies for school inputs, or cash transfers.

The report also argues that allocating the necessary amount of budget to finance an expansion of safety net programs may require pruning less-priority spending in other areas. But it notes that well-designed safety net programs do not have to be prohibitively expensive to be effective. Some of the most successful programs in the world cost well under 1 percent of Gross Domestic Product.   Moreover, investing in safety net programs now will give governments new tools to address not just the current crisis, but future ones as well.

In May, the World Bank launched a $1.2 billion rapid financing facility to help poor countries cope with the food crisis. Since then, around US$850 million has been committed to finance seeds, plantings, and feeding programs. In April, Zoellick called for a New Deal for Global Food Policy that included short, medium and long-term measures to provide immediate help to poor people and farmers while increasing food production.

###

For more information on the Bank's work in nutrition, please visit: www.worldbank.org/nutrition

and for more on social safety nets, click here:     www.worldbank.org/safetynets

Press Release

Contact information:

In Washington, D.C.
Maria Alexandra Velez Henao +1 (202) 458-8789   Rebecca Ong + 1 (202) 458-0434
Cell: +1 (202) 684-4117      Cell: +1(202) 651-1390
E-mail: mvelezhenao@ifc.org     E-mail: rong@ifc.org
Latin America & Caribbean
Adriana Gomez +1(202) 458-5204
Email: agomez@ifc.org

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 10, 2008—Regulatory reforms across the Caribbean show a positive trend, according to Doing Business 2009—the sixth in an annual series of reports published by IFC and the World Bank. The new report identifies six countries in the Caribbean that are becoming active reformers of business regulation, between June 2007 and June 2008.
The Dominican Republic joined the top 10 economies in reforming business regulation for the first time this year, with gains in four of the 10 areas the report studied, including broad tax reforms.  Antigua and Barbuda, Haiti, Jamaica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines also implemented significant reforms that make it easier to do business.  The reforms adopted in Caribbean countries are the following:
• Antigua and Barbuda reduced its corporate income tax rate from 30% to 25%. Area of Reform: Paying Taxes.
• Dominican Republic joins the top 10 economies in reforming business regulation for the first time this year, with gains in four of the 10 areas the report studied, including broad tax reforms. Areas of Reform: Starting a Business, Registering Property, Paying Taxes, Trading across Borders.
• Haiti reduced the time to export by a day, by implementing risk-based inspections in customs.  Area of Reform: Trading across Borders.
• Jamaica, as part of an initiative to improve administrative efficiency, introduced a statutory time limit for issuing building permits, reducing the time required to build a warehouse by 80 days. It also reduced the property transfer tax from 7.5% to 6%, and the stamp duty from 5.5% to 4.5%, of the property value. That cut the cost to transfer property from 13.5% of the property value to 11%.  Areas of Reform: Dealing with Construction Permits, Registering Property.
• St. Vincent and the Grenadines reduced its corporate tax rate from 40% to 37.5%. And it introduced a value-added tax at a standard rate of 15% to replace several existing taxes, including the hotel tax, consumption duty, entertainment tax, stamp duty on receipts, and domestic and international telecommunications surcharge. The country also enacted a bankruptcy law, its first set of rules regulating the bankruptcy of private enterprises. Areas of Reform: Paying Taxes, Closing a Business.
“Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are increasingly committed to reform agendas, and Colombia and El Salvador are key examples,” said Sylvia Solf, lead author of the report. “The region’s most popular area for regulatory reform continues to be facilitating trade, followed by changes that make it easier to start a business,” she added.
Doing Business ranks countries based on 10 indicators of business regulation that track the time and cost to meet government requirements in starting and operating a business, trading across borders, paying taxes, and closing a business. The rankings do not reflect such areas as macroeconomic policy, quality of infrastructure, currency volatility, investor perceptions, or crime rates.
The Latin America and Caribbean perspective
Regulatory reforms are gaining momentum worldwide, and Latin America and the Caribbean region are part of this trend; the new report identifies 30 reforms to business regulation across half the region’s countries during the period analyzed by Doing Business 2009. Colombia is a global leader in reforming business regulations for the second year in a row - and the top Latin America regional reformer. With improvements in five areas covered by the report, it rises to 53 in the global rankings on the ease of doing business. The Bahamas, covered for the first time by the report, makes its debut at 55 in the global rankings.
From Mexico to Panama, countries made it easier to start a business, register property, pay taxes, and conduct trade across borders. El Salvador made significant reforms in starting a business and facilitating trade, while Honduras made key reforms for facilitating trade and paying taxes. Ecuador streamlined the trade process by improving port infrastructure, while Uruguay abolished its minimum capital requirement to incorporate a company and made improvements in tax and trade regulations.
Among regions, Eastern Europe and Central Asia led in reforms of business regulation for a fifth consecutive year, with more than 90 percent of its countries making improvements. And the trend is moving eastward as newcomers join the list of economies making the most reforms: the top 10 are, in order, Azerbaijan, Albania, the Kyrgyz Republic, Belarus, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Egypt.
Singapore leads the global rankings on the overall regulatory ease of doing business for a third consecutive year. New Zealand is runner-up, and the United States third.  The highest-ranking economies in Latin America and the Caribbean are St. Lucia at 34, Puerto Rico at 35, and Chile at 40.
“Economies need rules that are efficient, easy to use, and accessible to all who have to use them. Otherwise, businesses get trapped in the unregulated, informal economy where they have less access to finance and hire fewer workers, and where workers lack the protection of labor law,” said Michael Klein, World Bank/IFC Vice President for Financial and Private Sector Development. “Doing Business encourages good rules, and good rules are a better basis for healthy business than ‘who you know,’” he added.
Doing Business 2009 ranks 181 economies on the overall ease of doing business. The top 25 are, in order, Singapore, New Zealand, the United States, Hong Kong (China), Denmark, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Norway, Iceland, Japan, Thailand, Finland, Georgia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Bahrain, Belgium, Malaysia, Switzerland, Estonia, Korea, Mauritius, and Germany.
Online Media Briefing Center:
Journalists can access the material before the expiration of the embargo through the World Bank Online Media Briefing Center at http://media.worldbank.org
Accredited journalists who do not already have a password may request one by completing the registration form at http://media.worldbank.org
The Doing Business project is based on the efforts of more than 6,700 local experts—business consultants, lawyers, accountants, and government officials—and leading academics around the world who provided methodological support and review. The data, methodology, and names of contributors are publicly available online at www.doingbusiness.org
 
Fact Sheet—Summary of Reforms in the Caribbean

Antigua and Barbuda reduced its corporate income tax rate from 30% to 25%.
Areas of Reform: Paying Taxes
Rank in Doing Business 2009: 43

In The Bahamas no major reform was recorded.
Rank in Doing Business 2009: 55

In Belize no major reform was recorded.
Rank in Doing Business 2009: 78

In Dominica no major reform was recorded.
Rank in Doing Business 2009: 74

The Dominican Republic, a top global and regional reformer, sped up formalities in several areas by making them electronic. An online system for filing and paying taxes, piloted in 2006, is now fully operational. And entrepreneurs can complete several start-up formalities online, including name verification, and commercial and tax registration. The Dominican Republic also reduced the corporate income tax rate from 29% to 25%, and abolished several taxes, including the stamp duty. The cost of property registration fell, thanks to a reduction in the transfer tax from 4.3% to 3%. Transferring property now costs 3.8% of the property value, down from 5.1%. In addition, authorities reduced the time to export by three days by improving the online portal for customs documentation and payment.
Areas of Reform: Starting a Business, Registering Property, Paying Taxes, Trading across Borders
Rank in Doing Business 2009: 97

In Grenada no major reform was recorded.
Rank in Doing Business 2009: 84

In Guyana no major reform was recorded.
Rank in Doing Business 2009: 105

Haiti reduced the time to export by a day, by implementing risk-based inspections in customs.
Areas of Reform: Trading across Borders
Rank in Doing Business 2009: 154

Jamaica, as part of an initiative to improve administrative efficiency, introduced a statutory time limit for issuing building permits, reducing the time required to build a warehouse by 80 days. It also reduced the property transfer tax from 7.5% to 6%, and the stamp duty from 5.5% to 4.5%, of the property value. That cut the cost to transfer property from 13.5% of the property value to 11%.
Areas of Reform: Dealing with Construction Permits, Registering Property
Rank in Doing Business 2009: 63

In St. Kitts and Nevis no major reform was recorded.
Rank in Doing Business 2009: 67

In St. Lucia no major reform was recorded.
Rank in Doing Business 2009: 34

St. Vincent and the Grenadines reduced its corporate tax rate from 40% to 37.5%. And it introduced a value-added tax at a standard rate of 15% to replace several existing taxes, including the hotel tax, consumption duty, entertainment tax, stamp duty on receipts, and domestic and international telecommunications surcharge. The country also enacted a bankruptcy law, its first set of rules regulating the bankruptcy of private enterprises.
Areas of Reform: Paying Taxes, Closing a Business
Rank in Doing Business 2009: 66

In Suriname no major reform was recorded.
Rank in Doing Business 2009: 146

In Trinidad and Tobago no major reform was recorded.
Rank in Doing Business 2009: 80