Global Competitiveness Report Underscores Advances in Business and Innovation

The Dominican Republic stood out in the Global Competitiveness Report of 2008-2009 by placing 47th among 134 countries in the area of time required to open a new business, obtaining an increase of 62 votes compared to last year when we occupied 109th position in the world ranking published by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

“If the Dominican Republic strengthens its achievements thanks to the agility offered by the Crea Tu Empresa website and if we continue strengthening relations in the public and private sectors, we will see how the Dominican Republic will continue to achieve an enviable position in Latin America….”

The country went up 7 places, from 65 to 58, in the quantity of transactions needed to open a company. These advances were produced in the pillar of efficiency of the commerce markets. In measuring the innovation and sophistication factors, we also moved up ten places to number 86 from last year´s report in which we were in the 96th position.

Secretary of State and Director of the National Competitiveness Council (CNC), Andrés van der Horst Álvarez said the report “invites and encourages us to continue working in a better environment for business, infrastructure and innovation, the axis that has allowed us to improve our competitive position in the world.”

“If the Dominican Republic strengthens its achievements thanks to the agility offered by the Crea Tu Empresa website and if we continue strengthening relations in the public and private sectors, we will see how the Dominican Republic will continue to achieve an enviable position in Latin America. For this to happen, we must continue encouraging and promoting the best, which up until now, the CNC and the government have been doing,” emphasized  van der Horst Álvarez.

A press release from the CNC indicated that “this significant advance is due to the reforms made by the Dominican Republic in an effort to improve the business climate, including the creation of the website Crea Tu Empresa (Start Your Own Business) which has allowed for the creation of new online companies to get started within a period of 78 hours. At the same time, improvement in electronic, online payment of taxes and the registration of property and copyrights have also made for faster business development.”

Other areas in which the Dominican Republic demonstrated a position of stability are the pillars of efficiency in the labor market and infrastructure. In the former, we occupy 31st place in that which has to do with cooperation between the workforce and management and 37th place in hiring and dismissal practices. In the latter, we are in 37th place in quality of infrastructure of air transportation and 64th in road quality. The infrastructure of ports occupied 74th place among the 134 countries.

WEF Publishes 2009 Global Competitiveness Report

The Global Competitiveness Report, published annually, is an international reference used to compare the competitive edge of the 134 economies from around the world, classifying countries according to the scores obtained in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI). The measures are based on evaluations of twelve pillars, or factors, of competitiveness which cover institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, human resources and training, marketing efficiency as well as the sophistication of business plans and the level of innovation in each nation. 

On this occasion, the Dominican Republic occupied the 98th position among 134 nations. In the 2007-2008 version of the report we occupied 96th place out of 131 countries. Despite the drop in position in the global competitiveness ranking, it must be noted that our decline is relative in that this year other economies have been included and other nations have also advanced in their competitive efforts.