Hello, and welcome back to the Latin America Weekly newsletter. In this issue: business complexity, surprises in Chile, dodgy elections in Nicaragua, and turmoil in Bolivia.
Latin America leads world in business complexity
The complexity with which companies need to deal with when doing business in Brazil is something we’ve discussed at length on The Brazilian Report. But the problem appears to be part of a broader regional trend. Per the two latest Global Business Complexity Index reports by consultancy TMF Group, six out of the top 10 most complex countries to do business in are found in Latin America.
- The index rates 77 countries according to “legislation, compliance, accounting procedures, tax regimes, human resources rules, and payroll procedures.”
Why it matters. “Countries move up and down in the ranking, but some Latin American nations generally remain at the top,” says TMF Group regional director Andrea Gurovich, speaking to The Brazilian Report. That shows a deeply-rooted problem with regional economies.
- According to Ms. Gurovich, the overarching themes explaining these high rankings are frequent changes in regulation (particularly with regards to taxation), lower government digitalization, and the multiple levels of bureaucracy that businesses have to deal with at a national,...