Doing Business in Small Island Developing States 2008

A new report from Doing Business finds that small island developing states perform well in three Doing Business areas: dealing with licenses, employing workers and paying taxes; and relatively well on the ease of starting a business, protecting investors, and trading across borders. Priorities for reform in most of these countries are closing a business, getting credit, registering property, and enforcing contracts.

Doing Business in Small Island Developing States 2008 draws on data from the global Doing Business project and database, as well as the findings of Doing Business 2008, an annual report published by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. This report is the result of requests by the Government of Iceland, and was produced with support from Iceland’s Island Growth Initiative. Doing Business analyzes government regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it in 178 countries, including 32 SIDS economies: Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Cape Verde, Comoros, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Kiribati, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, São Tomé and Principe, Singapore, St.Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, and Vanuatu.

These countries can learn from each other. If they were to adopt the practices of each top performer in the region on the ten areas measured by Doing Business, they would rank second globally on the overall ease of doing business. This means adopting Mauritius's company start-up regulations and investor protections, St. Vincent and the Grenadines' licensing requirements, Marshall Islands’ flexible labor regulations, Palau’s efficient property transfer, Singapore’s credit trade practices and court procedures, Maldives’ tax regulations, Jamaica’s bankruptcy practices, and Mauritius's company start-up regulations and investor protections. The best practices of small island developing countries combine to make a globally competitive economy – truly a top place for doing business.