According to the annual report "Doing Business" conducted by the World Bank, Venezuela ranks 186 of 189 countries when it comes to business regulations.
Venezuela is surpassed only by African countries South Sudan (187), Libya (188) and Eritrea (189).
The report compares different business regulations that could enhance and constrain business development in 189 economies and states that “Venezuela made starting a business more difficult by increasing incorporation costs.” The rankings are based on the average of each economy’s scores for 10 topics that are included in the report.
The average time that it takes to start a business in Venezuela is 144 days and 17 procedures. It takes 381 days to obtain building permits and 178 days to get a new electricity connection.
Furthermore, paying taxes requires 70 payments per year, requires 792 hours per year.
The United States ranks 7 overall, where it takes 5.6 days and 6 procedures to start a business. In Latin America, Mexico is ranked the best economy in the region (38), followed by Peru (50) and Colombia (54).