El Salvador

Ease of Doing Business in

El Salvador

This page summarizes Doing Business 2013 data for El Salvador. The first table lists the overall "Ease of Doing Business" rank (out of 185 economies) and the rankings by each topic. It also lists the economy's distance to frontier (DTF)** measure. The rest of the tables summarize the key indicators for each topic and benchmark against regional and high-income economy (OECD) averages.

Economy Overview

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Economy Summary
Starting a Business
Dealing with Construction Permits
Getting Electricity
Registering Property
Getting Credit
Protecting Investors
Paying Taxes
Trading Across Borders
Enforcing Contracts
Resolving Insolvency
Region Latin America & Caribbean
Income Category Lower middle income
Population 6,227,491
GNI Per Capita (US$) 3,480
Doing Business 2013 Rank Doing Business 2012 Rank Change in Rank
113 111 down -2

Doing Business 2013 DTF** (% points) Doing Business 2012 DTF** (% points) Improvement in DTF** (% points)
58.1 58.2 down -0.1
Topic Rankings DB 2013 Rank DB 2012 Rank Change in Rank
Starting a Business 139 135 up -4
Dealing with Construction Permits 146 143 up -3
Getting Electricity 131 126 up -5
Registering Property 56 55 up -1
Getting Credit 53 52 up -1
Protecting Investors 169 167 up -2
Paying Taxes 153 148 up -5
Trading Across Borders 80 72 up -8
Enforcing Contracts 71 67 up -4
Resolving Insolvency 89 92 up 3

Economy Profile

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Additional Data

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Starting a Business

Info

The challenges of launching a business are shown below. Included are: the number of steps entrepreneurs can expect to go through to launch, the time it takes on average, and the cost and minimum capital required as a percentage of gross national income (GNI) per capita.

DB 2013 Rank 139 DB 2012 Rank 135 Change in Rank down-4
DB 2013 DTF** (% points) 78.5 DB 2012 DTF** (% points) 78.7 Improvement in DTF** (% points) down-0.2
YearNew business densityNumber of new limited liability companies
2011 0.461,754
Indicator El Salvador Latin America & Caribbean OECD

The total number of procedures required to register a firm. A procedure is defined as any interaction of the company founders with external parties (for example, government agencies, lawyers, auditors or notaries).

View methodology Procedures (number)
8 9 5

The total number of days required to register a firm. The measure captures the median duration that incorporation lawyers indicate is necessary to complete a procedure with minimum follow-up with government agencies and no extra payments.

View methodology Time (days)
17 53 12

Cost is recorded as a percentage of the economy’s income per capita. It includes all official fees and fees for legal or professional services if such services are required by law.

View methodology Cost (% of income per capita)
46.7 33.7 4.5

The amount that the entrepreneur needs to deposit in a bank or with a notary before registration and up to 3 months following incorporation and is recorded as a percentage of the economy’s income per capita.

View methodology Paid-in Min. Capital (% of income per capita)
2.9 3.7 13.3
No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Deposit the legally required initial capital in a Salvadoran bank and obtain deposit evidence or certified check. 1 day (less than an hour) nominal fee
2 Check the uniqueness of the company name in the Registry of Commerce 1 day no charge
3 Notarize the articles of association 2 days Between $500 and $1000
4 Register with the Registry of Commerce and publication and legalization of books 3 days $0.57 for every $114.28 + US$ 2.3 (for copies) + 17.14 (Balance Deposit) + US$ 137.14 (business license) + 0.1$*100*3 ( legalization of books) + 34.29 (local registration)
5 Accounting system 10 days USD450
* 6 Register employees with one of the pension administrator funds (Administradora de Fondos de Pensiones). 3 days (simultaneous with previous procedure) no charge
* 7 Register the company for tax at the Mayor’s Office 1 day (simultaneous with previous procedure) USD 10
* 8 Make a company seal 2 days (simultaneous with previous procedure) USD 15
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.

** The distance to frontier (DTF) measure shows the distance of each economy to the "frontier," which represents the highest performance observed on each of the indicators across all economies included in Doing Business since each indicator was included in Doing Business. An economy’s distance to frontier is indicated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest performance and 100 the frontier. Read more...

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