Doing Business in Mexico 2009
Doing Business in Mexico 2009 compares business regulations across 31 Mexican states and the Federal District in four key areas: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property and enforcing contracts. These indicators cover areas of local jurisdiction or practice. The report shows that differences in the implementation of national-level regulations and practices can enhance or constrain local business activity. It suggests that Mexican cities can improve business regulation by adopting good practices already in place elsewhere in the country.
Doing Business in Mexico 2009 is the first subnational report carried out by a local think tank -- the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness -- with the Foreign Investment Advisory Service having an advisory role. The report shows that 28 out of 31 cities implemented a total of 40 reforms in the areas measured by the Doing Business in Mexico. Reforms produced tangible results, such as reducing the average time to open a business from 36 to 24 days and to register a property from 47 to 38 days, respectively.Note: Topic details are only available in Spanish ("Download data details," to right).
Main findings:
- Most of the 28 reforms reported in Doing Business in Mexico 2009 regarding starting a business focused on administrative processes or new technology which can be reformed at the state and city level. However, six out of eight procedures are regulated at the federal level. Federal government reforms are needed to reduce these procedures, since they fall outside of state government control.
- The biggest bottleneck in building a warehouse is related to utility connections, such as water, telephone, sewage and electricity. In 7 states, the procedure to obtain the electricity connection takes more than half of the total time in dealing with construction permits.
- There are wide differences in the number of procedures, time and cost to register a property. In Chiapas, three weeks are sufficient to complete the 5 procedures necessary that cost 1.6% of property value, while the same property transfer requires 8 procedures which take almost 3 1/2 months and cost 4.3% of property value in Quintana Roo.
- Time to enforce a contract across the cities varies significantly despite identical federal legislation: 248 days in Zacatecas and 560 days in Quintana Roo. Various states are reducing backlog by creating specialized commercial courts -- such as Zacatecas, the top performer on the ease of enforcing contracts. Other states are increasingly using electronic platforms to share information and manage cases.
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Doing Business in Mexico 2009, report in Spanish (