Costa Rica stays at 121 in global Ease of Doing Business Index

For the second year in a row, Costa Rica nabbed the 121st spot in the World Bank’s global Ease of Doing Business Index, coming in behind other Latin American countries like Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Guatemala and El Salvador.

The World Bank report, an annual index of 183 countries measuring regulations in 10 areas of a business’s life cycle, from starting a business to handling construction permits to taxes, international trade and contract enforcement, came out Tuesday. Costa Rica’s lackluster standing – better than Bangladesh, worse than the Russian Federation – stemmed from a decrease in the ease of starting a business, dealing with construction permits and getting credit. Those losses, though, were offset by modest improvements in registering property and a nice jump in the ease of making tax payments.

Costa Rica also continues to get relatively high marks for getting electricity for a business and trading across borders, according the index.