Venezuela with the worst business climate in Latin America

According to the study conducted by Brazilian and German institutes, the business climate index in Venezuela was 1.9, worse than the 2.3 index measured in October 2008 (File Photo)

Economy
The business climate in Latin America fell to the worst level in 18 years, (1990), when the Brazilian Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) and the Institute for Economic Studies (IFO) of the University of Munich, Germany, began to prepare the index, EFE reported.

According to the report released on Wednesday by the Getulio Vargas Foundation, the so-called Economic Climate Index (ICE) in Latin America stood in January 2009 at 2.9 compared to 3.4 points in October 2008, when the global economic crisis began to worsen, and 5.2 points in January 2008.

The country with the worst economic climate in Latin America is Venezuela, which declined from 2.3 points in 2008 to 1.9 in January 2009. Venezuela ranks lower than Ecuador, which dropped from 3.3 points to 2.3 points and Argentina, which dropped from 3.2 points to 2.5 points, during the same period beginning in October 2008. These two countries are the main political and economic allies of the government of President Hugo Chávez.

In Uruguay, the country best qualified in the last few months, the index fell from 6.0 points in October 2008 to 4.4 points in January 2009, while Peru's index fell from 5.7 points to 4.4 points in the same period.