Manizales the best city to do business in Colombia

This is indicated by the World Bank's most recent Doing Business study. Pereira and Bogota were second and third respectively.

This Wednesday, the Doing Business 2017 of Colombian cities was revealed in Bogotá, a study by the World Bank that measures the ease of doing business. The report analyzes four steps: opening a business, obtaining a building license, registering a property and paying taxes.

The main result was that since 2013, 30 of the 32 Colombian capitals improved their environment to do business. And like in the last edition, Manizales was the city that obtained the best Doing Business score (73.4).

For his part, Pereira improved this year and took second place to Bogota in 2013, leaving the capital in third place in the ranking of the best cities to do business in the country.

In contrast, Mocoa was again in last place (32) in the Doing Business Subnational 2017. Pasto and Cali were also ranked 31 and 30. In fact, the capital of Valle del Cauca fell 5 positions in this report compared to 2013.

This is the fourth time that the study is conducted in Colombia (the previous ones were in 2008, 2010 and 2013). This study included the 32 departmental capitals of the country, measuring for the first time the ease of doing business in 11 of them: Arauca, Florencia, Inírida, Leticia, Mitú, Mocoa, Puerto Carreño, Quibdó, San Andres, San José del Guaviare and Yopal.

The director of the National Planning Department, Luis Fernando Mejía, explained that "the results of studies such as those presented today are useful tools for proposing growth and productivity strategies by local authorities and the private sector, especially for those cities where we did not previously have information. "

Mierta Capaul, manager of the World Bank's Subnational Doing Business program, said: "It is necessary to accelerate the pace of reforms and modernize the regulatory framework by taking bold measures." These measures, some of which are already under way, to programs that bring regulatory improvement to all regions, accelerate the strengthening of the business environment and promote higher productivity in the country. "