Singapore Keep Ranking As World's Most Business-Friendly Place

WASHINGTON: Singapore has kept its top ranking for the third year in a row as the easiest place in the world to do business, the World Bank said in a report Wednesday.

The Asian city-state edged out New Zealand and the United States in the "Doing Business 2009" ranking by the World Bank. New Zealand came in second place ahead of the United States.

Filling out the rest of the list of the 10 easiest business environments were Hong Kong, Denmark, Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia and Norway.

The report, examining regulations and how they affect businesses, ranks 181 economies on the overall ease of doing business in the countries.

The top eight countries were in the same order as the 2008 list, but Australia and Norway traded places, according to the report produced by the World Bank and its private-sector financial development arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

At the bottom of the list was the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"Economies need rules that are efficient, easy to use, and accessible to all who use them," said Michael Klein, World Bank/IFC vice president for financial development.

"Otherwise, businesses are trapped in the unregulated, informal economy, where they have less access to finance and hire fewer workers, and where workers lack the protection of labour law."

Singapore ranked first on international trade and employing workers, and second on protecting investors and closing a business.

New Zealand afforded the greatest ease in protecting investors and starting a business, while the United States led in making it easy to hire workers.

Hong Kong was the only other Asian economy besides Singapore to make it to the top 10. The SAR was ranked fourth.

But competition is nipping at Singapore's heels.

"In terms of how strong is Singapore's position at number 1, well, it's relative. I think New Zealand is pretty close. I think one big lesson that we see is that if any country stops reforming, … they will lose their position," said Sylvia Solf, programme manager, Doing Business Project.

Each country was ranked based on 10 indicators, such as the ease of starting a business, trading across borders and protecting investors.

While Singapore was ranked highly in most of the categories, it showed room for improvement in areas such as ease of registering property and enforcing contracts.

Analysts said there are more challenges ahead as the global economy continues to head south.

"Managing cost in a high inflation environment is critical for businesses, so it's a question of managing manpower cost, property rental cost as well as some other regulatory cost," said Selena Ling, head of Treasury Research & Strategy, OCBC Bank.

She said attracting and retaining talents is also essential to keep Singapore competitive against other Asian rivals like China.

Among the world's largest economies, Japan held steady at number 12 from last year, while Germany fell to 25 from 20. China rose to 83 from 90 and Britain was unchanged in the sixth position. France moved up one spot to number 31.

Among rapidly growing emerging economies, Russia fell nine ranks to 120th place and India slipped two notches to number 122.

Saudi Arabia was the best performer in the Middle East, moving up to the 16th spot from 24, ahead of Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

The report also looked at countries' progress in making regulatory reforms that enhance business operations. Azerbaijan was this year's leading reformer, jumping to 33 on the list from 96 last year, followed by Albania, at 86 from 135, and Kyrgyzstan, at 68 from 99.

"Among the large emerging markets, China led the way. Reforms there make it easier to access credit, pay taxes, and enforce contracts," the World Bank said.

The 185-nation development lender also highlighted Africa's "record year for regulatory reforms", saying 28 countries had completed 58 reforms in the criteria studied.

Still, nine of the 10 most difficult countries to do business were in Africa, with Venezuela the sole exception.

In descending order, the worst were Niger, Eritrea, Venezuela, Chad, Sao Tome and Principe, Burundi, Republic of Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo.