S’pore, Still A Business Paradise

Source : TODAY, Thursday, September 27, 2007


















For second year, Republic is the best place to do business:World Bank

FOR the second year running, Singapore has topped the World Bank’s annual global survey as the easiest place to do business.

The Republic’s winning formula is in tapping the Internet to increase efficiency, according to Mr Justin Yap, the bank’s regulatory economist and co-author of the Doing Business 2008 study.

“It’s a unique example where ... so many parts of the cycle of operating a business can be done online,” said Mr Yap. “It is also a country that seems to require relatively few interactions with the Government, for example, through the use of ‘onestop shops’.

“And the fact that you don’t need to go to separate agencies to go through different (business) procedures, these are all aspects that work in Singapore’s favour.” He was speaking to reporters in seven global locations through a live videoconference from Washington yesterday.

New Zealand ranked second in the survey on 178 economies, followed by the United States.

Hong Kong, Singapore’s closest rival in Asia edged up one position from last year, to take the fourth spot.

Running into its fifth year, the rankings, done by the World Bank and its private sector arm International Finance Corporation, are based on 10 business criteria that essentially track time and cost to meet government requirements in business start-ups.

Singapore emerged best in two areas, employing workers and trading across borders, said Mr Ryan Ang, private sector liaison officer for the World Bank Group’s Singapore office.

The report also tracked the progress of business reforms worldwide — with 200 reforms observed in 98 economies between last April and June this year.

While China is the region’s top reformer, Singapore — being the open economy that it is — did not have any recorded reforms that impacted its indicators for the ranking, said Mr Yap.

“Singapore had one minor reform whereby the number of days to start a business here has been reduced from six to five days,” said Mr Ang.