Hong Kong continues to rank high in World Bank business ranking

Hong Kong, offering one of the best business environments globally, ranked the second in a World Bank business ranking, according to a report released here on Thursday. It was the second year in a row for Hong Kong to achieve such a high ranking. In this report, titled "Doing Business 2012: Doing Business in a More Transparent World", conducted by the World Bank together with International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group member focused on private sector development, Singapore, China's Hong Kong and New Zealand have been chosen as top three most business-friendly economies in the world. The report ranks economies on the ease of ten factors, including starting a business, resolving insolvency, trading across borders, registering property, enforcing contracts, and getting electricity. Hong Kong was the easiest place to deal with construction permits, the second easiest for trading across borders, and the third in terms of ease of paying taxes and protecting investors. In 2011, the Hong Kong government streamlined the electricity utility's procedures with other government agencies to cut the time it took to get an electricity connection to 43 days from 93 days in 2010. "Hong Kong has shown that coordination among service providers is key to providing efficient utility services," said Charles Schneider, program manager investment climate in East Asia and the Pacific for IFC.Besides, Hong Kong also made starting a business easier by introducing online service for company and business registration. Within the East Asia and the Pacific region, China advanced the most in making its regulatory environment more business- friendly over the past six years, said the report. In 2011, 125 economies, out of the total 183 economies assessed, implemented 245 institutional and regulatory reforms, 13 percent up from the previous year.