Singapore tops in "doing business" rankings for 7th year

Singapore ranks first on the ease of doing business for the seventh consecutive year, while almost every economy has narrowed the gap in business regulatory practice with the top global performance, according to a joint report released by World Bank and the International Finance Cooperation on Tuesday. Among the indicators that World Bank used to assess each economy's regulations, Singapore performed best on trading across borders, dealing with construction permits and protecting investors, while the city-state's lowest 3 rankings mainly on registering property, getting credit and enforcing contracts. Singapore only improved by 1 percent on year, compared to second-placed Hong Kong, which improved by 5 percent, said Maya Choueiri, a co-author of the report at the World Bank, local paper The Business Times quoted as saying. She also added that Singapore could explore enhancements in the area of property registration, which ranked the lowest of 36 among all economies. Following Singapore, China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), New Zealand, the United States, Denmark, Norway, Britain, the Republic of Korea, Georgia, and Australia ranked the top 10 economies with the most business-friendly regulations. The report also mentioned that "Poland improved the most in the ease of doing business, through four reforms -- making it easier to register property, pay taxes, enforce contracts and resolve insolvency." Greece is also one of the top ten most improved globally, as the report finds that European economies are working to improve the business climate under their fiscal distress.