Singapore Tops World Bank Survey on Ease of Doing Business for Fifth Year

[Turborama]

Source: Bloomberg

Singapore, which is in the running to be the world’s fastest-growing economy this year, is the nation with the most business-friendly regulation, according to a World Bank report.

The city-state, where a company can be started in three days and where some women are taxed less on their personal income than men, topped the bank’s “Doing Business” report for the fifth year in a row, followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand and the U.K., with the U.S. in fifth place. The study also showed that East Asia and Pacific nations such as Vietnam were among countries that took the most steps to make it easier for local companies to operate.

The International Monetary Fund expects growth in Singapore to reach 15 percent this year, trailing only Qatar by 1 percentage point, as its services industry continues to expand even as overseas demand for manufactured goods weakens. The government has said it will introduce additional tax incentives for industries including legal services, finance, shipbroking and maritime financing.

Singaporean authorities “have been one of the most aggressive adopters of IT to post all of their business processes on line” Neil Gregory, one of the report’s authors, said on a conference call yesterday. The country is a “global leader” in that field and many developing countries have followed, putting imports and exports details online, he said.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-04/singapore-tops-world-bank-survey-on-ease-of-doing-business-for-fifth-year.html

[Syrinx]

1. Singapore is business friendly alright

They give you lashes for painting graffiti.

[Kolesar]

2. The boot on the face is an apt metaphor for what the Singapore Democratic Party endured

from the Lee government.