Singapore, closely followed by South Korea, remains the best country in which to run a business, according to the World Bank. While Brunei, Thailand and India have registered the most notable improvement in the ease of doing business.
In the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business list, Singapore has been ranked as the second best country in the world in this year’s ease of doing business. It has consequently also proven to be the best country in Asia. It is followed by South Korea as the second best economy to do business in Asia.
As quoted by Xinhua, the Asia-Pacific region has the highest number of economies recording the greatest overall number of reforms making it easier to do business, where Brunei Darussalam and Thailand each implemented eight reforms.
Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand are the other countries in Asia which have been ranked high in the ease of doing business report. While Hong Kong has scored the fifth rank in the report, Taiwan and Malaysia have been ranked 15th and 24th respectively. Thailand has been ranked 26th overall, and has registered strong improvement in the ease of doing business.
As reported by the Inquirer, the World Bank report, covering the period from June 2 last year to June 1 this year, tracks indicator areas such as the ease of starting a business, connecting to power grids, contract enforcement, taxes and bankruptcy proceedings.
The third largest economy in the world, Japan, has been ranked 34th, while Brunei and Mongolia have both been ranked 56th and 62nd. Importantly Brunei has been named the most improved economy in the world for the third year in a row.
According to a press release from the Ease of Doing Business Secretariat under the Energy and Industry Department at the Prime Minister’s Office, the significant improvements in Doing Business rankings over the past four years reflect the serious commitment of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah's government towards creating a Pro-Business environment that would enable further diversification of the country’s economy.
“We will work together with the private sectors and other government agencies to work out the appropriate solutions that are actionable, time-specific, and ambitious,” said Brunei’s Minister of Energy and Industry, Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin bin Haji Umar as reported by Inquirer.
China trails countries like Bhutan, Indonesia and Vietnam all of whom have been placed ahead of it in the ease of doing business report. The country has been placed at the 78th position in the report, same as last year.
