Singapore, NZ and HK ranked by World Bank as best for business

Small and well-run Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong are the world’s easiest places to run a business, while global giants China, Brazil and India remain far down the list, according to the World Bank. The three small but hot Pacific economies led the Bank’s annual “Doing Business” report, released Wednesday, which focuses on where businesses are best helped and least hindered by government. The top 10 was filled out by Denmark, South Korea, Norway, the United States, Britain, Finland and Australia, mostly the same developed economies as in previous years.

'Doing Business' measures a slender segment of the complex organism that any modern economy is. An economy can do poorly on 'Doing Business' indicators but do well in macroeconomic policy or social welfare interventions.

World Bank chief economist Kaushik Basu

But the report, despite revisions to its methodology after upsetting China in past years, left emerging market giants far down the list, fast growth and success in drawing investment notwithstanding. China ranked 90th out of 189 countries and territories, barely improved from 93 a year ago; Brazil is 120th, also up three places; and India was ranked at 142, two spots worse than before. But that only underscored the admittedly narrow focus of the survey, in terms of assessing a country’s success.

The top-performing economies… are therefore not those with no regulation but those in which governments have managed to create rules that facilitate interactions in the marketplace without needlessly hindering the development of the private sector.

Kaushik Basu

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