SINGAPORE is no longer the world’s easiest place to do business, according to an annual World Bank study, but still remains the best among its Asian neighbours.
In the study dubbed “Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All” released Wednesday, the small-but-prosperous island nation known as the fourth-most competitive economy in the world, dropped one notch to second place, losing its decade-long position to New Zealand.
The study gave Singapore an overall score of 85.05 while New Zealand scored 87.01 points, owing to its move to ease tax payments by removing its cheque levy.
Despite losing pole position, however, Singapore still remains ahead of other world economies such as the U.K. and the U.S., which ranked 7th and 8th on the chart respectively. Its Southeast Asian neighbours Brunei and Indonesia meanwhile made marked improvements in the chart, making them among the world’s top ten “improvers”.
Image via World Bank
The World Bank noted in a press release that a record 137 economies around the world adopted key reforms over the past year, making it easier to start and operate small and medium-sized businesses. It said the developing countries reviewed in the report carried out an impressive 75 percent of the 283 reforms from last year’s study.
“Simple rules that are easy to follow are a sign that a government treats its citizens with respect. They yield direct economic benefits – more entrepreneurship; more market opportunities for women; more adherence to the rule of law,” Paul Romer, World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, said in a statement.
“But we should also remember that being treated with respect is something that people value for its own sake and that a government that fails to treat its citizens this way will lose its ability to lead.”
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In removing obstacles to start up a business, the World Bank praised Singapore for enhancing its electronic one-stop shop to make the process of obtaining approvals from different authorities easier.
The report acknowledged Singapore as one of the first economies to introduce an electronic system for public administration. The city state made internal processes of its tax administration more efficient by freeing staff from unproductive bureaucratic tasks when the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore developed an integrated and computerized system.
The World Bank said as a result, the time needed to issue tax assessments decreased from 12-18 months to 3-5 months between 1992 and 2000.
“Singapore continues to improve its tax compliance system even though it is among the best performers on the paying taxes indicators,” the report said, adding the online system underwent further upgrades in 2015, allowing for fewer delays in filing returns for corporate income tax and value added tax.
In the report, countries are ranked based on 11 indicators such as ease of starting a business, registering property, obtaining credit, dealing with construction permits, and getting electricity, among others.
The World Bank said Singapore is among two of the world’s top 10 ranked economies in East Asia and the Pacific, followed by Hong Kong SAR, China. The region, it noted, is also home to two of the top 10 improvers – Brunei and Indonesia – based on reforms undertaken.
“The pace of reforms picked up significantly in the past year, with the region’s economies implementing a total of 45 reforms to improve the ease of doing business.”
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Malaysia slipped one notch to number 23 this year from last year’s 22nd place but remained the top performer in the ASEAN region, and is credited alongside Japan (ranked 98) as being the best performers on the “Reliability of Supply and Transparency of Tariffs Index” under the “Getting Electricity” indicator, national news agency Bernama reported.
In South Asia, the World Bank said five of the region’s eight economies implemented a total of 11 reforms in the past year, compared with nine the previous year.
“Pakistan, which was among the world’s top 10 improvers, implemented several reforms this past year, as did India and Sri Lanka. The bulk of the business reform activity in the region was aimed at facilitating cross-border trade. However, Afghanistan and Pakistan, stipulate additional hurdles for women entrepreneurs,” it said.
India, however, improved just by climbing one notch to 130 in the rankings, from 131 last year, although the government was expecting a 10-spot jump based on measures taken over the past two years. Local reports said this highlighted a gap between policy measures and implementation.
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