MANILA, Philippines - Singapore remains the world's most business-friendly regulatory environment for local entrepreneurs, according to a new World Bank Group report.
The World Bank report " Doing Business 2014: Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises" found that 24 of 25 economies in East Asia and the Pacific have made their regulatory environment more business-friendly in the last five years.
The Philippines was one of the 10 economies that improved the most in making regulation easier for businesses over the past year. However, the Philippines, which ranked 108, remains in the bottom half of the global ranking.
Here's the list of top 20 countries ranked by the ease of doing business:
1. Singapore
2. Hong Kong
3. New Zealand
4. United States
5. Denmark
6. Malaysia
7. South Korea
8. Georgia
9. Norway
10. United Kingdom
11. Australia
12. Finland
13. Iceland
14. Sweden
15.Ireland
16. Taiwan
17. Lithuania
18. Thailand
19. Canada
20. Mauritius
Here is the list of top 10 most improved countries across 3 or more areas of doing business:
1. Ukraine (112)
2. Rwanda (32)
3. Russian Federation (92)
4. Philippines (108)
5. Kosovo (86)
6. Djibouti (160)
7. Cote d' Ivoire (167)
8. Burundi (140)
9. Macedonia (25)
10. Guatemala (79)
The joint World Bank and IFC flagship Doing Business report analyzes regulations that apply to an economy's businesses during their life cycle, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes, and resolving insolvency.
The aggregate ease of doing business rankings are based on 10 indicators and cover 189 economies.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
