NZ Tops Ease of Doing Business Rankings

New Zealand has clinched the top spot in the ease of doing business rankings by the World Bank where it scored 86.59, ahead of 190 other countries, despite not implementing any reforms in the last year.

The report noted that the top three economies in the rankings, which are New Zealand, Singapore and Denmark, have imposed a well-designed business regulation and have exemplified a ‘business-friendly’ environment.

First placer New Zealand ranked first in areas such as starting a business (99.98), registering property (94.89), and getting credit where it got a perfect score.

New Zealand and Georgia have the lowest number of procedures required to start a business, the report found. New Zealand also holds the shortest time to start a business (0.5 days), while Slovenia has the lowest cost (0.0).

New Zealand was praised for improving the simplification of preregistration and registration formalities, including inspection and other requirements.

Original article by Singapore Business Review, November 2, 2018.