Starting a business can be fast, simple and cheap or rather a true obstacle course. These are all possible in South East Asia.
Singapore Skyline
The Doing Business study identifies the characteristics of various countries according to two sets of indicators.
Complexity and cost of the regulatory processes: starting a business, Dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, paying taxes and Trading across borders.
Strength of legal institutions: getting credit, protecting investors, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and employing workers.
The Doing Business 2013 study was released at the end of October. The result? Singapore is the world leader for the 7th consecutive year, and the city-state is followed by Hong Kong and New Zealand. Singapore rank varies depending of the indicator, rank 1 for trading across borders and rank 36 for registering property (5 procedures, 21 days and a cost of 2.9% of the property value). Singapore ranks 4th to create a business: 3 procedures, 3 days at a cost of 0.6% of income per capita.
Doing Business ranking
In the rest of South East Asia, Hong Kong is relatively similar to Singapore. Malaysia has a good overall rank and a good score for the strength of its legal institutions (rank 1 to obtain credit and rank 4 for investor protection). Japan despite having a positive reform loses 4 places compared to the 2012 study, indicating stagnation while other countries are progressing.
Starting a business indicators
China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines, although all had positive reforms in 2011/2012, they lag behind according to the Doing Business indicators.
Tax Rate
Source: World Bank. 2013. Doing Business 2013: Smarter Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises. Washington, DC: World Bank Group. DOI: 10.1596/978-0-8213-9615-5. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0