10 Best Countries For Starting A Business - World Bank

International entrepreneurs can quickly get discouraged once they encounter the mess of deregulation, red tape and lack of infrastructure that often comes with developing to middle-class world economies.

Certainly, some countries are easier to do business in than others, though the World Bank's Doing Business 2012 report shows a mounting number of encouraging changes to the business environment in over 170 global economies.

This year's top 10 countries provided the greatest ease of doing business. Here's why they made World Bank's ranking:

#10 - Ireland
Ireland improved its protection of investors, allowing full access to all corporate documents during a trial.

#9 - Iceland
Iceland improved regulations that protect investors, including streamlining the approval of related-party transactions.

#8 - Republic of Korea
The Republic of Korea, made its debut in the top 10 due to several reforms, including creating a one-stop shop for startups, providing a single window to trade across borders, and allowing contracts and complaints against businesses to be electronically filed.

#7 - United Kingdom
The U.K. made significant improvements to starting a business -- it no longer requires a minimum amount of capital. It also made reforms in registering property, paying taxes, enforcing contracts and protecting investors.

#6 - Norway
Norway reformed regulations regarding investments, requiring an external review of related-party transactions.

#5 - Denmark
Denmark improved its property register by offering cadastre information online.

#4 - United States
The U.S., which retained its fourth-place ranking, made reforms to getting credit and protecting investor transactions.

#3 - New Zealand
New Zealand made significant improvements, taking business procedures online, having an organized set of building rules for construction, registering property, creating a unified credit registry and requiring detailed disclosure for investors.

#2 - Hong Kong SAR, China
Hong Kong SAR also made several reforms, including putting business creation procedures online, creating a one-stop shop for construction permits, requiring disclosure for investors and paying taxes.

#1 - Singapore

The report's top ranked country modernized its system by taking all business creation procedures online, requiring that building inspections be risk-based, allowing for general collateral when getting credit, requiring detailed disclosure for investors, taking all tax management and payments online, creating a single window for trade across borders, and creating a specialized court division to enforce contracts.

ORIGINAL SOURCE
Content used in this not-for-profit blog remain the property of their respective owners.