HK best place to do business, Singapore ranked 9th: Bloomberg

Hong Kong, a bastion of free-market policies and low corporate taxes as well as the gateway to the world's most populous nation, is the best place to do business, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Singapore came in joint ninth.

Hong Kong secured top position in a new index based on six criteria including the degree of economic integration and labour costs. Holland, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia occupied the next four leading slots.

The ranking marks a victory for Hong Kong 15 years after the city's return to Chinese sovereignty stoked concern that its role as an international financial hub would slide.

Bloomberg measured 160 markets on a scale of 0 to 100 per cent based on six factors. These are the costs of setting up business, hiring and moving goods; the degree of economic integration; less tangible costs such as inflation and corruption; and the readiness of the local consumer base, a category that includes the size of the middle class, household consumption and gross domestic product per person.

Hong Kong scored 49 per cent, eclipsing Holland (48.3 per cent) and the US (46.9 per cent). Singapore was tied with Austria on 44.8 per cent, just behind eight-placed Tokyo but ahead of Switzerland and Canada.

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