Australia ranked 10th easiest to do business

In the World Bank Group’s Doing Business 2013 report released on Tuesday a survey of 185 economies globally found Australia is the second easiest country in which to start a business, taking just two days and two procedures to register a private company.

The report, in its 10th year, said business friendly reforms have enabled Australia to be ranked fourth for the ease of obtaining credit.

Singapore topped the global ranking for the seventh consecutive year, followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand, US, Denmark, Norway, UK, South Korea, Georgia and then Australia.

Over the past decade, the World Bank series has recorded nearly 2000 regulatory reforms implemented by 180 economies, yielding major benefits for local entrepreneurs across the globe.

“Over the years, governments have made important strides to improve their business regulatory environment and to narrow the gap with global best practices,” the World Bank Group’s director of global indicators and analysis, Augusto Lopez-Claros, said in a statement.

“While the reforms we measure provide only a partial picture of an economy’s business climate, they are crucial for key economic outcomes such as faster job growth and new business creation.”