Hong Kong ranked world's 5th easiest place for business

Hong Kong remains one of the world's easiest places to do business, according to the World Bank's Doing Business 2016 Report released on Wednesday.

This year's report continued to introduce substantive changes in methodology by broadening the scope of indicator sets to cover regulatory quality and good practices. Under the new methodology, Hong Kong is ranked fifth in this year's report.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong government said the result re-affirmed the region's incessant efforts in business facilitation.

The report compares the "ease of doing business" in 189 economies across 10 indicators. Among the 10 indicators, Hong Kong sustains its high ranking as first in "protecting minority investors", fourth in "paying taxes" and seventh in "dealing with construction permits".

Hong Kong's two lowest rankings are "registering property" (59th) and "trading across borders" (47th). The low ranking in "registering property" is partly due to an increase in the stamp duty necessary to curb property market exuberance, according to the government.

"Hong Kong remains competitive as a trading center as we uphold our fundamental advantages including our unique tariff-free position. We will look into international developments towards ease of trading, and see how much more the free port of Hong Kong can do to maintain our competitiveness," the spokesman said.

According to the report, Singapore is ranked first, followed by New Zealand, Denmark and the Republic of Korea. Endit