S'pore is 7th cheapest place to start a business: poll
Denmark sets global standard in World Bank survey with zero regulatory cost
(SINGAPORE) Starting a business is rather cheap in Singapore and a World Bank
survey shows only six countries are cheaper.
Start-up costs as a percentage of per capita income here is 1.2 per cent
or US$248.5, and Singapore is the cheapest in the region.
Denmark charges nothing, and is the global standard, according to the
World Bank which looked at the regulatory cost of starting a business in
133 countries. Besides Denmark, the other five countries that are cheaper
than Singapore are New Zealand (0.2 per cent),
Canada and United States (both 0.6 per cent), Sweden (0.8 per cent) and
United Kingdom (1 per cent.)
Findings of the survey, which was conducted by the World Bank's monitoring,
analysis and policy unit, were presented yesterday at the World Economic
Forum's East Asia Economic Summit.
Hong Kong, touted as the closest rival to Singapore, is not far behind at
2.4 per cent. The survey looked at required procedures that an average
small- or medium-sized company needs to go through before starting to
operate legally.
On the time necessary to complete the procedure under normal circumstances,
again 6 countries were ahead of Singapore, that is, they are faster.
It takes 8 days to start a business here, instead of 2 days in Australia.
In both Canada and New Zealand, it takes 3 days, while it's 4 days in
Denmark and United States, and 6 in Puerto Rico .
In Hong Kong, it takes 11 days to start a business while one has to
kick one's heels for almost half a year, or 168 days in Indonesia.
'Across countries, cumbersome entry procedures are associated with
more corruption, particularly in developing countries,' said the World Bank.
Still, some say the start-up costs tells only a small picture and Singapore
has room for improvement. Said Inderjit Singh, Member of Parliament
(Ang Mo Kio), who was surprised to hear that Singapore was quite cheap
in terms of start-up costs.
'Approvals and licences before the business can operate still take up
too much time and money.'
He said a friend just told him it took one month to get approval from
the HDB for the use of premises.
Singapore has the least employment regulation overall when it comes to
the labour market. In the employment law index which covered flexibility
of hiring and firing and conditions of employment, Singapore scored 20,
the lowest score among the 133 countries. Higher scores mean a more rigid
labour market.
On flexibility of hiring, Singapore scored 33, less flexible than
China (17) but not as rigid as Hong Kong (58). Flexibility of hiring
covers the availability of part-time, fixed-term, and family members'
contracts.
Singapore and Hong Kong led in flexibility of firing, with a score
of 1.
Flexibility of firing covers workers' legal protections against dismissal,
including grounds for dismissal, procedures for dismissal
(individual and collective), notice period, and severance payment.
The World Bank said that while employment regulation generally increases
the tenure and wages of incumbent workers, strict regulatory intervention
has many undesirable side-effects, including less job creation, longer
unemployment spells, less research and development investment and smaller
company size - all of which may reduce productivity growth.
S'pore-Taiwan FTA scuttled by politics: SM
By wanting to be political player, Taipei has closed doors, he says
SINGAPORE would have done a free trade deal with Taiwan,
had it not been for Taiwan playing politics.
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew revealed last night that Singapore welcomed
talks on a free trade agreement with Taiwan as a major economic player
when it was approached by the latter. But the talks got bogged down when
Taiwan wanted to negotiate as a political entity.
'If we go that route we would have a problem with China,
breaching the rules we agreed on when we established diplomatic
relations with China,' he said at the World Economic Forum East Asia
Economic Summit held in Singapore.
Taiwan, he pointed out in a question-and-answer session,
is not making it easy for its friends by the position it takes.
Mr Lee said Singapore continues to have economic ties with Taiwan,
but there will be no official recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign entity.
There is no reason why Taiwan should not have bilateral free trade accords
as an economic entity, he said. But by wanting to be a political player,
Taiwan has excluded itself from free trade pacts.
'Sometimes (the Taiwanese) government has to reconsider its position and
decide let's play economics as economics, and let's play politics as
politics,' Mr Lee said.
China has allowed Taiwan to join the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
grouping as a major economy, but Taiwan has attempted every year to
elevate its level of representation, Mr Lee noted. And by pushing the envelop,
Taiwan has alerted China of its long-term plan to break through
China's 'diplomatic encirclement' of Taiwan.
Taiwan should let history decide its fate, according to Mr Lee.
But meanwhile, it should maximise its economic opportunities and have a
prosperous Taiwan.
Mr Lee kicked off the session by highlighting his concern about terrorism
that springs from fundamentalist Islam. And he said the problem is here to
stay for at least a while because only Muslims have the capacity to end
the terrorist acts being committed by Islamic radicals.
The US has taken the military approach of striking at terrorists and
their operational bases, but this is not going to address the militants'
breeding ground, Mr Lee said.
'You can kill the suicide bombers. There are hundreds of them but they are
worker bees,' he said. 'The queen bees are the preachers in the madrasahs
(Islamic schools). . . so it is a problem which finally, I believe,
can only be solved by the Muslims themselves.'
It would be futile for non-Muslim community to try to weed out potential
terrorists being groomed by the madrasahs and mosques, he said.
'Non-Muslims cannot go into these mosques and madrasahs and say 'your
interpretation of the Koran is wrong'.'
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