BER: Singapore set to remain the world's most investor friendly in 2014

The Economist Intelligent Unit – For all the talk about the potential of emerging markets, developed economies in North America, Western Europe and Asia remain the best places to do business, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest Business Environment Rankings (BER). Singapore looks set to remain the world’s most investor-friendly location in 2014-18, retaining its number-one spot from the 2009-13  period. Switzerland and Hong Kong also defend their second and third place position. The remainder of  the top ten is dominated by North America, Scandinavia and other developed Asian economies.

Asia’s best performers have several factors in common: a favourable policy environment – particularly for finance and foreign investment – with competition policies that encompass international best practice.
Especially in East Asia, competition between cities to become hubs for international finance, manufacturing and logistics has driven improvements in the business environment. Despite tensions in some countries over immigration from poorer neighbours, migration  of skilled labour within Asia will remain relatively unimpeded and overall labour market conditions will  continue to compare extremely favourably to other regions, with companies able to expand or reduce their workforce with ease, as well as benefitting from freedom to set wages and hire foreign nationals.
Infrastructure remains a relative weak point for Asia, with only Singapore ranking among the world’s top 10 in this category (compared with other areas of the business environment, faring relatively poorly, in 7th place). Australia, Japan and New Zealand trail in joint 14th place, with Hong Kong coming in at 18th. While some of the region’s infrastructure is excellent, particularly in telecoms and  air transport, other areas require investment to improve distribution networks and utilities provision, as well as lower office rents.
The business rankings model measures the quality or attractiveness of the business environment in the 82 countries covered by The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Country Forecast reports. It is designed to reflect the main criteria used by companies to formulate their global business strategies, and is based not only on historical conditions but also on expectations about conditions prevailing over the next  five years.