NZ one of best countries to do business – World Bank

Economic Development and Small Business Minister Steven Joyce today welcomed a new international report that puts New Zealand third in the world for ease of doing business.

The World Bank’s Doing Business report, released today, is an annual study measuring government regulations and their effect on business across 189 economies.

“This is excellent news. Only Singapore and Hong Kong are higher than us overall and we still rank first in the world for starting a business and investor protection,” Mr Joyce says.

“This World Bank report is highly regarded and is used by businesses internationally when they consider setting up operations. The fact that New Zealand continues to rank so high sends a clear message that we are an ideal country for business investment.”

While New Zealand is in third place for the second year running, improvements to the business regulations were evident in a number of areas.

The cost to a business of construction permits and getting an electricity supply, as a percentage of income per capita, have dropped every year since 2010. Improvements to New Zealand’s court system were also cited by the World Bank as making contract enforcement speedier and less costly to business.    

The World Bank’s Doing Business report provides objective measures of the time, cost and number of procedures involved in all major aspects of running a business. It is available at:
http://www.doingbusiness.org/reports/global-reports/doing-business-2014