This document provides an overview and key findings from the World Bank's Doing Business 2010 report. It begins with the top 30 economies on ease of doing business and what indicators are measured. Singapore ranks first for the fourth year. The document outlines reforms by region, with East Asia and Pacific having the third highest average rank and 17 of 24 economies reforming. Key reforms in the region included Indonesia streamlining property registration and Timor-Leste overhauling taxes. Challenges remain such as construction permit costs rising in Solomon Islands.

1. 1
Doing Business:
East Asia and Pacific
Dahlia Khalifa
Senior Strategy Advisor
Dana Omran
Private Sector Development Analyst
WASHINGTON, DC
September 9, 2009

2. 1. Singapore 16. Finland
2. New Zealand 17. Mauritius
3. Hong Kong, China 18. Sweden
4. United States 19. Korea, Rep.
5. United Kingdom 20. Bahrain
6. Denmark 21. Switzerland
7. Ireland 22. Belgium
8. Canada 23. Malaysia
9. Australia 24. Estonia
10. Norway 25. Germany
11. Georgia 26. Lithuania
12. Thailand 27. Latvia
13. Saudi Arabia 28. Austria
14. Iceland 29. Israel
15. Japan 30. Netherlands
Top 30 on the ease of Doing Business 2010

3. What does Doing Business measure?
Doing Business indicators:
 Focus on regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small to
medium-sized domestic business.
 Are built on standardized case scenarios.
 Are measured for the most populous city in each country.
 Are focused on the formal sector.
 DO NOT measure all aspects of the business environment such
as macroeconomic stability, corruption, level of labor skills,
proximity to markets, regulation specific to foreign investment or
financial markets.

4. What's new in Doing Business 2010?
2007
175 economies
2008
178 economies
2009
181 economies
2010
183 economies
 Starting a business
 Dealing with
construction
permits
 Employing workers
 Registering
property
 Getting credit
 Protecting investors
 Paying taxes
 Trading across
borders
 Enforcing contracts
 Closing a business
 Update of 2007
 Add 3 countries
 Reformer’s Club,
and 16 case
studies
 New “About DB”
chapter
 Trends analysis
DB04-DB09
Most popular
reforms
Most effective
reforms
Lessons learned
 Add 3 new countries
(Bahamas, Bahrain,
Qatar)
 Methodology change
in Getting Credit
(Legal Rights)
 Business regulation
and reform in the
context of the
global crisis
 EWI and social
protection
 Researching ILO
core labor
standards
 Piloting a new
infrastructure
indicator
 New insights on
gender
 Add Cyprus,
Kosovo

5. Key findings in this year’s report
 Worldwide the pace of reform picks up to reach a new record: 287 reforms in
131 countries; 20% more than in the year before.
 Developing economies lead in DB reforms: Two-thirds of reforms in low- and
lower-middle-income economies.
 Rwanda is the top reformer: Jumped 76 places in the aggregate rankings, from 143
to 67. Reforms in 7 of the 10 areas.
 Eastern Europe and Central Asia is the fastest reforming region six years in a
row: 26 of 27 economies reformed.
 The Middle East and North Africa region sees the largest surge in reforms: 17
of 19 economies reformed in 2008/09.
 In East Asia and the Pacific 17 of 24 economies made reforms: Indonesia is the most
active reformer
 Singapore, a consistent reformer, is the top-ranked economy on the ease of doing
business for the fourth year in a row, with New Zealand as runner-up
 Top reformers have been consistent, comprehensive, and committed to
reform—often implemented within long term strategies.

6. How are the rankings distributed in every region?
East Asia and Pacific has an average rank of 83
109
152
167
163
177
160
183
2
11
1
13
35
85
17
30
72
83
92 95
117
139
High income:
OECD
Europe & Central
Asia
East Asia &
Pacific
Middle East &
North Africa
Latin America &
Caribbean
South Asia Sub-Saharan
Africa
Average rank on the ease of doing business
Lowest Rank
Average Rank
Best Rank

7. The top 10 reformers in 2008/09
Economy
Starting a
business
Dealing with
construction
permits
Employing
workers
Registering
property
Getting
credit
Protecting
investors
Paying
taxes
Trading
across
borders
Enforcing
contracts
Closing a
business
Rwanda       
Kyrgyz
Republic       
Macedonia
FYR 
     
Belarus      
United
Arab
Emirates
  
Moldova   
Colombia        
Tajikistan     
Egypt,
Arab Rep.
   
Liberia   

8. Developing Economies Lead in Doing Business
Reforms

9. Key Findings – East Asia and Pacific
 For the fourth year running Singapore leads the rankings
 Globally, East Asia and Pacific is the third easiest region to do
business: after OECD: high income and ECA.
 Indonesia is the region’s top reformer, moving up 7 places, from
129 to 122.
 East Asia and Pacific is the region where employing workers is
easiest
 Total number of reforms in the region is highest ever recorded:
is the region with the third most reforms, after ECA and MENA.
 Paying Taxes and Starting a Business: were the most popular
reforms in the region

10. Reforms increase in East Asia and Pacific
Share of economies with at least 1 reform making it easier to do business in
past 6 years (%)
71
63
46
33
46
38
DB 2010
DB 2009
DB 2008
DB 2007
DB 2006
DB 2005

11. East Asia and Pacific recorded a total of 29
positive reforms in all areas in 2008/09
Paying Taxes was lead area of reforms in East Asia and Pacific
8
7
3
2 2 2 2 2
1
0

12. East Asia and Pacific on Doing Business –
Singapore leads the way, followed by Hong Kong, China
1 3
12
23
46
52 54 57 59 60
79
89 93 96 97 98 102 104
122
127
144 145
164 167
Overall ranking on ease of doing business 2008/09
Highest
Lowest

13. I checked the top ten in every indicator and we just asked
them “What did you do”? - Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, Egypt’s Minister of Investment
Topic World’s top ranked 2008/09 East Asia and Pacific top ranked
2008/09
Starting a business New Zealand
Singapore (4)
Hong Kong, China (18)
Dealing with construction permits Hong Kong, China
Hong Kong, China (1)
Singapore (2)
Employing workers
Singapore
Singapore (1)
Brunei Darussalam (4)
Registering property
Saudi Arabia
Thailand (6)
Singapore (16)
Getting credit
Malaysia
Malaysia (1)
Singapore (4)
Protecting investors
New Zealand
Singapore (2)
Hong Kong, China (3)
Paying taxes
Maldives
Hong Kong, China (3)
Singapore (5)
Trading across borders
Singapore
Singapore (1)
Hong Kong, China (2)
Enforcing contracts
Luxembourg
Hong Kong, China (3)
Singapore (13)
Closing a business
Japan
Singapore (2)
Taiwan, China (11)

14. In what topic does East Asia and Pacific do the
best?
Average ranking per topic 2008/09
60 68 69 76 81 88 91 94 97 103

15. Indonesia – the region’s most active reformer
– made registering property faster
 3 positive reforms
 Introduction of time limits at the Land Registry
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
1 2 3 4 5 6
Time(days)
Procedures
15 days less
2 days less
DB09
DB10

16. Lao, PDR made it easier for businesses to pay
taxes in 2008/09
 1 reform made it easier to pay taxes
 Reduced time by 198 hours
362
hours
560
hours
DB10 DB09

17. Mongolia is well positioned ranked at 60 in
2008/09 – with room to improve
 No major reforms
 Change in rank from 56 to 60, due to overtaking from other countries

18. Papua New Guinea’s commercial court is fully
operational
 1 reform – Commercial court became fully operational
 Nonetheless, cost to go to court still prohibitive
0
50
100
150
Enforcement
cost
Court cost
Attorney cost
Cost
(%ofGNI)

19. Timor-Leste made paying taxes easier for
businesses in 2008/09
 1 reform – Major overhaul of tax system
 Ranking on Taxes went from 75 to 19
Total tax rate (% of
profits)
Time (hours) Payments (number)
28.3 %
0.2 %
640 h
276 h 6
15
DB09
DB10
DB09
DB10
DB09
DB10

20. Solomon Islands – challenges remain in dealing
with construction permits
 Increase in the cost of building permits
 Rank for ease of dealing with construction permits went up from 34 to 40
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Solomon
Islands
Tonga Vanuatu Papua New
Guinea
DB 2010 DB 2009
Cost of dealing with construction permits in 2008/09
%ofGNI/cap.

21. For more information visit:
www.doingbusiness.org
Thank you. For more information:
www.doingbusiness.org