In the recent World Bank's survey on ease of doing business, Singapore has been ranked as the easiest place in the world to do business.
Singapore has continued to implement more reforms over the past year, helping it to remain on top for the fourth time. A lot of emphasis on implementing e-government initiatives, making everything as transparent, easy and efficient as possible for local businesses.
However, property registration remained Singapore's weakest point. It was ranked 16th in the world in this area, lagging behind countries such as Saudi Arabia, New Zealand and Thailand.
The World Bank noted that in Singapore, property registration requires three procedures and five days. It said Singapore could perhaps learn a thing or two from some of the economies that came out tops in this area.
"One example is Norway. In Norway, you go through your lawyer, there's an electronic system, the land cadastral is mapped directly to the registry. "Everything is done electronically, very secure and the land transfer is a question of an hour. It's the most efficient system that we have seen globally, and that could maybe be an inspiration for how to move forward in Singapore."
New Zealand came in second, while Hong Kong took the third place.
Four more Asia-Pacific countries clinched the top 20 places in the survey, with Australia at number 9, Thailand in 12th place, Japan in 15th and South Korea in 19th.
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