Singapore is the world’s most dynamic economy and one of the best places to do business, according to new research.
The survey looks at 50 of the world’s biggest economies and considers 22 different factors, including business environment, economics and growth prospects.
Closely behind Singapore were Finland, Sweden, Israel and Austria in the Grant Thornton Global Dynamism Index.
A spokesman for the accountancy firm said: “Singapore has done well because it is so well placed to do business between the East and the West.
“In addition, there is an open and transparent financing environment which helps support business and economic growth.”
Israel leads for science and technology
The spokesman added that Singapore’s workforce is also highly educated.
Other key areas which played a role in making the assessment were the science and technology sectors, quality of the workforce and how easily firms could access finance.
The survey asked more than 400 senior managers from a wide range of industries for their thoughts on global trade and the survey is said to provide a better illustration on a particular country and its ability to help a business to succeed.
Singapore was selected by business leaders because it has a favourable financing environment with a strong regulatory system. The survey also highlighted the high level of private sector investment and the light corporate tax burden – corporate tax in Singapore is currently 17%.
The survey found that Israel has the most dynamic science and technology sector, fuelled by their spending a bigger proportion of their GDP on research and development (R&D).
However, it’s also apparent that Israel has managed to capitalise on the highly skilled workers from Russia who have utilised tax incentives for business start-ups to create thriving high technology firms.
High taxes are also not seen as a handicap for dynamism.
BRICS countries score low
The survey highlights how well Scandinavian countries do with high levels of R&D investment and a highly educated workforce.
They also rank highly for their IT infrastructures and the productivity of their workforce.
The USA ranked 10th, just behind Germany, but has solid business growth potential though its future tax and spending policies make potential investors wary. China managed to land the 20th position while the UK was 32nd.
In the bottom 10 of the survey are three countries which many investors would safely assume were more dynamic than business leaders believe: India, Indonesia and Russia.
The bottom countries for business dynamism are Greece, Nigeria and Venezuela.
