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You can set up a business in a single procedure that takes only half a day in New Zealand, which is ranked 1st in this list, followed by Macedonia Image Credit: iStock

Based on the annual report titled Doing Business 2017 by the World Bank Group, these countries emerged in the top 10 for ease of doing business. The parameters include, and are not limited to, the number of procedures, days for completion, cost and minimum paid-up capital required. The report analyses 189 economies on 11 parameters of business processes. 


UAE: Rank 26

UAE ranks 26th in ease in doing business, coming up from 60th position in 2016. The reforms made this year include streamlining of name reservation and articles of association notarisation and merging resgistration processes with the Ministry of Human Resources and General Pensions, and Social Secutiry Authority. The UAE also reduced the duration of a single fixed-term contract from 48 months to 24 months. The 'Getting Credit' score is the only one where the country lags behind.

Starting a business in the UAE requires 4.5 procedures to be completed in 8.5 days.Cost of set up is calculated at 13 per cent of per capita income, which comes up to approximately Dh20,596.

UAE is ranked 1st in payment of taxes as businessmen only require 12 hours to complete their tax payments. 


Overall ranking: Ease in Doing Business

Country Steps Days Cost GNI per capita (US$) Net cost (US$) Net cost (Dirhams)
New Zealand 1 0.5 day 0.30% 40,080 120.24 441.3
Singapore 3 2.5 days 0.60% 52,090 312.54 1147
Denmark 4 3 days 0.20% 58,590 117.18 430.05
Hong Kong SAR, China 2 1.5 days 0.60% 41,000 246 902.82
Korea, Rep. 2 4 days 14.6% 27,440 4,006.24 14,702.9
Norway 4 4 days 0.90% 93,820 844.98 3,098.8
United Kingdom 4 4.5 days 0.10% 43,340 43.34 159
United States 6 5.6 days 1.1% 54,960 604.56 2,218.73
Sweden 3 7 days 0.50% 57,810 289.05 1,060.8
Macedonia, FYR 2 2 days 0.10% 5,140 5.14 18.86

Note: Cost figures are shown as per cent of per capita income of each economy, which is calculated by dividing the Gross National Income (GNI) of the economy by the country's population.

With just one procedure and half a day for the business start-up to be completed, New Zealand ranks first in the ease of starting a new business. Macedonia recorded a drastic decline from second position to tenth while Singapore jumped from tenth rank to second.