Singapore

Ease of Doing Business in

Singapore

This page summarizes Doing Business 2013 data for Singapore. The first table lists the overall "Ease of Doing Business" rank (out of 185 economies) and the rankings by each topic. It also lists the economy's distance to frontier (DTF)** measure. The rest of the tables summarize the key indicators for each topic and benchmark against regional and high-income economy (OECD) averages.

Economy Overview

Select All
Economy Summary
Starting a Business
Dealing with Construction Permits
Getting Electricity
Registering Property
Getting Credit
Protecting Investors
Paying Taxes
Trading Across Borders
Enforcing Contracts
Resolving Insolvency
Region East Asia & Pacific
Income Category High income
Population 5,183,700
GNI Per Capita (US$) 42,930
Doing Business 2013 Rank Doing Business 2012 Rank Change in Rank
1 1 0

Doing Business 2013 DTF** (% points) Doing Business 2012 DTF** (% points) Improvement in DTF** (% points)
91.7 91.7 0.0
Topic Rankings DB 2013 Rank DB 2012 Rank Change in Rank
Starting a Business 4 4 No change
Dealing with Construction Permits 2 2 No change
Getting Electricity 5 6 up 1
Registering Property 36 36 No change
Getting Credit 12 9 up -3
Protecting Investors 2 2 No change
Paying Taxes 5 4 up -1
Trading Across Borders 1 1 No change
Enforcing Contracts 12 13 up 1
Resolving Insolvency 2 2 No change

Economy Profile

1641.9 KB pdf file

Download Now

Doing Business Resources

Doing Business law library Law Library

Search for business laws and regulations in Singapore

 Contributors

See who contributed to Doing Business 2013

 Get all Data

See historical data sets and trends

Additional Topic

Additional Data

Related Websites

Protecting Investors

Info

The indicators below describe three dimensions of investor protection: transparency of transactions (Extent of Disclosure Index), liability for self-dealing (Extent of Director Liability Index), shareholders’ ability to sue officers and directors for misconduct (Ease of Shareholder Suits Index) and Strength of Investor Protection Index. The indexes vary between 0 and 10, with higher values indicating greater disclosure, greater liability of directors, greater powers of shareholders to challenge the transaction, and better investor protection.

DB 2013 Rank 2 DB 2012 Rank 2 Change in Rank 0
DB 2013 DTF** (% points) 96.7 DB 2012 DTF** (% points) 96.7 Improvement in DTF** (% points) 0.0
Indicator Singapore East Asia & Pacific OECD

This measure of the transparency of transactions has 5 components.

View methodology Extent of disclosure index (0-10)
10 5 6

This measure of liability for self-dealing by directors has 7 components.

View methodology Extent of director liability index (0-10)
9 5 5

This measure of shareholders’ ability to sue officers and directors for misconduct has 6 components.

View methodology Ease of shareholder suits index (0-10)
9 6 7

This index is an average of the Extent of Disclosure index, the Extent of Director Liability index, and the Ease of Shareholder suit index.

View methodology Strength of investor protection index (0-10)
9.3 5.4 6.1
Score Score Description
Extent of disclosure index (0-10) 10
What corporate body provides legally sufficient approval for the transaction? 3 Both board of directors and shareholders meeting and Mr. James is not allowed to vote
Whether disclosure of the conflict of interest by Mr. James to the board of directors is required? 2 Full disclosure of all material facts
Whether immediate disclosure of the transaction to the public and/or shareholders is required? 2 Disclosure on the transaction and Mr. James' conflict of interest
Whether disclosure of the transaction in published periodic filings (annual reports) is required? 2 Disclosure on the transaction and Mr. James' conflict of interest
Whether an external body must review the terms of the transaction before it takes place? 1 Yes
Extent of director liability index (0-10) 9
Whether shareholders can sue directly or derivatively for the damage that the Buyer-Seller transaction causes to the company? 1 Yes
Whether shareholders can hold Mr. James liable for the damage that the Buyer-Seller transaction causes to the company? 2 Liable for unfair/oppressive transaction or prejudicial to minority shareholders
Whether shareholders can hold members of the approving body liable for the damage that the Buyer-Seller transaction causes to the company? 2 Liable for unfair/oppressive transaction or prejudicial to minority shareholders
Whether a court can void the transaction upon a successful claim by a shareholder plaintiff? 1 Possible when the transaction is oppressive or prejudicial to minority shareholders
Whether Mr. James pays damages for the harm caused to the company upon a successful claim by the shareholder plaintiff? 1 Yes
Whether Mr. James repays profits made from the transaction upon a successful claim by the shareholder plaintiff? 1 Yes
Whether fines and imprisonment can be applied against Mr. James? 1 Yes
Ease of shareholder suits index (0-10) 9
Whether shareholders owning 10% or less of Buyer's shares can inspect transaction documents before filing suit? 0 No
Whether shareholders owning 10% or less of Buyer's shares can request an inspector to investigate the transaction? 1 Yes
Whether the plaintiff can obtain any documents from the defendant and witnesses during trial? 4 Any information that may lead to the discovery of relevant information
Whether the plaintiff can request categories of documents from the defendant without identifying specific ones? 1 Yes
Whether the plaintiff can directly question the defendant and witnesses during trial? 2 Yes, without approval from the judge
Whether the level of proof required for civil suits is lower than that of criminal cases? 1 Yes
Strength of investor protection index (0-10) 9.3

** The distance to frontier (DTF) measure shows the distance of each economy to the "frontier," which represents the highest performance observed on each of the indicators across all economies included in Doing Business since each indicator was included in Doing Business. An economy’s distance to frontier is indicated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest performance and 100 the frontier. Read more...

Explore Economy Data

Explore Economy Data


 - OR -

OTHER OPTIONS

Close