WASHINGTON (Oct 26): New Zealand has overtaken Singapore as the best country in the world to do business, according to the World Bank. Singapore slipped to second in the bank’s 2017 “ Doing Business” report after topping the ranking for a decade. The report ranks countries based on 11 sets of indicators such as the ease of starting a business, dealing with construction permits, accessing electricity and obtaining credit. For the first time, the Washington-based development lender took gender factors into consideration in assessing how easy it is to start a business, register property and enforce contracts. War-torn Somalia, a new addition to the rankings this year, was the worst-performer, behind Eritrea, Libya, Venezuela and South Sudan.

Source: The Edge Markets October 26, 2016 01:07 UTC