Dear Valued Clients,
Welcome to our E-Newsletter December 2018
We hope this finds you well!
Though the last quarter was a challenging one as the trade tension between US and China intensified, Singapore had delivered a resilient performance in its economic growth. Singapore’s economy has recorded a 2.2% year on year growth in the third quarter – a number that shows the growth rate is below the Government’s initial estimate and market expectations, if compared with the 4.1% growth in the previous quarter. According to Ministry of Trade and Industry’s forecast, we can expect to see economic growth by 3.0 to 3.5 % in 2018. On top of that, the Ministry of Trade and Industry has also released its official 2019 forecast recently where Singapore’s economy will see a slower growth rate between 1.5 and 3.5%.
Singapore is the Second Best Place to Do Business in the World
Ranked second among 190 economies in the ease of doing business, Singapore is one of the important economy powerhouses in the world. According to the latest World Bank annual ratings, the rank of Singapore remains unchanged at the second spot in 2018 (Singapore was ranked the second in 2017). The World Bank’s report has highlighted the best three economies (with the highest rankings) in the world where New Zealand topped the list, followed by Singapore and Denmark. New Zealand scored the highest score of 86.59 while Singapore secured the second place with the scoring of 85.24. All these three countries topped the list as the best three places in the world to do business due to their sound business regulations and business-friendly environment.
In the 10 areas (in which the overall ease of doing business is measured), Singapore has shown huge improvement in four areas, namely “starting a business” (up 1 notch), “dealing with construction permits” (up 14 notches), “registering property” (up 3 notches) and “paying taxes” (up 1 notch). Apart from this, the scoring of the following areas remains the same in 2018 (if compared with 2017): “getting electricity”, “protecting minority investors”, “trading across borders” and “enforcing contracts”.
According to the latest Doing Business report, the number of days needed to start a business averaged 21 days worldwide. Singapore has made the process of starting a business much easier by doing away with the need for corporate seals. The simplified post-registration procedures like tax registration, licensing, and social security registration is among the key points that helped its rankings in this area. Though Singapore needs only 2.5 days to start a business, it is still slower than five other economies, including top scorer New Zealand (rank 1) and Hong Kong (rank 3). We are encouraged to see Singapore’s good performance as the second best place to do business in the world. It shows that our Government’s efforts over the last few years are making a difference.
In this fast-changing world, 3E Accounting remains committed to the highest standards of service quality. We always work with passion and determination to deliver the very best for all our clients. Therefore, I would like to thank our partners, management, and employees for their continuous commitment to this journey.
Thank you.
Lawrence Chai
Managing Director
Read More in our E-Newsletter December 2018.
