China comes in 91 out of 155 countries in terms of easy business-doing, said a report sponsored by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group on September 14, according to a report by Beijing Youth Daily. World Bank experts pointed out that comparatively speaking, China is still a difficult place to do business, particularly for domestic small and medium-sized enterprises.

The annual report "Doing Business in 2006 and Creating Job Opportunities'' is based on the conclusion of tracking 155 countries and regions, which for the first time provides a global ranking of 155 economies in laws, regulations and reforms on corporate operation.

The report shows the five countries with the best business environment are New Zealand, Singapore, the United States, Canada and Norway. China's Hong Kong is ranked the seventh place in the list. What's noticeable is that among the top 30 countries, six are from the East Asia in terms of easy business-doing environment. Apart from Singapore and Hong Kong, the other four are Japan, Republic of Korea, Thailand and Malaysia.

It says China and other East Asian economies lags behind in helping SMEs create job opportunities through reform. The report also pointed out that compared with many other areas, China and other Eastern Asian economies have been relatively inactive in terms of reforming business regulations for small and medium-sized enterprises, and there exist many barriers that China will overcome to make it easier for the enterprises to access credit and operate their businesses. But the report says China is ahead of some neighboring countries and regions in the areas such as import/export procedures.

By People's Daily Online