This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 29, 2015.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia slipped one notch to the 18th spot globally in the World Bank’s annual survey on the ease of doing business among 189 economies worldwide, but took the first place among emerging economies in East Asia.

In a statement yesterday, World Bank country manager for Malaysia Faris Hadad Zervos said Malaysia’s ranking was 17th in 2014.

Nonetheless, the country remained among the top 20 economies worldwide this year, a list that was topped by Singapore for the 10th consecutive year, followed by New Zealand, Denmark, Korea, and Hong Kong.

“Malaysia’s improvements in the ease of doing business, such as by reforming business registration requirements, have benefited local entrepreneurs who now have fewer hurdles to comply with and more resources to focus on their business.

“Malaysia’s dynamic approach towards assisting business development is recognised globally with its ranking as one of the 20 best economies in the world in which to do business,” Faris said.

He said the nation would be able to improve its business-friendly environment by reducing construction permit procedures and time taken to pay taxes.

World Bank issued its statement in conjunction with the launch of its report on ‘Doing Business 2016: Measuring Quality and Efficiency’, which featured the world’s most business-friendly economies.

“This year’s ‘Doing Business’ report completes a two-year effort to expand benchmarks that measure the quality of regulation, as well as efficiency of the business regulatory framework, in order to better capture ground realities,” World Bank said.