New Zealand has been knocked off its perch, at the top of world rankings for ease of doing business.
The Doing Business 2007 report was based on 10 criteria, taken from the perspective of a local entrepreneur - including factors like starting a business, dealing with licenses, and employing staff.
The World Bank's latest rankings have Singapore leap-frogging New Zealand into first place of the 175 countries surveyed.
The study says Singapore is now the economy with the least red tape and the ease of processing transactions online makes compliance simpler, cheaper and faster.
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New Zealand is second, ahead of the United States, Canada and Hong Kong.
Australia's significant reforms of the last year have helped it improve to 8th place.
