ECR: Singapore considered the safest country in Asia

The result means that Singapore is now the safest Asian nation in which to do business from a political, economic and structural perspective. The country rose by six places in the March 2011 edition of the Euromoney Country Risk Survey, having previously ranked 12th in the September 2010 edition.

Favourable economic conditions, strong government institutions and a well maintained infrastructure network all resulted in high scores for Singapore in the political, economic and structural risk categories of the survey. The country’s stellar growth in 2010 and its exposure to the South East Asian growth story helped to boost Singapore’s economic assessment to its highest ever level. This was allied to a favourable assessment of the country’s government institutions and long term structural outlook by economists to produce the Singapore’s highest position in the table for over 5 years.

Singapore benefited from its role as the leading financial centre within the ASEAN nations. The country benefited from a surge in capital flows into the region during a year which saw total M&A deal flows increased by 111% in 2010 to a record $53.7 billion in 2010.

Singapore’s high economic risk score reflected the strong performance of its domestic manufacturing sector, including the biotech industry. As a leading retail and entertainment centre in South East Asia, Singapore also benefited from a boost to tourism, with casino revenues and construction seeing strong growth during the year. 

The city state, which retained its number one position in the World Bank’s Doing Business Survey, overtook Hong Kong, whose close links to China affected its performance. It fell by two places, dropping out of the top ten.

Singapore’s hard infrastructure was considered to be the 3rd best in the world after Luxembourg and Switzerland. Its soft infrastructure was adjudged to be the 8th best in the world. Singapore’s well regulated and functioning labour market resulted in the country being ranked 9th in Euromoney’s Labour Market/Industrial Relations category.

Overall its structural assessment (which includes scores for hard and soft infrastructure, demographics and industrial relations) were considered 4th best in the world. In the political section of the survey, Singapore’s government institutions were ranked 3rd strongest in the world.

The latest edition of the Euromoney survey coincides with the launch of Euromoney Country Risk, an online service from Euromoney dedicated to sovereign and country risk. The latest scores for Singapore and all other Asian countries can be seen at www.euromoneycountryrisk.com.