TMCnet News
Report: Singapore most efficient economy(UPI Business News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Singapore is the most cost-competitive place to do business among nine industrialized countries, a big accounting firm said Tuesday. KPMG LLP's 2006 edition of its biennial study also found that Canada ranks second overall, with France and the Netherlands the most cost-competitive European nations studied, followed by Italy and Britain. The United States, seventh in the rankings, has improved its competitive position since 2004, assisted by the lower value of the U.S. dollar relative to other major currencies. Eighth-ranked Japan has also improved its competitiveness since 2004, overcoming its previous cost disadvantage to ninth-ranked Germany. The study gauges 27 key cost components, including labor, benefits, business facilities, taxes and utilities, as applied to business operations in industrialized countries. Its basis for comparison is the after-tax cost of startup and operation for 17 different types of business, over a 10-year planning horizon. Singapore, new to the study, has a business cost advantage of more than 20 percent over the benchmark United States results. |