Top place to do business

New Zealand has received top marks in a World Bank survey on Doing Business in 2006.

The country was ranked No 1 in terms of ease of doing business, in the survey of 155 countries conducted by the bank's International Finance Corp division.

Australia was sixth on the list, which assessed how easy it is to establish and maintain a business.

Fiji, Tonga and Samoa ranked 34th, 36th and 39th, respectively.

Sean Duggan, the corporation's regional programme co-ordinator for the Pacific, said Pacific Island nations "fared remarkably well" in this year's survey, but he warned that "the Pacific does have its fair share of problems, particularly with the administration of regulation".

New Zealand ranked fourth in terms of starting a business, second in dealing with licences, fourth in hiring and firing, first in property registration and seventh in getting credit.

Duggan said New Zealand was distant from its major markets and was relatively small, but it recognised the need to be as efficient as possible to offset its disadvantages.

"For the rest of the Pacific, New Zealand is a role model. New Zealand has proven that it is possible to succeed," he said.

- NZPA