政壇：睇社論學英文：營商環境遜星洲 香港惟靠食老本

世界銀行最新出爐的《二○一三年營商環境報告》顯示，在全球一百八十多個經濟體系中，新加坡連續七年奪冠；香港雖然由六年前的第五位升至第二位，但部分評級不進反退。近年在不同機構進行的國際排名中，香港幾乎全部落後於新加坡，這不能不引人深思。論天時、論地利，香港都比新加坡優勝，但論營商環境、論競爭力、論空氣質素，香港次次淪為新加坡的手下敗將，這到底是為甚麼呢？

世銀報告提供了清晰的答案，香港屢屢輸給新加坡，主要是因為政府效率低、手續繁複。以結業手續為例，在新加坡只須付出企業資產總值百分之一，十個月內便可完成，在香港卻要付出資產總值百分之九，超過一年才可完成。其實，這些問題並非始於今日。最明顯的例子是物業登記手續，去年世銀報告已經指出，香港物業登記需時太長、費用過高，是整體營商環境輸給新加坡的主要原因，但一年後的今天，情況仍無改善，香港的分項排名由五十七位進一步跌至六十位，不僅敗給新加坡，甚至比蒙古、智利等發展中國家還不如。

With a business environment inferior to that of Singapore, Hong Kong can only live on its fat

According to the World Bank's latest "Doing Business 2013" report, among the 180-plus economies in the world, Singapore ranks first again for the 7th consecutive year. Although Hong Kong is promoted from the 5th place 6 years ago to number two this year, on several topics it has been graded down instead of up. In recent years, Hong Kong has been lagging behind Singapore in a number of international rankings conducted by different institutions. This is really thought-provoking. In terms of opportunities and geographical advantages, Hong Kong does excel Singapore. But when it comes to business environment, competitiveness and air quality, Hong Kong has been bested by Singapore every time in the surveys. What are the reasons behind this failure?

The World Bank's report has provided a clear answer to this question. The major reasons why Hong Kong has been repeatedly defeated by Singapore are the low efficiency and red tape of the Government. Take closing a business as an example, in Singapore, one only needs to pay 1% of the company's total asset value and the formalities can be completed within 10 months. In Hong Kong, one has to pay 9% of the company's total asset value and it would take well over one year to get everything done. In fact, these problems have been long-standing. The most conspicuous example is registering property. It was already pointed out in last year's World Bank report that the time needed for registering property in Hong Kong was too long and the fee too high. These were the main reasons why Hong Kong lost to Singapore in ease of doing business. However, one year later, the situation has not improved. Under "registering property", Hong Kong falls further from 57th to 60th, losing not only to Singapore, but even to developing countries such as Mongolia and Chile.

重要生字

business environment 營商環境

live on one's fat 食老本

thought-provoking 引人深思