Singapore has received the thumbs-up from expatriate businessmen in the region as the cleanest Asian economy.
In a latest survey by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), both Singapore and Hong Kong retained their top spots of first and second, respectively.
Over 1,400 expatriates were asked to rank 13 Asian economies between January and February this year.
The 13 economies were China, Japan, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
The survey had excluded countries notorious for corruption, such as Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Poll results showed that Philippines had the worst score out of the 13 economies. It was cited as an example where its government lacked the political will to tackle the problem, despite huge economic progress.
Thailand was ranked 12th after Indonesia, which had made improvements under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. But the report said the perception of a corrupt bureaucracy remained strong among businessmen.
Malaysia retained its sixth ranking, but achieved a worse score compared to last year’s survey.
Scoring System
– On a scale of zero to ten, zero being the best possible score.
– Last year’s scores are in brackets.
1. Singapore 1.13 (1.20)
2. Hong Kong 1.80 (1.87)
3. Japan 2.25 (2.10)
4. Macau 3.30 (5.18)
5. South Korea 5.65 (6.30)
6. Malaysia 6.37 (6.25)
7. Taiwan 6.55 (6.23)
8. India 7.25 (6.67)
9. Vietnam 7.75 (7.54)
10. China 7.98 (6.29)
11. Indonesia 7.98 (8.03)
12. Thailand 8.00 (8.03)
13. Philippines 9.00 (9.40)
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 11 Mar 2008