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Olga Wong

Hong Kong authorities have questioned a World Bank report giving the city lower grades for business readiness, saying outdated data has led to unfair comparisons.
The Digital Policy Office said early on Tuesday that Hong Kong remained among the top 20 for “operational efficiency” and in the second quintile for “regulatory framework” and “public services” in the World Bank Group’s “Business Ready 2025 Report”.
“Some of the report’s assessment results, such as those for ‘international trade’, ‘financial services’ and ‘dispute resolution’, differ from the rankings and highly positive evaluations that many other international organisations have given Hong Kong,” an office spokesman said.
“We note that the assessment methodology of the report may result in an outdated and unfair comparison.”
Citing “operational efficiency” as an example, the office said some data used to assess Hong Kong was collected shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic in 2023, while information for other economies was collected in 2024.
The annual report, first published in 2024, offers a quantitative assessment of the business environment and aims to promote economic growth and eliminate poverty, according to the World Bank.
It said the project was still in a “roll-out phase”, during which time its methodology would be refined year by year.
This year’s report covers 101 world economies, with the number set to gradually increase to 170 in the next edition.

Under the assessment, each economy is graded across three pillars – regulatory framework, public services and operational efficiency – spanning 10 topics: business entry, business location, utility services, labour, financial services, international trade, taxation, dispute resolution, market competition and business insolvency.
Hong Kong scored 72.86, 73.68 and 60.68 in financial services, international trade and dispute resolution, respectively, trailing Singapore and economies such as Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Italy in the first two categories.
In operational efficiency, Hong Kong ranks 11th with a score of 71.54, behind Singapore (79.25), South Korea (75.98) and Taiwan (75.16).
The city ranks 33rd in public services with a score of 65.32 and 34th in regulatory framework with 71.03.
The Digital Policy Office said it would provide constructive feedback to the World Bank to help optimise the report’s compilation.
“This year’s report is still under the pilot phase and may have room for improvement on the assessment methodology and data comparability. The Hong Kong government will maintain communication with the World Bank Group to fully explain the city’s business environment and relevant policy measures,” the spokesman said.
Hong Kong exports recorded their sharpest increase in 22 months, rising 18.8 per cent in November from a year earlier, figures released on Monday showed.
The city has also accelerated institutional reform and product innovation in the financial market with tools such as artificial intelligence and blockchain.
Gary Ng Cheuk-yan, a senior economist at Natixis Corporate and Investment Bank, said the results might have underestimated Hong Kong’s global standing, especially in areas such as financial services, international trade and taxation, where it had well-known strengths.
“As the methodology is based on surveys, what experts and businesses think plays a big role in the perception. It is fair to say that a mismatch in survey timing can affect results,” he said.
Ng, however, said the takeaway from the report was that government policies could significantly affect business perceptions masking Hong Kong’s structural advantages.
“What happens in policymaking and politics can be significant in shaping such an image,” he added.
On Sunday, finance chief Paul Chan Mo-po pledged to upgrade the city’s role as an international finance centre and as a trade and technology hub to take advantage of national development strategies laid down in China’s coming 15th five-year plan.
He forecast that real gross domestic product growth for 2025 would accelerate to 3.2 per cent, outperforming earlier government estimates of 2 to 3 per cent.


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‘Some assessment results … differ from rankings and highly positive evaluations many other international organisations have given Hong Kong,’ Digital Policy Office says


‘Some assessment results … differ from rankings and highly positive evaluations many other international organisations have given Hong Kong,’ Digital Policy Office says.


World Bank Group

Singapore