THE ECONOMY may be in freefall and the country’s reputation in tatters but Ireland remains one of the best countries in the world in which to conduct business, according to a new report from the World Bank.

Ireland is placed in ninth spot in the bank’s Doing Business rankings, down from eighth last year.

The report, which covers 183 countries, ranks economies in terms of their regulatory environments and considers a number of factors including starting a business, getting credit, paying taxes, enforcing contracts and protecting investors.

Globally, doing business remains easiest in OECD high-income economies, with Singapore the nation considered to have the most business-friendly regulation for the fifth year running.

It is followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand and the UK, with the US in fifth place.

Of the 183 countries covered in the report, Chad is ranked in last place followed by the Central African Republic, Burundi, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The study finds that against the backdrop of the global financial crisis, policy makers around the world have taken steps to make it easier for local firms to operate.

According to the report, between June 2009 and May 2010 governments in 117 economies implemented 216 regulation reforms making it easier to start and operate a business, strengthening transparency and property rights and improving the efficiency of commercial dispute resolution and bankruptcy procedures.

The 10 economies that made the largest strides in making their regulatory environment more favourable to business are Georgia, Rwanda, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Saudi Arabia, Mali, the Kyrgyz Republic, Ghana, Croatia and Kazakhstan. All implemented more than a dozen reforms over the past five years, the study finds.