By CHUANG PECK MING

It's times like these that exposes the worst in a country's economy - or brings out the best in it.

For Singapore, despite taking a big hammering on its growth, the global economic crisis has put on display more starkly the island republic's strengths as it moves up four spots to No 4 in the latest Forbes magazine's ranking of the best countries to do business.

'The downturn has hit everywhere, but our 4th annual Best Countries for Business ranking is a good indication of which nations will be in a better position than others to rebound from the current malaise by attracting entrepreneurs, investors and workers,' Forbes says in its April 27 issue.

Based on business conditions, Denmark tops the Forbes' list for a second straight year. The United States moved up from No 4 to No 2, Canada is up four spots at No 3.

Among the big movers are New Zealand (No 5, up seven spots), Jordan (No 33, up 28), Australia (No 8, up five), United Arab Emirates (No 46, up 28) and Malaysia (No 25, up 13).

New to the top 10 are Australia, Norway and New Zealand. Falling out of the top 10 are Switzerland, Finland and Ireland.

'This is not a tally of economies with high gross domestic product growth, or low unemployment,' Forbes says. 'The goal is to quantify for entrepreneurs and investors the often-qualified information about dynamic economies and what they would consider desirable conditions for business.'

Factored in the rankings are a country's tax burden, red tape, investor protections, stock market performance, promotion of free trade, and freedom of expression and organisation. 'Personal freedoms play a big part - it's hard to start a company or find talented employees under totalitarian regimes and military juntas,' Forbes says. 'So we include a measure of the right to participate in free and fair elections, freedom of expressions and organisation.'

Also important are laws that protect investors, assuring recourse for minority shareholders in cases of corporate misdeeds.

'As a barometer for corruption, Transparency International examines the number of frequency of incidents where corporate assets are misused for personal gain,' Forbes says.

Amid the financial turmoil, Forbes adds the stock market in its latest ranking to reflect the extent of damage in countries' banking systems, as well as investor confidence in a recovery.

'Intellectual property rights, the promotion of free trade and low inflation, combined with low taxes on income and investment, give a snapshot of the conditions of business in each,' the magazine says.

This article was first published in The Business Times.