Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) said in its 12-page report that while the bureaucracy in Singapore worked very well when the system was stress-tested, however, during difficult times - or when mistakes are made that reflect badly on the system - there is a tendency among bureaucrats to circle the wagons in ways that lack transparency and make accountability difficult.

India’s ‘suffocating bureaucracy’ ranked 12^th by being the least-efficient, and working with the country’s civil servants was a “slow and painful” process, the survey said.

Hong Kong came second, while Thailand came third, despite four years of on-off street protests and a year of dysfunctional government, in the poll. China, which has been campaigning to fight corruption in its bureaucracy and improve efficiency on the civil service, was ranked 9th in the 2009 poll, two places down from 2007.

Ranking by most efficient to least efficient economies are: Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, China, Philippines, Indonesia and India.