BANGKOK, Oct 29 — The World Bank has positioned Thailand in the 26th rank, rising two notches from last year, in its annual “Doing Business” ranking of the best environments to start and run a company, while Singapore has occupied the top position for nine years.
Ulrich Zachau, World Bank Thailand country director, said Thailand moved up from its 28th position last year in global rankings of 189 countries.
Singapore remains in the first place worldwide, and ASEAN, for the ninth year.
China moves up from 93rd to 90th, Malaysia from 20th to 18th, and Myanmar from 178th to 177th place.
Moving downward are Japan from 27th to 29th, the Philippines from 86th to 95th, and Cambodia from 134th to 135th.
Mr Zachau said Thailand had used electronic systems to streamline import and export procedures for seven years and showed that modern technological application helped improve the business environment.
Wannaporn Thephasadin na Ayutthaya, adviser to the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission, said Thailand ranked higher because the public sector kept improving its services to attract investors. She mentioned policies to cut the asset transfer fee from to 0.01 per cent and the corporate income tax from 30 per cent to 20 per cent.
