Thailand ranked 26th by WB for Ease of Doing Business

BANGKOK, October 29 (TNA) - The US-based World Bank has placed Thailand at the 26th position, among 189 economies worldwide, in its latest global Ease of Doing Business ranking for 2015. Thailand's 26th position, its latest status ranked by the World Bank, which was announced from its headquarters in washington through a video conference system on Wednesday (Thailand's time), is upwards for two places from its ranking for 2014, while Singapore has remained at the top for nine consecutive years. Ulrich Zachau, World Bank's Country Director in Thailand, told journalists that Thailand's position has been moved up from the 28th ranking for 2014 in the latest global ranking for 2015, reasoning that Thailand has used electronic systems to streamline import and export procedures for seven years and the modern technological application has helped the Kingdom to improve the local business environment. Wannaporn Thephasadin na Ayutthaya, an adviser to the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission (OPSC), pointed out, meanwhile, that Thailand was ranked higher by the World Bank because the local public sector has kept improving its measures and services to attract international investors. Wannaporn cited as examples the Thai government's policies on cutting the asset transfer fee from 2 per cent to 0.01 per cent and the corporate income tax from 30 per cent to 20 per cent. According to the World Bank's latest ranking for 2015, Singapore remains at the 1st place of the world and of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the nine consecutive year, while China has been moved up from the 93rd to the 90th place, Malaysia from the 20th to the 18th place and Myanmar from the 178th to the 177th position. However, Japan has been moved downwards from the 27th to the 29th position, the Philippines from the 86th to the 95th and Cambodia from the 134th to the 135th place. (TNA)