Thailand moves up in the ease of doing business rankings
By Jon Fernquest |
Thailand is now ranked 6th "easiest place to do business" in the world.
Last year Thailand was ranked 13th, so things must be improving, according the World Bank's annual Doing Business survey which ranks 181 countries based on eleven factors (See table on right).
Each of the eleven factors is broken down further into a more detailed set of factors and compared with the regional and OECD average (See breakdown for Thailand). For example, the Employing Workers factor, that measures the "difficulties that employers face in hiring and firing workers," is broken into five factors:
1. Difficulty of Hiring
2. Rigidity of Hours
3. Difficulty of Firing
4. Rigidity of Employment
5. Firing costs (weeks of salary)
Here is the article in full:
Thailand rises in WB rankings
Doing business becoming smootherUMESH PANDEY
Thursday September 11, 2008
Despite the ongoing political tensions that have been affecting the country's investment climate, Thailand has improved six places to rank 13th for ease of doing business in a survey of 181 economies by the World Bank. "We did not take into account political issues, civil wars or macroeconomic issues as those issues are not things that are regulatory issues," said Penelope Brooke, the director of indicators and analysis at the World Bank.
She made the comment at a videoconference held in Bangkok to announce the publication of Doing Business 2009.
Thailand was second in Asean behind Singapore, which retained its No. 1 global position this year.
The country was fourth in Asia Pacific after Singapore (1), Hong Kong (4), and Japan (12).
"This is a big achievement for us as a country and it comes at a time when the world is not looking up at us," said Avoot Wannvong, the deputy secretary-general of the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission, who helped co-ordinate the local data gathering for the World Bank survey.
The country's improvement from 19th place last year was helped by several factors, among them:
- The use of E-Customs, which has helped businesses increase their imports and exports.- Reductions of taxes on property that helped investors participate and made it easier for them to invest.
- Changes to the rules governing the minority shareholder protection for companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
- Waivers of corporate income taxes for companies that had less than 1.2 million baht in annual revenues.
"Despite this, we are not satisfied. We need more if we want to be ranked higher and our aim is to be able to do that during next year's rankings," Mr Avoot said.
Pimpapaan Changsilpa, a Commerce Ministry inspector-general, noted that the business registration process in Thailand had now been reduced to just 20 days from 33 days earlier. "This should show up during next year's ratings," Ms Pimpapaan said.
The ministry's plans to offer a one-stop service for all services and a single-window policy would all help raise the country's rankings further next year.
The Finance Ministry, which implements various laws, also aims to undertake more measures to facilitate activity by entrepreneurs.
Thailand had made paying taxes easier by reducing some fees and facilitating online filing and payments. In addition, it now exempts companies with taxable income not exceeding 1.2 million baht from corporate income tax and applies concessionary 25% rates for newly listed companies.
Amendments to the Securities and Exchange Act strengthened minority shareholder rights. Directors now have greater duties with respect to transactions among related parties. If held liable for using a company's assets for their own benefit, they will have to pay damages, return profits and pay fines - and may even go to jail.
Provisional reductions of property transfer fees and specific business tax have lowered the cost to transfer property from 6.3% of the value to 1.13%.
A new internet-based customs clearance system reduced the number of documents required in hard copy from nine to three for imports and from seven to four for exports.
For more Thailand data, see: www.doingbusiness.org.
(Source: Bangkok Post, 11-09-09, UMESH PANDEY, page B1, temp-link)
Vocabulary:
factors - one of the things that affects an event, situation, or situation
a break down - separate something into smaller more detailed parts to make it easier to understand
broken down further - separate into even smaller parts
ongoing - currently happening right now
political tensions - political conflicts
climate - the general situation at a particular time and place
the investment climate - the current general situation for investment in the country
indicators, economic indicators - a measurement that shows you what something else, that cannot be measured, is like (for example, leading indicators shows )
look up to - admire, respect, and approve of someone, for what they have done
look down on - to not respect someone, to not approve, to despise
the world is not looking up at us - the world does not currently approve of what is happening in Thailand
minority shareholder - shareholders who don't own enough of a company to have their opinion influence company decisions (might suffer as a result)
a waiver - permission not to follow a rule
rankings - things listed in order of how well they perform
ranked higher - performed better, therefore higher in the list
facilitate - help
exempts X from Y - X has permission not to do Y
applies concessionary 25% rates for newly listed companies -
amendments - changes
the Securities and Exchange Act - Thailand's laws regarding stocks listed the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)
held liable for - judged to be legally responsible for
provisional - arranged for the present, but will be changed in the future
provisional reductions - reductions that will be used now but changed in the future
property transfer fees - money paid to the government (tax) every time property is bought and sold at the land office
customs clearance - the process of having goods entering the country checked and then paying any tariffs (import taxes) owed to the government
documents required in hard copy - must provide paper copies of the documents
