WB urged to revise rating |on ease in starting business

The Bank recently downgraded the country to 75th among 189 countries, from 68th last year.
Pongpun Gearaviriyapun, director-general of the department, said the Bank “was inaccurate in some points”, which negatively affected the ranking.
“After the discussions with the three organisations, officials of the World Bank in Thailand said they would pass the conclusions on to the World Bank [headquarters] and were confident that Thailand’s ranking would be upgraded next year,” she said.
The World Bank analysis set the length of time required to start |a business in Thailand at 27 and a half days, but the Commerce Ministry claims it actually takes only three days.
“The department has tried hard to improve efficiency for registering new companies and helping enterprises do business easily. The department has continued to adopt new technology such as e-registration and e-certification to facilitate enterprises nationwide,” Pongpun said.
For one thing, she said, the World Bank overestimated the time it took to obtain a corporate seal at four days, when in reality it takes only three hours.
She said her department had significantly improved its procedures for registering new companies and helping them operate.
It has shortened the verification and registration time, and adopted electronic systems. She said a new company could reserve a name within 20 minutes through the electronic registration system.
It can receive a tax identification number and a corporate seal within three hours.
As for submitting a copy of its workplace regulations, this is only required if the new company has more than 10 employees. This requirement is in accordance |with the Labour Law, and is |not about doing business, Pongpun said.
She hopes the World Bank will consider upgrading Thailand’s rating soon.