Thai customs won second place in the efficiency ratings amongst ASEANcountries making the country a leading logistics hub. Singapore won first place in a survey called the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI).
Thailand also did well in the global index rising 13 places to come in at 32nd position up from 45th, out of 160 nations.
In another article called the Trade Facilitation Indicators 2018 report, commissioned by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, it was noted that Thailand had been rewarded for improved customs clearance processes, clearer procedures, the introduction of automated facilities and reducing paperwork as well as having in place a simple and fair appeals procedure.
As regards the prevention of illicit products, Thailand did well in another index called the Global Illicit Trade Environment Index 2018 by the Economist. The country came 45th out of 84 countries. The index measures indicators and activities that went towards cracking down on the import and export of illegal products.
All of the specific customs indices showed improvement and this will help Thailand’s standing in the more important Ease of Doing Business report commissioned by the World Bank. This is important as it is used by international investors to help make decisions for new plants and new projects within the Kingdom.
In the “Doing Business 2018” report, the flagship report by the World Bank Group, Thailand came in at 26th position for ease of doing business out of 190 countries. In 2017 the Kingdom stood at 48th position so this is a very big step up. Thailand was impressive in making improvements to the extent that its strides gained it the accolade as one of the top 10 improvers for the first time.
It is a testament to the government’s efforts to promote Thailand as a business friendly nation and aims to create a backdrop for international private investment.
One notable metric was that the average time it takes to start a business in Thailand fell from 27.5 days to just 4.5 days due to a streamlining of regulations and the introduction of reforms to make the Kingdom more business friendly.
Thailand also introduced new laws to protect the rights of borrowers and lenders alike including broadening the scope of assets that can be used as security to gain credit.
The PM’s Office Minister, Kobsak Pootrakool, commented that Thailand could be in the top 20 countries as early as 2019 if there were further improvements on construction permits and registering property as well as improving ways to handle insolvency and trading across borders.
Other areas that already had been improved could see further tweaks such as increasing the use of online and other computer based systems for various business services.
