Complaint on Thailand's ranking in WB Doing Business report

BANGKOK, August 14 (TNA) - Thailand's Department of Business Development, under the Ministry of Commerce, has filed a complaint with the World Bank against the country's lower ranking in the World Bank's business start-up facilitation report, Doing Business 2015. The department's director-general, Pongpun Gearaviriyapun, told journalists on Friday that Thailand was ranked the 75th place in the latest World Bank's report, down from the 68th place in the previous year, because the World Bank factored in a 21-day process in which a business operator would take to file the regulations of his or her company with the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare, under the Thai Ministry of Labour. Pongpun stressed that the 21-day process had nothing to do with a business start-up process in Thailand. With the advance e-Registration system, Pongpun explained, her department has shortened the duration of the start-up process from 27.5 days to only three days. According to the senior official, the process covers the reservation of a company name, the transfer of its capital to a bank, the production of its rubber stamp, company registration and the application for a taxpayer identification number and an employer identification number. The senior official revealed that her department has already informed a representative of the World Bank in Thailand and the representative said if the World Bank accepted the information from her department, it would give a better ranking to Thailand next year. (TNA)