S. Korea's global biz-friendly ranking jumps to 23rd: World Bank report

SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's global corporate-friendly ranking jumped seven notches this year on improvements in tax and credit procedures, an international business report showed Wednesday.

The World Bank's annual "Doing Business 2009" report placed South Korea at 23rd among 181 countries in overall business environment. South Korea ranked 30th one year ago.

Decreased time for tax filings, as well as a decline in tax burdens and an easier
process in acquiring credit were cited as the reasons for the ranking
improvement, the report showed.

The report analyzes the business environment for each nation in 10 categories
linked to business related activities.

The 2009 report gave poor scores for South Korea in the labor-related category,
placing the nation at 152nd, down from the previous year's 131st. South Korea
also ranked among the lowest in the "starting a business" category.

Singapore ranked first in terms of business-friendly environment, followed by New
Zealand, the United States and Hong Kong, respectively, according to the report.
Japan came in 12th and China ranked 83rd.

The report comes amid mounting efforts by President Lee Myung-bak to ease
regulations and boost corporate investment. Lee, the former CEO of a construction
firm who took office in February, pledged that he will double up efforts to
create a more "business friendly" environment.

The Finance Ministry said South Korea's ranking will likely improve further next
year as such government efforts will be reflected more in business-related
regulations. But it pointed out that efforts need to be intensified to make the
local labor market more flexible.

kokobj@yna.co.kr

(END)