The improvement is a result of its success in reforming and relaxing the regulations involved in starting a business. For example, the registration process can now be completed in only a single day, shortened from nine days before.

World Bank programme manager Sylvia Solf said the Thai government's significant regulatory relaxation was behind the rise in its ranking. However, it should also further relax measures regarding shareholders' rights protection.

The Kingdom intends to be among the top 10 economies in the near future, as relevant organisations are continuously putting a hard effort into facilitating procedures in doing business in the Kingdom.

"We strongly intend to keep making it easier to do business in Thailand through deregu-lation in a bid to be one of |the top 10 economies," said Thossaporn Sirisamphan, |secretary-general of the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission (OPDC).

He did not specify when the Kingdom would meet that target, saying it depended on how much progress was made in deregulation, both here and in other economies.

"If the economic and political situation gets back on track, that will help smooth bureaucratic reform," Thossaporn said.

Singapore has been the top-ranked economy for four consecutive years in terms of ease of doing business, while Hong Kong is No 3. China's ranking dropped from 89th to 83rd, while Malaysia fell three places to 23rd.

Indonesia is the top reformer in the East Asia and Pacific region, with the most popular reforms involving taxes and starting a business.

Solf said the rankings on ease of doing business was not more important for investors than was consistency of reforms, as the latter reflected the government's attempts to support local investment with transparency.

Consistent reform and a high return on investment will increasingly attract new investors.

However, she called on the Thai government to make more serious moves on deregulation, especially regarding registration and investors' rights protection.

Thossaporn said the country needed to keep some issues unchanged, in order to protect local benefits, such as employment.

The Commerce Ministry's Pranee Pasiphol said the ministry was now improving its online registration process, which would see an online connection between it and the Revenue Department.

World Bank senior economist Kirida Bhaopichitr said Thailand needed to improve its liquidation process, in order to make it easier to close a business.

It takes a long time to shut down a business in Thailand and other regional countries, due to the lengthy legal process involved.

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