Thailand retains best country rank for opening a business

Call it a ray of sunshine during a dark year. Thailand has retained its number one ranking by U.S. News and World Report as the best country in the world for starting a business in the magazine’s 2020 Best Countries survey.

“Starting a business can be daunting as investors and entrepreneurs have a wide array of places to choose from, but also things to consider when beginning their activity,” the magazine’s editors said. Thailand also finished first in 2019.

The editors wrote that the Best Country to Start a Business ranking was based on the results of a global survey of perceptions. It assesses countries based on scores from nearly 6,000 business decision-makers. The executives were asked to consider five country attributes: affordable, bureaucratic, cheap manufacturing costs, connected to the rest of the world, and easy access to capital.

The first-place finish is a validation of the Thai government’s efforts to increase ease of doing business and national competitiveness. The Kingdom also rose six places in the World Bank’s ease of doing business rankings 2020, coming in at number 21 out of 190 countries.

Policymakers have implemented reforms for streamlining business approval processes, adopting digital systems for government services, and improving rules and regulations.

In the U.S. News and World Report overall rankings, the magazine named Thailand the 26th best country in the world, the same rank as last year.

The Kingdom scored high in several categories, finishing in the top ten for being open for business, adventure, heritage, and movers. The last category measures how distinct, unique, dynamic and different a country is.

Photo courtesy of
https://twitter.com/SET_Thailand/status/1227171818206724096/photo/1