THAILAND: GOOD AND BAD FOR BUSINESS

Two reports published yesterday paint very different pictures about doing business in Thailand.
The Kingdom ranked 12th globally in the World Bank's Doing Business 2010 report which focuses on the ease of conducting business in 183 countries worldwide. Thailand ranked highly in the 'Registering Property'(6th), 'Trading Across Borders' (12th) and 'Protecting Investors' (12th) categories but fared less well in the 'Paying Taxes' (88th) and 'Getting Credit' (71st) sections.
In a separate report also issued yesterday by the World Economic Forum Thailand ranked 36th globally in terms of competitiveness. Arguably this report raises far greater concerns for the country as a whole.
The country has dropped out for a second consecutive year, largely due to "protracted instability". Areas of significant concerns include security, insufficient protection of property rights and technological readiness.
Interestingly this report also states Thailand has some of the densest penetration of mobile telephony in the world with 124 mobile subscriptions per 100 population. Use of the Internet, at 21 users per 100 people, is "scarce", according to the report.