Economic policy and administration

Cambodia improved its ranking for the ease of doing business from 133 last year to 127 in 2015, making marked progress in the number of days and procedures required to start a business, though it is still ranked well below the world average, according to ...

Vietnam moved three places to the 90th position out of 189 economies in the World Bank’s Doing Business report released on 28 October.   The country’s score on a scale of 0-100 increased from 60.35 to 62.1, indicating an improved environment for businesses, according to the report.   Keep reading   ...

The Bank of Thailand is considering a plan to expand categories of asset class investment in order to manage its foreign reserves more effectively, says the Bank of Thailand governor. “If we can find an asset class that could yield greater management of foreign reserves, result in ...

Post-coup Thailand barely retained its position among the World Bank’s top 50 economies worldwide and has ranked third among ASEAN countries on the ease of doing business during the past year. In its annual Doing Business 2016: Measuring Quality and Efficiency survey, Thailand fell three places from the ...

The Thai Cabinet has approved more measures worth Bt5 billion to support small and medium-sized enterprises in a bid to increase their competitiveness, Industry Minister Atchaka Sibunruang said. Keep reading ...

Eight out of 10 member states of ASEAN have made investments in Vietnam with a total pledge of $56.32 billion for 2,681 projects, the Foreign Investment Agency recently reported.   The cumulative investment figure was recorded at the end of September and was up 8.6 percent from ...

While political and policy risks have been among the biggest concerns for foreign investors in recent years, other issues such as bureaucracy, legal enforcement and business restrictions perhaps weigh even more heavily on Thailand’s competitiveness. Darren Buckley, country head of Citi Thailand and president of the American Chamber of ...

The government is considering privilege packages for Thai franchises in a bid to promote them in the world market. Deputy Commerce Minister Suvit Maesincee, who presided over the opening of the “Excellent Thai Franchise” event on 21 October, said the franchise business still had a lot of ...

China has announced that it will invest US$31.4 billion in the Mengla economic zone in Yunnan province of the country, which shares a border with Lunag Namtha and Phongsaly provinces in northern Laos. The investment will cover more than 240 projects in such fields as transportation, ...

Earlier this month, 12 countries in the Asia Pacific region signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which ranks as the biggest trade agreement in history – signatory countries account for 40% of total global output. While the treaty still must be ratified by each and every party to it, ...