Korea ranks 8th in business environment: World Bank

South Korea ranked eighth in terms of business environment this year partly thanks to its efforts to streamline regulations related to protecting investor rights and imposing taxes, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.

The ranking by the World Bank was unchanged from the previous year and marked the second consecutive year South Korea was listed on the global top 10 list, according to the ministry

The Washington-based lender analyzed 185 countries’ business environments by breaking them down into 10 broad categories involving the so-called business life cycle from start until closure.

South Korea ranked third both among East Asian and the group of 20 countries, the ministry said, citing results of the World Bank’s analysis. Of the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, it came in sixth.

South Korea saw its ranking climb from 79th to 49th in terms of investor rights protection. In taxation, its ranking also rose from 38th to 30th, the ministry said. The improved rankings are attributed to the country’s efforts to streamline related systems and regulations.

In terms of environment for registering property and getting credit, however, South Korea saw its rankings drop. Its rankings in the two categories fell to 75th and 12th from the previous year’s 71st and 8th, respectively.

The ministry assessed that its ranking for business environment has jumped by 15 notches since the Lee Myung-bak government took office in 2008, thanks to “continued” efforts to minimize obstacles hampering corporate investment.

“Given the policy restraints we now face, we believe that regulatory reform is the most effective policy tool for us to bolster corporate investment,” the ministry said in a press release. “With that in mind, we will keep up our efforts to improve the business environment in a way that companies can actually feel in their daily business activities.” (Yonhap News)