(Anova) - Vietnam drops five places in the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation’s latest report that ranks 181 economies on the overall ease of doing business.

The country is placed at the 92 nd position in the Doing Business 2009 report, down from the 87 th position in the previous report. It is ranked fifth in Southeast Asia, after Singapore , Thailand , Malaysia and Brunei .

However, the report says Vietnam is one of the 11 Eastern Asian countries with the highest number of business environment reforms in the period between June 2007 and June 2008.

Vietnam ’s reform is reported in the area of getting credit.

“ Vietnam ’s public credit registry now keeps information on record longer, providing financial institutions with more data on the repayment history and debt capacity of potential borrowers,” says the report.

The head of the legal affairs section of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Tran Huu Huynh, said Vietnam ’s business environment-related reforms remain modest while the “space” for it is still huge.

Huynh also said some countries that also underwent the transformation from a centrally-run to market economy have reformed faster than Vietnam and their positions have improved in the ranking.

He proposed that the report makers further diversify interview subjects to have a more real and overall picture on the Vietnamese business environment.

The “Doing Business 2009” ranks economies based on data in many areas including starting business, dealing with construction permits, employing and dismissing workers, registering property, getting credit, paying taxes and trading across borders.

Singapore , leads the global rankings, followed by New Zealand and the US.

(Source: VNA)