The South Korean government ranked near the bottom among nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in terms of how far it has come in “privatization” of various public services, a report by a local think tank showed Sunday.

According to the Korea Institute of Public Finance, the percentage of public services contracted out to private firms stood at just 6.8 percent of gross domestic product. This placed South Korea at 26th among 28 OECD countries checked.

Contracting out of services has become popular among advanced industrialized economies because it can fuel competitiveness in the public sector by getting private firms to reduce costs and improve quality.

KIPF said among the countries checked, the Netherlands ranked No. 1, with service consignment making up 19.4 percent of its GDP. Finland and Britain also made the top three list.

“There is a need to transfer services that the private sector is more suited to handle, which can improve overall quality of services for users,” the institute claimed. (Yonhap)