* South Sudan makes progress with business laws-World Bank
* South Sudan to become independent in July
KHARTOUM, May 17 (Reuters) - South Sudan has made progress with business regulations ahead of its secession from the north in July but needs to remove legal uncertainties for firms operating in the oil-rich country, the World Bank said on Tuesday. South Sudan, which holds 75 percent of the African country's 500,000 barrels a day oil production, voted in January to become independent in a referendum promised under a 2005 peace deal with the north that formally ended decades of civil war.
But a wave of rebel and tribal violence killing more than 1,100 people this year has raised worries that the new country will turn into a failed state that destabilises its east African neighbours.
The World Bank said South Sudan had made progress with eight business laws for small and medium-sized firms concerning regulation, land ownership and company registrations, while the first commercial banks had been set up.
Business registrations requiring 15 days was relatively fast in south Sudan but more than twice as expensive than the average cost in Sub-Saharan African countries, it said in a report.
But the government in Juba now needed to remove legal uncertainties, improve the infrastructure and cut down on bureaucracy, the World Bank said, citing a lack of access to credit as another obstacle.
North and south Sudan have yet to agree on several issues such as over disputed border areas such as Abyei or how to divide up oil revenues or assets.
While the south holds much of the oil wealth, it needs the north with its pipelines, refineries and access to the Red Sea to sell the oil, the main source of income for both sides.
(Reporting by Ulf Laessing, Editing by Giles Elgood)
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