The country stood at 27th in the survey released Wednesday by the IMD, up from 30th last year.
The economic performance indicator drove the Thai position as it climbed six spots from 15th last year to ninth best in the world, mainly due to economic expansion after flooding hit the country last year.
Other indicators included government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.
Thailand’s government efficiency moved from 22nd to 28th, business efficiency rose five notches to 18th and infrastructure development went up one spot to 48th.
But Thailand needed to improve infrastructure in technology, education, science, access to public health and environment issues, it added.
“Thailand’s strengths and weaknesses are still similar to last year’s survey,” said Pornkanok Wipusanawan, director of the TMA Centre for Competitiveness. TMA – the Thailand Management Association – is a partner with the Switzerland-based IMD.
Tevin Vongvanich, TMA chairman, called for improvement of the public and private sectors to make the country more competitive globally
“Success in enhancing the country’s competitiveness depends on the public and private sectors moving in the same direction,”’ he said.
The government must attend to environmental issues, along with rules and regulations to facilitate business firms. Companies must improve and adjust to changes in the global competition, Mr Tevin said.
The United States topped the survey as most competitive nation this year, taking over the position from Hong Kong, which dropped to third. Switzerland was behind the US, moving up one position into second.
The IMD has rated 60 countries in its annual survey since 1997.