When it comes to competitiveness, Thailand is gaining ground. The Kingdom rose four places to 26th in the annual IMD World Competitiveness Ranking, driven by stronger business efficiency and improving infrastructure.

Published by the World Competitiveness Center of the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD), the annual ranking evaluates
the performance of 70 economies using a broad range of indicators to assess their current performance and future competitiveness.

The ranking is based on four key areas: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure. IMD uses 172 statistical indicators and 92 indicators from an executive opinion survey, for a total of 264 indicators.

The Thailand Management Association (TMA) said the four-place improvement reflected stronger performance in Thailand's business sector and infrastructure. However, TMA cautioned against complacency, noting that significant progress would still be needed in several areas, including productivity, education, technological readiness, artificial intelligence capabilities, and the effectiveness of public-sector governance.

While Thailand's overall infrastructure ranking rose by two places, its technological infrastructure subcategory fell seven places despite substantial public and private investment in data centers.

TMA said IMD introduced new artificial intelligence indicators in this year's assessment, which contributed significantly to the decline in the technological infrastructure ranking. IMD added nine AI-related indicators, highlighting the growing importance of AI in determining national competitiveness.

"The shift means Thailand must move faster to build digital and AI capabilities if it wants to compete with more advanced and fast-rising economies," TMA wrote, adding that Thailand must modernize its laws and regulations to keep pace with global developments.