KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — Malaysia went up three spots in a closely watched economic competitiveness ranking to place 12th among the 60 countries this year, its best performance in the last four years.

In the World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) 2014 released by the Institute of Management Development (IMD) yesterday, Malaysia was also ranked second among the Asean economies, and third among 13 countries in the Asia-Pacific region following Singapore and Hong Kong.

Its 12th rank put Malaysia ahead of countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Finland, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea.

Malaysia was also ranked first among 29 countries with gross domestic product (GDP) per capita less than US$20,000 (RM64,200).

In the same ranking, Malaysia’s neighbour Singapore had also went up from fifth place to third, while Ireland made the top 15 list after missing it last year.

Other countries in the top 15 list include the United States, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Sweden, Germany, Canada, the UAE, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Taiwan, and the Netherlands.

There were four factors assessed to evaluate a country’s ranking in the WCY: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.

Malaysia continued to rank among the top 10 in economic performance and business efficiency, improving massively in international investments from 14th place last year to seventh this year.

Malaysia, however, maintained its position for government efficiency and infrastructure at 15th place and 25th respectively.

“The government is committed in implementing and executing a sustainable economic policy in ensuring a more prosperous and developed Malaysia as opposed to short-term, populist shortcuts that will have negative consequences in the long run.

“The right decisions are not necessarily popular. We expect to see a much better performance in the next three to five years as more of our initiatives began to bear fruit,” International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said in response to the ranking.

Last September, the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 2013-2014 released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) showed businesses complaining the most about inefficient civil servants and corruption in Malaysia.

In WEF’s survey, 14.7 per cent of respondents named red tape as the biggest obstacle to doing business in Malaysia, with corruption just a hair behind at 14.4 per cent.

Of greater concern, however, is that survey results showed that respondents view both problems as deteriorating. In 2012, 13.8 per cent of respondents listed inefficient bureaucracy as an issue while 12.7 per cent complained of graft.