Thailand ranks 46th in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business report, up three spots from last year because of changes in the methodology, adding factors related to gender equality, protecting minority investors and paying taxes.
If the revised methods had been used last year, Thailand would have been ranked 46th, with no change this year.
The revision came after criticism by a special panel appointed by World Bank president Jim Yong Kim that the rankings should not be used to apply a one-size-fits-all template for development.
The World Bank released its report titled "Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All" yesterday, covering 11 regulatory areas affecting the business environment in 190 countries.
Thailand underwent reform in three main areas: starting a business, getting credit and resolving insolvency, said the report.
The country's ranking in starting a business gained 15 spots to 78th, while getting credit also improved 15 places to 82nd by improving financial institution access to credit information.
Thailand moved up three places to 23rd for resolving insolvency, the country's best ranking, as it expanded the application of its reorganisation framework, allowing small and medium-size enterprises to take advantage of the mechanism.
The World Bank pointed to providing electricity, dealing with construction permits and paying taxes as areas where Thailand needs to improve. Its ranking for getting power for a business dropped from 34th to 37th because it takes 37 days on average to receive the service here, a steep fall from Korea's category-leading 18 days.
Thailand's score for dealing with construction permits declined to 42nd from 38th last year, while its ranking for paying taxes declined to 109th from 106th last year. The time required to pay taxes in Thailand averages 266 hours per year, compared with 48 hours in Singapore.
Tossaporn Sirisampan, secretary-general of the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission, said the government is in the process of setting up a one-stop service for permits relating to setting up a business and wants the same format for documents used by all related agencies.
"The office has to discuss with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and the Metropolitan Electricity Authority about how to improve the process of providing power to new businesses," said Mr Tossaporn.
New Zealand surpassed decade-long champion Singapore as the best country in the world in which to do business, with the latter placing second.