Malaysia is the 12th most competitive economy in the world for doing business, according to the 2013 edition of The World Bank's 'Doing Business' report.

The ranking places Malaysia ahead of economies like Sweden (13th), Taiwan (16th), Germany (20th), Japan (24th) and Switzerland (28th).

Malaysia's new ranking is a significant improvement over last year's 18th position and 23rd in 2010, continuing a trend of improving competitiveness which began four years ago.

This year's climb by six notches to 12th spot represents the country's largest leap in competitiveness ranking in recent years.

The World Bank report surveys 185 economies across competitive criteria such as ease of starting a business, getting licensing approvals, efficiency of tax administration and ease of trading across borders.

- Bernama