Global Competitiveness Report: Philippines ranked 56th

Global Competitiveness Report: Philippines ranked 56th

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines ranks 56th out of 140 countries in the World Economic Forum's latest global competitiveness report.

The WEF World Competitiveness Index 2018 published by partner institute Makati Business Club (MBC) to the media yesterday showed that the Philippines is the fifth most competitive economy in Southeast Asia.

In the region, the Philippines was behind their neighbors Singapore (second), Malaysia (25th), Thailand (38th) and Indonesia (45th), but ahead of Brunei Darussalam (62nd), Vietnam (77th), Cambodia (110th) and Lao People & Democratic Republic (112th).

The United States dominated this year's WEF Global Competitiveness Report. Singapore was in second place and Germany in third.

Chad, meanwhile, was the last inhabitant, in 140th place.

For the ranking, the report was based on 12 pillars: institutions, infrastructure, adoption of information and communication technologies, macroeconomic stability, health, education and skills, product market, labor market, financial system, size market, business dynamism and innovation capacity.

Of the 12 pillars, the Philippines was characterized by a market size (32nd), a labor market (36th), a financial system (39th) and a dynamic business (39th).

Business dynamism includes the time needed to start a business, as well as the cost of starting a business and insolvency rates.

"Although the time and costs associated with starting a business remain problematic factors for the business world, it should be noted that the Philippines occupies an important place in electronic participation or the use of flat online forms to link government information to citizens, "said Edgar, president of MBC. Said Chua.

"With the recently passed Business Convenience Act, we remain optimistic that the government will be able to sustain these gains and address efficiency concerns in the conduct of business," he said. added.

Law 11032 on the Republic, or the law on the ease of doing business, which was promulgated by President Duterte in May, provides for a number of days required for the processing of government transactions in order to resolve administrative formalities.

Meanwhile, the country was weak in terms of institutions (101st), health (101st) and infrastructure (92nd).

In the institutions pillar, the critical indicators in which the Philippines rank poorly include the incidence of terrorism, the homicide rate, organized crime and the reliability of police services.

In terms of infrastructure, the Philippines ranked poorly in the areas of road connectivity, exposure to unsafe drinking water, efficiency of rail service and electrification rate.

"While we continually build on our strong pillars, it is equally important to address our weaknesses. The business community remains committed to working with the government to fill these gaps, particularly with respect to our weakest links in terms of ease of commercial activity, incidence of corruption and infrastructure, particularly for road connectivity, "said Chua.

While the WEF has moved to a new index for this year's report, the rankings are not comparable to previous reports.

This year's report focused on a country's priorities, progress over time, and lessons learned from the best performing countries.