Phl to launch new Doing Business plan

MANILA, Philippines - The National Competitiveness Council (NCC) is set to launch a new Doing Business game plan this year to sustain gains in competitiveness rankings and attain the target of top third quartile by 2016.

“As seen in our Task Force on Doing Business, public-private collaboration can be an effective driver of change and we hope to bring about even more reform through this formula, especially as changes in the methodology of competitiveness reports set off even tougher challenges ahead. After relatively successful runs of our Doing Business game plans 1.0 and 2.0, we are ready to launch game plan 3.0 in 2015 to sustain our momentum,” NCC private sector co-chair Guillermo Luz said in his yearend message sent to reporters.

He said the NCC is set to implement various projects this year to continue to improve the country’s competitiveness rankings and achieve its goal to reach the top third quartile by 2016. 

Among these projects is Project Repeal, which would identify outdated laws that create red tape or additional procedures that businesses have to go through.

A team would be organized to facilitate the implementation of the project in partnership with the Congress.

Luz said the NCC would also showcase the audited breakthrough results this year of a balanced score card system which subjected agencies and local government units to external audits to check on good governance practices, launched with the Institute of Solidarity in Asia.

He said the NCC would likewise expand the coverage of the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index to over 1,000 from just 535 as part of initiatives to promote competitiveness at the local level.

Out of 12 reports which rank countries’ competitiveness tracked by the NCC, the Philippines has achieved gains in seven in the last three to four years.

The seven reports where the Philippines managed to keep its momentum going are the World Bank - International Finance Corp.’s Ease of Doing Business (up 53 places), World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report (up 33 places), Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (up 49 places), Heritage Foundation’s Economic Freedom Index (up 26 places), WEF’s Global Information Technology Report (up eight places), WEF’s Travel and Tourism Report (up 12 places), and WEF’s Global Enabling Trade Index (up 28 places).

Declines in the last three to four years, meanwhile, were noted in the following: International Institute for Management Development’s World Competitiveness Report (down one spot), World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index (down nine spots), World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (down five spots), and Fund for Peace’s Fragile States Index (down two spots).

As for the WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report, the country’s ranking was steady in the last three to four years.