Phl competitiveness rating improves

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s global competitiveness ranking posted its biggest improvement to 75 this year from last year’s 85.

In its Global Competitiveness Report, the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked the Philippines 75th among 142 countries covered by its survey conducted from March to April. Last year, the Philippines was 85th among 139 countries covered.

The WEF released its report yesterday through the Makati Business Club, its local affiliate.

MBC executive director Peter Perfecto said the latest ranking represented the best improvement recorded by the Philippines since it joined the report in 1994.

“The ranking is in part due to the new government’s commitment to anti-corruption and level playing field,” Perfecto said.

“The macroeconomic situation of the Philippines is more positive: the country is up 14 places to 54th in the macroeconomic environment pillar, thanks to slightly lower public deficit and debt, an improved country credit rating, and inflation that remains under control,” the report read.

It also said the country “ranks a good 57th in the business sophistication category, thanks to a large quantity of local suppliers, the existence of numerous and well-developed clusters, and an increased presence of Filipino businesses in the higher segments of the value chain.”

It also said “the sheer size of the domestic market (36th) confers a notable competitive advantage.”

In particular, the Philippines showed improvements in its rankings in credit rating to 63 from 75; government debt management, to 89 from 102; interest rate spreads, to 50 from 75; and management of inflation, to 69 from 73.

Another key driver was in the area of market efficiency for goods. Other factors were the extent and effect of taxation, prevalence of foreign ownership, and local supplier quantity.

On technological readiness, the country has also shown marked improvement in foreign direct investment and technological transfer, Internet users and Internet bandwidth.

But the MBC noted that the Philippines ranks the worst among eight Southeast Asian countries covered by the survey in terms of institutions and labor market efficiency.

Corruption, inefficient government bureaucracy, and inadequate supply of infrastructure have remained the top three concerns for doing business in the Philippines, based on the WEF’s Executive Opinion Survey in the last four years.  

The report cites major areas of competitiveness that the Philippines must address: corruption (127), physical security (117), quality of seaport (123), quality of airport infrastructure (115), inefficient labor market (113), and quality of primary education (110).

In other indicators like available airline seat, the Philippines ranks 28; interest rate spread, 50; extent of staff training, 34; intensity of local competition, 47; trade tariffs, 47; degree of customer orientation, 46; reliance on professional management, 50; availability of financial services, 50; affordability of financial services, 42; financing through local equity market, 44; soundness of banks, 46; domestic market size, 31; foreign market size, 40; control of international distribution, 47; extent of marketing, 40; and willingness to delegate authority, 33.

Around 90 of the 14,000 business leaders polled around the world this year were from the Philippines. Also polled were members of the Management Association of the Philippines, Business Processing Association of the Philippines, and the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc.

The survey was conducted from March to April this year.