EDITORIAL - A better place for business

The year opens with the Philippines rating better in a list of 146 countries in terms of doing business. From 90th place in the previous year, the Philippines ranked 82nd in Forbes’ Countries for Business List for 2014.

For the rankings, Forbes culled data from the World Bank, World Economic Forum, Transparency International, US Central Intelligence Agency, Freedom House, Heritage Foundation and Property Rights Alliance.

The Philippines registered improvements in eight out of 11 indicators used by Forbes, with the biggest gain of 50 places seen in market performance. Improvements were also noted in innovation, property rights, fighting corruption, technology, monetary freedom and personal freedom.

Rankings in other indicators show where more work is needed in the last two minutes of the Aquino administration. A slight gain of one place was seen in terms of cutting red tape. There were no changes in terms of trade freedom and tax burden. And the country plunged by 21 places, from 103rd to 124th spot, in terms of investor protection.

Despite the improvements, the country also continued to lag behind the other founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Singapore as usual got the best rating among ASEAN members at eighth place, followed by Malaysia at 37th spot, Thailand at 62nd and Indonesia at 77th. For the rest of ASEAN, Vietnam ranked 111th followed by Cambodia at 121st, Laos at 130th and newly emerging Myanmar at 143rd.

Forbes, in its assessment of the Philippines, echoed what investors and other sectors have often said: “Long term challenges include reforming governance and the judicial system, building infrastructure, improving regulatory predictability and the ease of doing business, and attracting higher levels of local and foreign investments.”

Those challenges have been on the to-do list of a succession of Philippine presidents. The current one still has time to leave his mark.