Philippines' World Competitiveness Ranking Dived

**4wrider** · September 9th, 2009 06:31 PM

This may be the most painful legacy, GMA can leave us. No matter how good our own NEDA's economic indicators show, the huge drop in our international standing in terms of competitiveness apparently reflect the lousy economic realities in the country. The following is an article taken from Business Mirror.

HIGH levels of corruption, an inefficient bureaucracy and other major issues have caused the Philippines to slip 16 notches to 87th place out of 133 economies in the 2009-2010 Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Tuesday.

The Philippines received a score of 3.90, lower than its previous scores in the 2008-2009 and 2007-2008 GCI. The country was ranked 71st out of 134 economies with a score of 4.1 in the 2008-2009 GCI, and was also ranked 71st out of 131 economies with a score of 4.0 in the 2007-2008 GCI.

“We define competitiveness as the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country. The level of productivity, in turn, sets the sustainable level of prosperity that can be earned by an economy. In other words, more-competitive economies tend to be able to produce higher levels of income for their citizens,” the report stated.

Among its peers in Southeast Asia the Philippines almost became the region’s laggard, as Cambodia was the only country that ranked lower than the Philippines at 110th with a score of 3.51.

Singapore ranked third with a score of 5.55.

Malaysia ranked 24th with a score of 4.87; Brunei Darussalam at 32nd with a score of 4.64; Thailand, 36th with a score of 4.56; Indonesia, 54th with a score of 4.26; and Vietnam, 75th with a score of 4.03.

Based on the report, the most problematic factors for doing business in the Philippines were corruption, an inefficient bureaucracy, inadequate supply of infrastructure, and policy instability.

Other concerns were access to financing, tax regulations, crime and theft, tax rates, government instability/coups, restrictive labor regulations, poor public health, a poor work ethic in the national labor force, an inadequately educated work force, and inflation.

The GCI is based on 12 pillars of competitiveness, providing a comprehensive picture of the competitiveness landscape in countries around the world at all stages of development.

The index measured the competitiveness of a country’s institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods-market efficiency, labor-market efficiency, financial- market sophistication, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation. The 12 pillars are divided into the categories—the first being “basic requirements,” which includes institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, and health and primary education. Under this category, the Philippines was ranked 95th with a score of 3.9.

The second category is “efficiency enhancers” which include higher education and training, goods-market efficiency, labor-market efficiency, financial-market sophistication, technological readiness and market size. Here the Philippines was ranked 78th with a score of 3.9.

The third category, “innovation and sophistication factors,” include business sophistication and innovation. The Philippines was ranked 74th with a score of 3.4 here.

In a statement, the WEF said Switzerland dislodged the United States as the country with No. 1 spot in the GCI. The US fell to second place due to its significantly weakened financial markets and macroeconomic stability.

Singapore, Sweden and Denmark round out the top five. European economies continue to prevail in the top 10 with Finland, Germany and the Netherlands following suit. The United Kingdom, while remaining very competitive, has continued its fall from last year, moving down one more place this year to 13th, mainly attributable to the continuing weakening of its financial markets.

The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the WEF together with its network of Partner Institutes (leading research institutes and business organizations) in the countries covered by the report.

Written by Cai U. Ordinario / Business Mirror Reporter
Wednesday, 09 September 2009 00:41

**ghosthunter** · September 9th, 2009 06:38 PM

I am not surprised by the news.

Any word from the "The Pinoy Can" partylist group?

**4wrider** · September 9th, 2009 06:53 PM

Sad to say, we pinoys have gotten used to bad news. The worst thing about it is that the Philippines was second to Mongolia in terms of speed of deterioration.

**uls** · September 9th, 2009 06:57 PM

hahahaha

totally NOT surprised

Among its peers in Southeast Asia the Philippines almost became the region’s laggard, as Cambodia was the only country that ranked lower than the Philippines at 110th with a score of 3.51.

the Filipino can!

**uls** · September 9th, 2009 07:01 PM

to those interested, here's the link to the ranking:

http://gcr.weforum.org/gcr09/

**jpdm** · September 9th, 2009 09:26 PM

Im sure the Pinoy Crustacean Partylist (motto: actively promote pinoy crab mentality) will be happy with this news

**jpdm** · September 9th, 2009 09:31 PM

Thanks to Team Gloria (Mike, Mikey especially)

Corruption pulls down RP in global competitiveness

By Evelyn Macairan
(The Philippine Star)
Updated September 09, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines dropped from 71st place to 87th in the latest Global Competitiveness Index prepared by the World Economic Forum.

In the case of the Philippines, the biggest problem cited was corruption. This was followed by an inefficient bureaucracy, inadequate infrastructure, policy instability, access to financing and tax regulation.

Also cited as problem areas were theft and other crimes, tax rates, coup threats, restrictive labor regulations and the poor public health system.

The report also cited inadequate education and a poor work ethic in the Philippine labor force.

**jpdm** · September 9th, 2009 09:33 PM

But honestly, really a bad news for the country.

We can blame Gloria and the gang for this "achievement"(failure to improve our overall macroeconomic and microeconomic situation)

The index measured the competitiveness of a country’s institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods-market efficiency, labor-market efficiency, financial- market sophistication, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation.

Business Mirror
RP Competitiveness Dips
by Cai U. Ordinario
Sept.9, 2009