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Competitiveness index: PHL moves 4 places up

The Philippines moved four notches up in the 2022 World Competitiveness Yearbook, as it saw improvements in its economic performance.



In a statement released by Asian Institute Management (AIM), the Philippines saw a four-place improvement in the 2022 World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY), from 52nd out of 64 economies in 2021, to 48th out of 63 economies in 2022.


However, in the Asia-Pacific region, the Philippines remained at the 13th spot out of 14 economies for five consecutive years.


The WCY has been published by the International Institute of Management Development (IMD) since 1989. It gauges competitiveness using 333 criteria spread across four Competitiveness Factors, namely, Economic Performance, Government Efficiency, Business Efficiency, and Infrastructure.


About two-thirds of the indicators are based on hard data gathered from national sources, while the remaining are perception-based indicators derived from an Executive Opinion Survey (EOS) of mid- and upper-level managers in each country covered.


This year’s results reflect the continuing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, as many of the statistical data used for this year’s edition are from 2021. Further, from the 64 economies covered in the previous year, the WCY now covers 63—while Bahrain was included this year, Russia and Ukraine were booted out due to the difficulty

of gathering accurate data, considering the ongoing conflict between the two countries.


The Philippines bared improvements in its Economic Performance, wherein the country currently sits at the 53rd spot, a jump from 57th in 2021.


The country’s infrastructure ranking, meanwhile, moved two notches up from 59th in 2021 to 57th in 2022. However, infrastructure remains the weakest competitiveness factor for the Philippines, particularly on health and education indicators.


Meanwhile, the Philippines saw declines in the two other competitiveness factors. The country unveiled its largest drop in Government Efficiency, with the Philippines sliding down from 45th in 2021 to 48th in 2022.


Under this competitiveness factor, one of the WCY sub-factors that contributed to this decline is Public Finance, which dropped from 42nd in 2021 to 51st in 2022. Indicators under Public Finance include government budget surpluses/deficits and the real growth of total general government debt, which both declined last year.


The Business Efficiency area also plunged from 37th in 2021 to 39th in 2022, with the Productivity and Efficiency subfactor as the culprit behind the drop from 50th in 2021 to 56th in 2022. Under this subfactor, indicators include overall productivity (PPP)—real growth, which substantially dropped from 10th in 2021 to 57th in 2022.


The said indicators reflect the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Philippine economy.


Among the challenges that the Philippines faces this year are: implementing effective post-pandemic economic recovery strategies while strengthening fiscal responsibility; regaining lost momentum in poverty reduction and inclusive economic development; promoting innovative governance and a smooth post-election transition of power; building resilient and future-ready health and education systems; and investing in sustainable infrastructure and reducing climate change vulnerability.


The top 3 most competitive economies in this year’s WCY rankings are Denmark, Switzerland and Singapore.


In the Asia-Pacific region, the top 3 most competitive economies are Singapore (3rd), Hong Kong (5th), and Taiwan (7th).


Denmark, which ranked third last year, took the top spot this year due to improvements in its Government Efficiency factor and consistent outstanding performance in the Business Efficiency factor, specifically in the subfactors on productivity and efficiency and management practices.


Switzerland, which held the top spot last year, was dethroned this year and settled for second. However, the country ranked first in Government Efficiency and Infrastructure factors and ranked fourth in the Business Efficiency factor.


Singapore, which slipped to fifth place last year, recovered by two places due to improvements in the domestic economy, employment, public finance, and productivity and efficiency, among others.


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