The Philippines fell 10 notches lower in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) 2016-2017 of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
From last year’s 47th rank, the Philippines slipped to 57th out of 138 countries included in WEF’s latest competitiveness report.
The GCI measures a country?s competitiveness — or the set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine its level of productivity — through 12 pillars.
Among the 12 pillars, the Philippines had low rankings in goods market efficiency at rank 99, infrastructure at rank 95, and institutions at rank 91.
The Philippines has notable rankings in macroeconomic environment at 20th place and market size at 31st place.
The recent GCI noted that the most problematic factors for doing business in the Philippines are inefficient government bureaucracy, inadequate supply of infrastructure, and corruption.
National Competitiveness Council co-chairman Guillermo Luz said the result of the report is “disappointing” in spite of the efforts to improve competitiveness.
“Our score dropped minimally from 4.39 to 4.36 out of seven but it was enough to bring us down by countries. The world is so competitive that even small changes make a big difference in ranking,? said Luz in a statement.
?The new ranking brings us further away from our intermediate goal of being in the top-third of global rankings. We will need to focus even more on our challenges ? bureaucracy, infrastructure, technology, and innovation ? to make the country more competitive,? Luz added.
Aside from the Philippines, rankings of other Southeast Asian countries have also declined.
Malaysia dropped out of the top 20, falling seven places to 25 from last year?s 18th place while Thailand fell two notches to rank 34 and Indonesia slid four places to 37.
?A consistent theme for all the region?s developing countries is the need to make inroads into the more complex areas of competitiveness related to business sophistication and innovation if they are to break out of the middle-income trap,? the report noted.
Meanwhile the top 10 countries in the rankings are Switzerland, Singapore, United States, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong, and Finland. — PNA
