PH slips in global competitiveness ranking, drops to 6th spot in ASEAN
The Philippines fell eight notches to 64th from 56th last year out of 141 countries in the global competitiveness ranking pulled down by lower ICT (information/communications technology) adoption and macroeconomic stability, according to the 2019 Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum.
Globally, Singapore took the top spot this year, with an overall competitiveness score of 84.8, outranking last year’s top performer, the United States.
For the Philippines, the biggest drop in both rank and score in the Philippines is on Pillar 3 (ICT Adoption), from 67th to 88th global rank and from the 6th to the 8th place in the ASEAN region. Its score dropped from 54.8 to 49.7 in this year’s report.
The second biggest drop in rank in the Philippines is on Pillar 4 (Macroeconomic Stability), from 43rd to 55th globally, despite maintaining a score of 90. One of the two indicators under this pillar is inflation rate which, in the year’s Report, recorded 4 percent, up from the previous year’s average inflation rate of 2.5 percent. It is worthy to note that the country’s inflation rate has significantly dropped since. The Philippines still ranks 3rd in this pillar compared to other ASEAN countries.
On the other hand, Pillar5 (Health) is the Philippines’ least competitive pillar, ranked 102nd out of 141 countries as the Report noted a decrease in healthy life expectancy of 65.6 years this year, from 67.6 years last year.
With the declines in major pillars, the Philippines’ global competitiveness score dropped by 0.3, from 62.1 to 61.9 this year. The Philippines also dropped to 6th from 5th among nine covered ASEAN countries.
These were partly offset by improvements in Incidence of Corruption and Shareholder Governance.
The Philippines, however, posted the highest increase in a pillar’s rank and score for Pillar 1 (Institutions) ranking 87th from 101st globally last year or an improved score of 50.
Notable improvements under this pillar is on Incidence of Corruption (from rank 95th to 85th this year) and on Shareholder Governance (from 106th to 95th). The following indicators were added under this pillar this year, which helped improve the country’s performance: Energy efficiency regulation (ranks 39th of 141 countries), Renewable energy regulation (ranks 43rd) and Environment-related treaties in force (ranks 36th globally). These three indicators collectively measure a government’s commitment to sustainability, an indication of its future orientation.
“One of the key messages of this Report is the importance of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in pursuing sustained economic growth. The world needs to do a lot of catching up to reach the SDG targets by 2030, and the Philippines is no exemption.
The business community needs to be more responsible and innovative in its operations to help improve the country’s social and economic goals,” said MBC Chairman, Ed Chua.
Of the 12 pillars in the Report, the strongest pillars of the Philippines are its Market Size (ranked 31st), Labor Market (ranked 39th), Financial System (ranked 43rd), Business Dynamism (ranked 44th), and Product Market (ranked 52nd).
Meanwhile, the Philippines landed in the Top 10 for the following indicators: Internal labor mobility (7th out of 141), Insolvency regulatory framework (9th out of 141), Diversity of Workforce (9th out of 141), and Companies embracing disruptive ideas (10th out of 141). Other strong indicators are related to labor market, which are Ease of finding skilled employees (ranked 13th), Pay and productivity (ranked 13th), and Cooperation in labor-employer relations (ranked 15th).
The Philippines also maintained its 67th global rank for Pillar 6 (Skills), which is above the ASEAN average, but only for a slight increase in score by 0.8 points.
The Report noted the country’s strong edge in terms of human capital. Businesses in the Philippines find it relatively easy to find skilled employees, and employees hired are given growth opportunities through training.
The Report also highlighted the good skills set of graduates in the Philippines, as well as good digital skills of its population, which ranked 20th and 22nd, respectively.
The Philippines is also competitive globally in terms of teaching. The country ranks 24th in Critical thinking in teaching ranks, and 29th in the Quality of vocational training. However, its pupil-to-teacher ratio in primary education is one of the weakest in terms of global ranking, despite an improvement in score this year.
“We would like to stress the need to foster investments in human capital, and matching the benefits of innovation with talent development and a well-functioning labor market,” says Chua. “Innovation in education is the key. We should use technology in classrooms and in training grounds. Furthermore, upskilling of workers will help us meet the changing demands of industries.”
On the other hand, there is a 0.4 improvement in the Philippines’ score for Labor Market (Pillar 8) with a score of 64.9. Despite this, the Philippines dropped in this pillar from 36th to 39th placeglobally. Within the ASEAN, its rank declined from 3rd to 4th place, overtaken by Brunei (38th to 30th). Nevertheless, the score performance of the Philippines is above the ASEAN average.