PHL ranks 99th in WB Doing Business report

The Philippines moved up four notches this year to No. 99 out of 190 economies and ranked 7th among 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member-countries in the annual Ease of Doing Business (DB) Report of the World Bank Group.

Its performance improved in four of the 10 DB indicators, slipped in four others, and remained the same in the remaining two criteria, according to this WB flagship report provided to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.

The data collection for the Doing Business 2017 report took place from February to May, 2016, and that the analysis cutoff was on May 31.

The Philippines was at No. 103 among 189 economies in the 2016 DB report.

The report bared that the Philippines’ ranking in the DB report was at its highest at No. 95 in 2015 and at its lowest at No. 148 in 2010.

Doing Business 2017 is the 14th in the series of annual reports by the World Bank Group on the regulations that either enhance or constrain business activity in the participating economies.

This annual undertaking “measures aspects of regulations affecting the life cycle of a business in 10 indicators: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency,” according to the 2017 DB report.

In the 2017 report, the Philippines went up 18 notches (to 137 from 155) in protecting minority investors, by 14 (to 85 from 99) in dealing with construction permits, by 11 (to 115 from 126) in paying taxes, and by 4 (to 135 from 140) in enforcing contracts.