Report: RP economic freedom declines

WASHINGTON – The Philippines fell in the world’s economic freedom ranking to 76th from 69th previously among 141 countries surveyed, the Economic Freedom of the World 2010 annual report said.

It said the country’s score slid to 6.77 in 2008 from 6.83 in 2007 due to generally low marks in legal structures and security of property rights, access to sound money and freedom to trade internationally.

However, the Philippines was not alone in its predicament.

The report showed that economic freedom experienced its first global downturn in decades, with average scores falling in 2008 (the most recent year for which data are available).

Of 123 countries with economic freedom rankings dating back to 1980, 88 (71.5 percent) saw their rankings decrease while only 35 (28.5 percent) recorded increases.

The annual report released recently showed Hong Kong maintained the highest level of economic freedom worldwide, with a score of 9.05 out of 10.

The other top scorers were Singapore (8.70), New Zealand (8.27), Switzerland (8.08), Chile (8.03), the United States (7.96), Canada (7.95), Australia (7.90), Mauritius (7.82), and the United Kingdom (7.81).

Taiwan ranked 22nd, Japan 24th and China, tied with South Africa, in 82nd.

Zimbabwe was last with a score of 3.57.

Following are the scores of the Philippines in key components of economic freedom (from one to 10, where higher values indicate higher levels of economic freedom):

• Size of government: expenditures, taxes and enterprises dropped to 7.96 from 8.0

• Legal structures and security of property rights dropped to 4.64 from 4.8

• Access to sound money dropped to 7.83 from 8.2

• Freedom to trade internationally dropped to 6.7 from 7.0

• Regulations of credit, labor and business rose to 6.69 from 6.2

The authors of the report, in an opinion piece in Thursday’s issue of The Washington Times, said to secure a high EFW rating, a country must provide secure protection of privately owned property, even-handed enforcement of contracts and a stable monetary environment.

It also must keep taxes low, refrain from creating barriers to both domestic and international trade, and rely more fully on markets rather than the political process to allocate goods and resources. –Jose Katigbak / STAR Washington Bureau (The Philippine Star)