Philippines drops further in ‘doing business’ global ranking

MANILA, Philippines – The country slipped further in the global ranking of economies on the “ease of doing business” despite recent efforts to simplify procedures for acquiring permits.

Out of 183 economies, it placed 148th in the 2011 Doing Business Report of the World Bank and the International Finance Corp. In the previous year, the country placed 144th.

The annual survey used only 9 indicators to measure ease of doing business, eliminating employment. The Philippines continued to rank above 100 in 8 of the indicators:

Indicator     Ranking 2011     Ranking 2010
ease in starting a business     156     162
dealing with construction permits     156     111
registering property     102     102
getting credit     128     127
protecting investors     132     132
paying taxes     124     135
trading across borders     61      68
enforcing contracts     118     118
closing a business     153     153

Among Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines is the second most difficult place to do business, next to Laos, the report said.

Brunei, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia all bested the Philippines, while Singapore topped the global ranking.

The Philippines continued to lag in the survey despite an improvement in its ranking to 156th from 162nd in terms of starting up a business.

The report commended the country for its one-stop shops for permits at the municipal level, which reduced processing time by 15 days.

However, this failed to offset the huge decline in the Philippines’ ranking to 156th from 111th in terms of acquiring construction permits.

“Updated electricity connection costs made dealing with construction permits more difficult,” the report said, noting that 57% of new construction in the country is illegal.

Ranking in terms of access to credit also declined, while those in areas such as registering property, protecting investors, enforcing contracts and closing a business stayed the same.

The country improved in two areas: trading across boarders and paying taxes, jumping up 7 and 11 places, respectively.

“Improvements to its electronic customs systems, including the addition of functions such as electronic payments and online submission of declarations, reduced the time and cost to trade,” the report said. –abs-cbnNEWS.com