Philippines targets leap into top 30 most competitive economics

MANILA, Philippines – After moving five notches higher in the latest World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index, the Philippines will now embark on a more ambitious task of breaching the top 30 most competitive economies in the world.

National Competitiveness Council (NCC) co-chairman Guillermo Luz said the Philippines is now taking the country’s competitiveness ranking target to the next step after attaining a year in advance the earlier target of moving into the top three deciles of the global rankings.

“Now that we have more or less attained our target to be on the edge of the top third, I would be proposing that we move our targets into the top 20 percent over the next five years and try to move the country into a better neighborhood,” Luz said.

“I really think that if we want to be moving up into a more respected neighborhood of competitors, we have to be looking at the top 20 percent, and the top 20 percent means we should be ranked 30th or higher,” he added.

The country ranked 47th among 140 economies this year in the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Index, an improvement from its 52nd spot among 144 countries last year.

Luz said it marked the fifth straight year the Philippines had an upgrade in the WEF rankings.

“Within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), we are still fifth with the rank of 47. We improved over 38 countries in the last five years since 2010. That’s the largest jump in Asean and worldwide,” he said.

Luz, however, noted moving up further in the rankings and attaining the next target would not be as easy as the previous achievement.

He said everything would now depend on the next administration to pursue what the current government leaders have started.

“The question we have to ask ourselves is can we move up another 17, 18 slots in five years. We did a 38-country jump in five years but the next jump is tougher competition. It was hard to do 38, it is going to be harder to do the next 18 because the countries are tougher and they are better. We need to really concentrate, work hard and work together. But I believe it can be done because as a country we’ve already done it,” Luz said.

“If the next administration has poor leadership and no teamwork obviously you’ll see the numbers will begin to drop because the other countries are also getting more organized. The competition never sleeps,” he added.

In a statement, the Makati Business Club (MBC) said the country’s achievements in the last five years are certainly worth celebrating and has committed its full support in achieving the country’s next ranking target.

“As the Philippines continues to improve, other economies are likewise moving and are either rapidly catching up or overtaking the country. Moving forward, especially towards a change in administration, MBC, through the Philippine Business Groups and Joint Foreign Chambers, commit to support all efforts aimed at further improving the country’s competitiveness,” it said. –Richmond S. Mercurio (The Philippine Star)