Competitiveness

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is the most underrated country in the world, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said yesterday during a forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.

THE chairman and chief executive officer of Ayala Corp., Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, said on Monday that the Philippines has to compete like companies for its people.

MANILA, Philippines – The government has allotted half a billion yearly for the industry competitiveness fund (ICF) to help big ticket investors operating in ecozones outside the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) cope with high electricity costs.

MANILA, Philippines – The World Economic Forum (WEF) Competitiveness Survey only represents the sentiments of the big businesses and not the small and medium sized ones or those located in the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) zones, an economist said.

Changing World MANILA, Philippines — The recent improvement in global competitiveness of the Philippines in the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranking leaves little room for complacency.  We are still behind all of our ASEAN peers, with the exception of Cambodia.

“Will the Philippines become the next Asian tiger?” This was the question Dato Timothy Ong of Brunei posed to the academic, business and political leaders from the Asean countries that he had gathered in Manila last week to take stock of regional developments in the last year.

The Philippines scored well this year in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) as measured by the World Economic Forum. From number 85 among 142 countries, the country surged past 10 other countries to number 75. Even though this improved ranking is welcome, the country has a long way to go to close the gap with…

The Philippines moved up in “global competitiveness,” as it now ranks 75th worldwide in the recently-released Global Competitiveness Index, moving up 10 places from last year overtaking countries like Romania, Egypt, and Greece.

Corruption, inefficient government bureaucracy and inadequate infrastructure remained as major stumbleblocks in the country’s competitiveness despite the annual ranking of the Philippines improving 10 notches to 75th out of 142 listed countries from 85th out of 139 last year, the results of the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) survey showed yesterday.

[This guest column contributed by Ric Saludo’s colleague Verbo Bonilla.] First of two parts While President Benigno Aquino 3rd has repeatedly cited conditional cash transfers as a prime anti-poverty strategy, even CCT’s advocates like the World Bank would stress that economic growth and jobs through massive investment remains the sure-fire way to lift millions out…

MANILA, Philippines – Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP) together with locators of the Toyota Special Economic Zone (TSEZ) appealed yesterday to the government to improve the competitiveness of local parts suppliers.

OFFICIALS are hopeful of a competitiveness ranking boost for the Philippines given a recent reform simplifying processes for firms doing business in the country.

Vienna — Indonesia, a country which used to below the Philippines in being a site for business, has made the most progress in terms of competitiveness in recent years, but major challenges remain, the World Economic Forum said yesterday.

To boost the Philippines’ competitiveness and strengthen the country’s industries, the President has issued an executive order renaming and expanding the membership of the Public-Private Sector Task Force on Philippine Competitiveness.

The recent low competitiveness ranking of the Philippines in Asia-Pacific calls for concern, according to the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) is a wake-up call.

MANILA, Philippines – The sliding competitiveness ranking of the Philippines in Asia-Pacific is a cause for concern and immediate action, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) said.

MANILA, Philippines — President Aquino was elected with the highest mandate in Philippine history and still enjoys relatively high approval ratings today.

The Palace responded to the recent World Competitiveness survey that showed the Philippines sliding two notches to a poor 41st place this year through a spin, saying the 63.291 overall score that the country got was an improvement over the years.

GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS RANKING SLIDES 2 NOTCHES Despite the frequent breast-beating of President Aquino about the economic gains under his administration and the reforms it supposedly introduced in the business sector, the Philippines was ranked the least competitive country in Asia-Pacific with its global ranking this year falling two notches to 41st place from last year’s…

MANILA, Philippines– Heeding the call of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III for investment in this fast-developing archipelago, a major multinational did just that Tuesday with the inauguration of finance center hub here in a bid to catapult the company’s financial transactions and services across the Asia-Pacific Region.

MANILA, Philippines –  With consumption, government spending and exports already making significant contribution to growth, the government said it is adopting more measures to spur investment in a bid to move the country to a higher, broad-based and sustainable growth path.

DAVAO CITY, Philippines—The Philippines has been outpaced by neighboring Asian countries in terms of labor, employment and competitiveness, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said.

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The Philippines has been outpaced by neighboring Asian countries in terms of labor, employment and competitiveness, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said.

It was interesting to be a kibitzer on the side, actually an armchair viewer from the comforts of my office, at the recent AVID forum. Though I wasn’t physically present, I sent a crew to cover the whole forum and from the footage of the coverage got some good insights from the venerable speakers at…

Main countries of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) need to increase their competitiveness in line with other member countries, an official said here on Thursday. “Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines face challenges to improve their competitiveness as other member countries such as Vietnam has emerged to be an important investment destination in…

THE Philippines has become less business-friendly for local firms mostly because of its poor score in terms of dealing with construction permits, according to a report issued by the World Bank and its private-sector investment arm, the International Finance Corp. (IFC). In their report titled “Doing Business 2011,” the multilateral lenders said the country’s ranking…

CEBU, Philippines – The Philippine government, through the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), is confident that the country is on the right track on improving its competitiveness rank in the world in the next few years.

Businessmen belonging to the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) today will present to President Benigno Aquino 3rd a 10-point agenda that they believe would boost the country’s economic competitiveness. Also, PCCI members on Thursday said that restrictions in the Constitution and various laws concerning sectors such as media and labor should be softened.

MANILA, Philippines – Local businessmen will present today 10 priority legislative measures to enhance business competitiveness to President Aquino during the third day of the Philippine Business Conference (PBC).

My son who is working for a British multinational bank in Singapore made the observation to me the other weekend that the regional financial sector seems bullish on Indonesia. He had been going to Jakarta as part of his regional responsibilities over the past few months and he can see why people in the know…