...the WEF most improved country overall

WEF Declares Philippines Most Improved Country in Global Competitiveness

 

September 10, 2014

By Leandro Tan

Asia Foundation

 

 

The Filipino workforce has long been considered to be internationally competitive, exemplified in its impressive performance in the business process outsourcing and overseas labor markets. However, it is only recently that Philippine competitiveness has been recognized on a global scale.

Last week, the World Economic Forum’s new Global Competitiveness Report, which looked at the competitiveness of 144 economies based on 2013 data and a survey of business perceptions up to May 2014, declared the Philippines the “most improved country overall,” rising seven notches to 52nd place.

The World Economic Forum recently declared the Philippines as the most improved country in terms of global competitiveness. Photo/Karl Grobl

This is welcome news to the Philippines, particularly since it has been rocked by numerous natural calamities, most devastating of which was Typhoon Yolanda last November that left nearly 8,000 dead, affected 16 million people, and resulted in the virtual destruction of the major productive assets (e.g., agriculture and food manufacturing) amounting to about $10 billion in economic damages according to the International Disaster Database. The country’s rise in its competitiveness standing is all the more surprising on several counts.

First, the Philippines has risen 33 places since 2010 when it ranked 85th, marking the biggest improvement among all countries during that period. The other top 10 gainers include: Latvia (+28 to 42nd), Nepal (+28 to 102nd), Tajikistan (+25 to 91st), Georgia (+24 to 69th), Kazakhstan (+22 to 50th), Lesotho (+21 to 107th), Azerbaijan (+19 to 38th), Zambia (+19 to 96th), and Rwanda (+19 to 62nd).

Such gains show that significant progress is not only possible among the lower ranked countries, but that there is room in the top one-third (48th or better, the official target of the National Competitiveness Council) for countries other than what the report calls advanced economies.

The Philippines’ current ranking is now close to this official ranking, in running with Panama (48th), Italy (49th), Kazakhstan (50th), and Costa Rica (51st), and ahead of more industrialized countries such as Russia (53rd), South Africa (54th), Brazil (57th), Mexico (61st), India (71st), and the Ukraine (76th).

Second, this development helps to change the public image of the Philippines as the “sick man of Asia” and the “odd man out” in a dynamic ASEAN region. The improvement is the highest in the ASEAN region since 2010 and has narrowed the gap with the top five ASEAN countries. Vietnam, which ranked 59th in 2010, has since slipped to 75th in 2012 and recovered slightly to 68th in 2014.

The next closest ASEAN country Indonesia, which ranks 34th, has only shown a 10-point increase since 2010, compared to a 33-point increase for the Philippines.




Third, the competitiveness data shows that this positive development is not a one-time fluke but an improving trend in the Philippines since 2010 that is generally consistent across the board with the 12 pillars of competitiveness. The improvements have been occurring every year with only slight slippages in 2014 in terms of market size (-2 to 35th) and financial market development (-1 to 49th).

According to the government, the latest credit rating upgrade to investment grade by the South Korea-based National Information & Credit Evaluation (NICE) group is the 18th positive rating action since President Aquino became president in 2010.



Fourth, the major improvements in the state of Philippine competitiveness are related to pillars that many Filipinos still perceive as being problematic, including innovation (+59), institutions (+58), and the macroeconomic environment (+42). The participation of Filipino workers in fields of innovation is well known and reinforced with the rise in capacity for innovation (+50 to 30th) since 2010. But what is not well known is how government-purchasing decisions are fostering innovation (+76 to 53rd), company spending on R&D (+43 to 42nd), quality of scientific research institutions (+33 to 75th), and the availability of scientists and engineers (+25 to 71st). However the Philippines has lagged further behind in terms of patent applications (-17 to 88th).

On the macroeconomic front, the country registered higher rankings based on economic data on public debt levels (+44 to 58th), government budget balances (+38 to 25th), national savings (+23 to 51st), and inflation (+16 to 57th). The latest employment figures indicate that the macroeconomic performance has reached the grassroots level. Excluding the region devastated by Typhoon Yolanda, over 1.654 million new jobs were created year-on-year in April 2014 – the first time that the government’s target of 1 million new jobs per year has been attained since April 2012.

Historical experience shows that Filipinos have shown the world glimpses of their true national character when faced with bad news in back-against-the-wall situations. The question remains on how Filipinos – whose penchant for self-effacing humor in the face of economic turmoil is well known – will react to success stories on national competitiveness that are so few and far between in their history. That outcome may pose the biggest surprise of them all, or not.


Leandro Tomas David D. Tan is Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist for the USAID Advancing Philippine Competitiveness (COMPETE) project, being undertaken by The Asia Foundation in partnership with Nathan Associates Inc., the REID Foundation, the Foundation for Economic Freedom, and Asia Pacific Projects, Inc. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and not those of USAID, The Asia Foundation, or other COMPETE implementing partners. An employee of Nathan Associates, he can be reached at ldtan@competeproject.ph.

 

...the strong performer

Philippine Environmental Policies' Strong Performance

March 21, 2012

Manila Bulletin

Editorial

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is ranked as a “strong performer” in environmental policies in the latest biennial Environmental Performance Index (EPI). The Philippines was ranked 42nd among 132 countries under the "strong performer" category in 2012. It retained its ranking of 8th in the Asia-Pacific Region. It gained perfect scores in the indicators for outdoor air pollution, change in forest cover, and growing stocks in forests.

The government attributes the country’s strong performance to several factors, among them, intensified regulatory efforts, issuance of Executive Orders 23 and 26 dealing with forest protection, more stringent motor vehicle emission standards, tighter monitoring of private emission testing and vehicle inspection centers, and better enforcement of laws against smoke belching.

The EPI ranked 132 countries on 22 performance indicators across 10 policy categories under two policy objectives – Environmental Health and Ecosystem Vitality. These indicators gauge how close countries are to achieving environmental policy goals. A higher EPI rank, such as “strong” indicates that a country or region is close to achieving its established goals in environmental policy.

The EPI, developed by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy of Yale University and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network of Columbia University, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Center of the European Commission, analyzes how the global community is doing on policy issues against environmental pressures, and steers countries toward environmental sustainability. The index, designed to supplement the environment targets set forth in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, is being used as benchmark by governments, policy and decision makers, environmental scientists, advocates and the general public. For 2012, the EPI’s “strongest” performers that ranked first to 10th are Switzerland, followed by Latvia, Norway, Luxembourg, Costa Rica, France, Austria, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Sweden.

Government, the private sector, and civil society continue to exert efforts for cleaner air in Metro Manila and other urban centers of the country, and to fully implement the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. Local government units assist by stepping up their anti-smoke belching campaigns and strict implementation of emission tests prior to vehicle registration to help the national government succeed in its goal of a pollution-free environment. CONGRATULATIONS!

...the strong evironmental protector

PHL among 'strong performers' in env't protection  — US study

ANDREO C. CALONZO,

GMA News

February 19, 2012

The Philippines is one of the “strong” performing countries this year in terms of environmental protection, a study by two American universities showed.

In a biennial report prepared by Yale and Columbia Universities, the Philippines was ranked 42^nd out of 132 countries in the 2012 Environmental Performance Index (EPI)—a measure of countries’ performances in terms of environmental protection developed by Yale and Columbia Universities.

The current ranking is a slight improvement from 2010, when the Philippines ranked 50^th in the EPI.

This year, the Philippines also managed to outrank the United States of America and some of its neighbors in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia, Singapore, and Viet Nam. All of these countries were named “modest performers” in the EPI ranking.

The Philippines particularly did well in the agricultural policy subcategory, where the country got a performance score of 33.3 out of 50. It, however, scored low –31.8 percent — in terms of vitality in water ecosystems.

Switzerland, meanwhile, was identified as the top performing country in terms of environment protection, followed by Latvia and Norway.

The EPI aggregates scores from 10 policy categories — including environmental health and vitality of ecosystems — to come up with the country rankings. — KBK, GMA News

...the countries with least gender gap

Philippines on Top 10 list of countries with least gender gap

By Michelle V. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines, where women enjoy the same access to education as men, remains on the Top 10 countries with the least “gender gap,” according to the 2011 Global Gender Gap rankings by the World Economic Forum.

From the 9th spot in the 2010 survey,  the Philippines ranked higher to 8th in 2011, with a score of 0.7685, among 135 countries. It performed favorably in the four categories that determine gender gap: (1) educational attainment, (2) health and survival, (3) economic participation and opportunity, and (4) political empowerment.

The Philippines got the perfect score of 1 in the first two categories.

In the first category, the Philippines shares the top rank with 21 other countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Australia, among others.

The Philippines’ favorable performance in the first category comes amid official reports showing that women attending primary, secondary and tertiary education number about the same as, if not more than the men.

The country’s top rank in the second category showed that women in the Philippines have just about the same life expectancy as that of men. Life expectancy is affected by various factors such as disease, malnutrition and violence.

For the second category, the Philippines shares the top rank with 37 other countries, including Finland, Lesotho, Latvia, Bahamas and Argentina.

In the third category of “economic participation and opportunity,” the Philippines ranked 15th with a score of 0.7632. In this category, countries are evaluated based on gaps between men and women in terms of work participation, remuneration and advancement opportunities.

In the fourth category of “political empowerment,” the Philippines ranked 16th with a score of 0.3314. In this category, countries are evaluated based on gap between men and women in terms of women-to-men ratio in  government positions.

According to the WEF, the world ranking in terms of gender gap is aimed at increasing the awareness of countries on the importance of closing the gender gap.

“The rankings are designed to create greater awareness among a global audience of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them,” the WEF said in the Global Gender Gap Index report.

Global efforts to close the gap between men and women in various aspects, including access to education and employment, are supported by economists who say that promoting gender equality helps achieve developmental objectives of economies.

This is because tapping the skills of women helps increase an economy’s overall productivity.

On the contrary, they say, economies have been missing out on growth opportunities if women were not tapped to contribute their skills and talents.

“The rankings are designed to create greater awareness among a global audience of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them,” WEF said in the report.