Philippines retains 52nd spot in world competitiveness

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines remains at 52nd place out of 67 economies in overall competitiveness, although it improved three spots in terms of governance in the 2024 World Competitiveness Report.

Following the release of the report by Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD), the Marcos administration renewed its commitment to streamline and digitalize government services to make the country more competitive and business-friendly.

The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) made the pronouncement as the Philippines climbed three spots in the area of “government efficiency” to 49th from 52nd last year.

The IMD’s World Competitiveness Ranking for 2024, released last month, showed the Philippines placing 52nd out of 67 economies, the same ranking in the previous year.

In terms of economic performance, the Philippines remained in the 40th spot.

As for business efficiency, the Philippines’ ranking dropped to 43rd place this year from the previous year’s 40th.

In infrastructure, the Philippines fell to 61st place this year from 58th last year.

IMD ranks economies using perceptions of executives with statistical data, based on criteria grouped into four factors: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.

President Marcos has called on government agencies and local government units (LGUs) to promote “the ease of doing business to attract investments in the country.”

Last week, ARTA Undersecretary Geneses Abot said President Marcos aims to limit LGU processing of permits to 10 minutes.

Digitalization and wider connectivity are among the Marcos administration’s priority programs. — Janvic Mateo