Philippines falls to 52nd spot in world competitiveness ranking

The Philippines saw its competitiveness ranking across the world drop by four places amid global concerns such as inflation, public health crises, and geopolitical issues, according to Switzerland-based Institute of Management Development (IMD).

In its 2023 World Competitiveness Yearbook, the IMD ranked the Philippines 52nd out of 64 economies it ranked all over the world.

The country fell four notches from 48th in 2022.

The IMD’s World Competitiveness Yearbook, first published in 1989, “analyzes and ranks countries according to how they manage their competencies to achieve long-term value creation.”

The IMD said an economy’s competitiveness cannot be reduced only to gross domestic product (GDP) and productivity because enterprises also have to cope with political, social and cultural dimensions.

Governments, it said, need to provide an environment characterized by efficient infrastructures, institutions, and policies that encourage sustainable value creation by enterprises.

The World Competitiveness Yearbook ranks economies using 255 criteria spread across four competitiveness factors, namely Economic Performance, Government Efficiency, Business Efficiency, and Infrastructure.

This year’s results reflect the impact of different crises such as global inflation, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine, according to Professor Arturo Bris, director of the World Competitiveness Centre (WCC).

“Some of the challenges that the Philippines faces in 2023 include sustaining economic recovery and growth momentum amidst global downside risks, strengthening social protection and health care systems for inclusive development, addressing learning gaps to improve local education system, investing in sustainable infrastructure to reduce climate change vulnerability, and reinforcing efficient public management strategies to support fiscal responsibility,” the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) said an accompanying news release.

The Asian Institute of Management (AIM) has been the Philippine partner institute of the IMD in producing the competitiveness yearbook since 1997.

Based on the report, the Philippines recorded declines in three out of the four main factors of competitiveness.

The country’s Business Efficiency factor dropped from 39th in 2022 to 40th in 2023 while its Infrastructure factor, which continues to be a perennial challenge for the Philippines, also dropped from 57th in 2022 to 58th in 2023.

The country’s Government Efficiency factor saw the biggest decline, dropping four places from 48th in 2022 to 52nd in 2023.

Nonetheless, the country’s Economic Performance factor improved by 13 places from 53rd in 2022 to 40th in 2023.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the Philippines stayed at 13th place out of 14 economies for six consecutive years.

The top three most competitive economies in the 2023 rankings are Denmark, Ireland , and Switzerland.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the top three most competitive economies are Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

GMA News Online has reached out to the Department of Trade and Industry and the National Economic and Development Authority for their comments, but no response yet has been received as of posting time. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News