Philippines stays at 52nd spot in world competitiveness ranking

The Philippines’ competitiveness ranking across the world remained at the same level as last year as challenges offset improvements this year, according to a report by Switzerland-based Institute of Management Development (IMD).

In its 2024 World Competitiveness Report, the IMD placed the Philippines 52nd out of 67 economies it ranked all over the world.

The country remained in the same spot as last year’s.

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

The IMD’s ranking divides its data into four areas, namely economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure.

The four areas, together, capture various aspects of competitiveness, such as macroeconomic stability, fiscal policy, institutional quality, market openness, business dynamism, innovation, education, health, and environmental performance, according to the Swiss institute.

The IMD report said the Philippines ranked high in terms of the following:

• Employment (10th)
• Tax policy (15th)
• Domestic Economy (27th)

However, it said that despite the strong overall performance, the World Competitiveness report also found that the country was less competitive in the areas of:

• Business Legislation (60th)
• Basic Infrastructure (62nd)
• Education (63rd)

Among Asia-Pacific’s 14 economies, the Philippines ranked 13th —unchanged for the five consecutive years.

The IMD’s report cited the following challenges for the Philippines this year:

• Sustaining the country’s job-generating investments
• Ensuring food security to temper inflation and keep prices affordable.
• Addressing learning gaps to improve the education system
• Building sustainable infrastructure to reduce climate change vulnerability
• Resolving the Philippines' territorial rights to the West Philippine Sea diplomatically and peacefully

In terms of other factors, the Philippines saw improvements in the domestic economy from 30th to 27th and public finance from 55th to 49th.

The report ranked Singapore as the most competitive economy in the world this year, followed by Switzerland and Denmark.

“We believe the most competitive economies of the future will be those able to anticipate and adapt to this changing global context while simultaneously creating value and well-being for their people. And that will also make them sustainable," said Arturo Bris, director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center (WCC). — RSJ, GMA Integrated News